Probe Other First Ladies Or Forget Mrs Jonathan – IYC

The umbrella body of Ijaw youth, the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), has made a clarion call to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not to single out former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan in its anti-corruption probe.
The IYC called for an end to the humiliation and harassment of former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, including their immediate and extended families.
The Ijaw youth, during a protest in Port Harcourt last Wednesday, marched through major roads with placards reading: “Leave Our Mother, Mrs Patience Jonathan Alone”, Stop Harassing Niger Delta Elites”, and “Release Our Dear Comrades in Detention.”
They decried the fact that the recent probe on accounts of Mrs. Jonathan shows that the government was on a vendetta mission.
Chairman of IYC, Eastern Zone, Comrade Iyerifama Jaja, in an address, accused the EFCC of turning a blind eye to the activities of former Nigerian first ladies, while singling out Dame Jonathan for persecution.
He said, “transparency demands that Miriam Abacha, Mrs Abdulsalami Abubakar and Turai Yar’ Adua be equally probed by EFCC”, and accused the acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu of tribalism, nepotism, and favouritism.
The IYC leader recalled that before the protest, representatives of the group in the six ethnic nationalities from Yoruba, Igbo, Middle Belt and Arewa Consultative Forum had petitioned the EFCC against harassment of the former first lady.
It further revealed that even a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lovette Idisi from Delta State had equally raised alarm on the probe of Mrs Jonathan.
Jaja used the protest to call the attention of the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the international community, including human rights bodies, to intervene in order to avert crisis, saying, “today’s protest by IYC, Eastern Zone is a wake-up call for President Buhari to urgently overhaul sectarian EFCC by immediately booting Ibrahim Magu out of office.”
It also used the forum to call on the Federal Government to halt the invasion of Niger Delta communities by the military and the arrest of Niger Delta activists and ex-militants.
Among those the IYC demanded for their release from detention include, Aboy Muturu, Ezekiel Daniel, Bounanawei Goodey Smith, and others.
On the recent call for truce with Niger Delta militants over oil installations, Jaja observed that the Federal Government led by Buhari was not sincere, adding that the ploy to dialogue was to buy time in order to crush resistant youth and opposition in the region.
He, however, called on youth in the area to be calm as measures were being taken to address the injustice and violation of human rights in the Niger Delta region.