THE Ijaw leadership has petitioned the presidency, demanding the creation of two more additional states in the region and the practice of true federalism or confederation.
President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Kimse Okoko, said though the Ijaw boycotted yesterday’s stakeholders meeting in Abuja, they, however, wrote to the Presidency, seeking audience to discuss the specific issues affecting them.
He explained that if the Ijaw request was granted, it would afford both parties an opportunity to deal with what he described as the specific issues arising from the people’s experience.
The INC president said some of the demands contained in the petition include the creation of two more additional states and the immediate demilitarization of the Niger Delta.
According to him, other demands are the active participation of the Ijaws and other people of the oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta in the oil industry.
Justifying the reason the Ijaw shunned the presidential parley yesterday, Okoko explained that there had been series of such meetings in the past and questioned their outcome.
The INC president urged the President to consider allowing each ethnic nationality in the Niger Delta to have a separate parley to enable them present their peculiar cases.