One week after they whisked away their victims from a funeral at Banigo Isile-Ogono Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has warned kidnappers of the Banigo Four to release them immediately, unconditionally and unharmed.
The Chairman of the IYC, Ibani Clan, Princewill Oko-Jumbo, who issued this warning in an interview with newsmen in Bonny, warned of dire consequences, should their ultimatum not be complied with.
“As a body, we are saying that they should release those being held hostage with immediate effect, unconditionally and unharmed.”
According to him, information available to the IYC indicates that the kidnappers may have come from neighbouring communities around Bonny, and as such, were likely to be from Ijaw communities, and thus comes under the purview of the group.
“The issue of speculation does not even need to come in because whether we like it or not, the people who did this act are either Ijaw people or living in Ijaw communities because if we want to talk about the Ijaw people, we have the core Ijaw people which are the Bayelsans.”
“But when we come to Rivers State, we have the Rivers Ijaw people who fall under the Ijaw tribe. So, if somebody is from Opobo, Andoni, Bonny, Kalabari, and Bille, among others, he is an ijaw man.”
He deplored the trauma and needless suffering the families of the victims have been subjected to, saying that it was unacceptable for Ijaw people to undermine the wellbeing of their fellow Ijaws.
“So, we will be talking about marginalisation, an Ijaw person cannot also come to marginalise his own brother. We are supposed to work in synergy to fight for our resources, to fight for our freedom, not to use it against our brothers.
“Do you know what it means, for how many days now, to hold people hostage? The trauma, which the families are passing through, is very, very uncalled for. So, as a body, we are saying that they should release those being held hostage with immediate effect, unconditionally and unharmed.”