The Ijaw Youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide said the deployment of the military troops to the Niger Delta and South East region under the security operation called ‘crocodile smile or python dance’ will not solve the rising agitations.
The Ijaw youths yesterday described as “condemnable and sad”, the attack on the home of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu in Umuahia , Abia state by suspected military officers, a situation that led to the loss of lives and many injured on Sunday.
The IYC, in a statement issued yesterday by President of the group, Barr. Eric Omare, stated that “it is condemnable the attack on the home of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu in Umuohia, Abia state by suspected military officers, which led to the loss of lives and many injured in the last hours of Sunday, September 10, 2017.
“The picture of those killed and injured tells a very sad story about the engagement of the military with IPOB members. It amounts to gross violation of human rights for Nigerians to be indiscriminately shot and killed because of legitimate agitation for justice.
“The deployment, with troops whether as operation crocodile smile or python dance, is not the solution to the Niger Delta and Igbo agitations. Agitations are about quest for equity and fairness in the affairs of Nigerian and cannot be silence through the barrel of gun”.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to bring to justice, the perpetrators of the killings in the south east, withdraw the military officers and bring to a halt the operation python dance in the south east.
“The IPOB demand for self-determination, just like that of the Niger Delta and other parts of the country cannot be stopped with the dance of a python, but only through justice and equity of a restructured Nigeria that will guarantee the different parts of the country the right to develop at their pace. Therefore neither the dance of a python nor the smile of a crocodile would quell the agitations”.
