The Itsekiri People in Delta and Edo States have called for justice and fairness in public appointment to compensate for their growing support and contributions to national development.
The people are currently vexed over their exclusion from the ministerial list of President Bola Tinubu and also from the Governor Sheriff Oborevwori administration in Delta State.
The Itshekiris claim they contribute no fewer than 30 per cent of Nigeria’s oil, yet have been constantly and humiliatingly neglected by successive Governments since the Nigerian independence in 1960.
They stated that the politics of exclusion and marginalisation of its people have brought about instability.
At a press conference in Lagos, the Itshekiri group led by Oritshetimeyin Edgar said, the democracy Nigeria is enjoying today was as a result of blood shed by a great Itshekiri man, Pa Alfred Rewane, who was gruesomely murdered during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
The group said, the late Rewane was the financier of the National Democratic Coalition(NADECO). “Pa Rewane, alongside others, fought for the democracy of today without which there would be no today’s elected leaders”, the Group claimed.
The Itshekiris pride itself as the first people in Nigeria to establish diplomatic contact with the Europeans, especially, with the Portuguese who were exploring the West African coast as far back as the earliest centuries, in which the Itsekiri exchanged envoys with Portugal as a sovereign people with a remarkable civilisation.
The Itshekiris are historically, culturally and linguistically related to the Yoruba sub-groups – Ijebu, Akure, Ikale, Ilaje, Ondo and Owo.
The Itshekiris said in the last 2023 election, many of its prominent leaders fully supported the All Progressives Congress(APC), even as they produce some 30 percent of Nigeria’s total oil output, the history of the people has been that of exclusion.
“Over the years, in the midst of armed insurrection by some ethnic groups in the Niger-Delta, the Itsekiri have never been involved in armed uprising neither are they involved in oil theft or destruction of oil pipelines. However, for decades the Itsekiri have suffered historic sidetrack relating to political and economic isolation,” he said.
The Group said: “From 1960, when Nigeria obtained independence, the Itsekiri have been marginalised.
At the federal level, the Itsekiri produced the first Federal Minister of Finance (Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh) who was killed during the military putsch of 1966.”
Edgar said, it was not until the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that an Itsekiri (Dr. Roland Oritsejafor) had a stint with a ministerial position which lasted for less than two years.
He said, ministers are usually picked on state basis, but ministerial positions have rotated within the trio-senatorial districts in Delta State and the respective ethnic groups.
The Group said, marginalisation of Itsekiri in oil related ventures began since 1959.
“This finds expression in the form of denial of top positions like the managing director of NIMASA, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Niger-Delta Development Commission, (NDDC), Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA).
“Monopoly of top positions in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and exclusion of Itsekiri despite the fact that the positions of the Managing Director is expected to be rotated among the oil producing communities,” they pointed out.
Since the existence of the NDDC, he stressed that, no Itsekiri person has been appointed to the positions of chairman, or managing director, despite the quantum of oil and gas that the federal government extracts from Itesekiri land.
To them, “For example, the Urhobos have produced two managing directors since its existence, even though the ethnic group is far behind Itsekiri in oil production. Other parastatals such as Nigerian Ports Authority and NIMASA that are based in the Niger Delta region have been administered with conscious Itsekiri exclusion.”
The Itshekiris alongside the NHRC are appealling to President Tinubu to come to its aid and speak for the Itsekiris at the level of the presidency.
“We plead with all righteous voices to look at us with pity and deploy all possible political machineries to assist the Itsekiri particularly to be appointed into such parastatals that can be deployed for the development of Itesekiri ancestral and by extension Ilaje land inclusive since both (Itsekiri and Ilaje) occupy the same geographical and ecological areas.
“We trust that President Bola Tinubu has listening ears. We thank him for being steadfast all these years. We recall that President Tinubu was responsible for the memorable recognition of Pa Alfred Rewane’s role in the democratic transformation of Nigeria in which he paid the supreme price of death. President Tinubu named one of the longest streets in Lagos State after Pa Rewane to which we remain eternally grateful. We believe he will demonstrate again his passion for justice by listening to the demands Itsekiri people.
“Given the background of President Bola Tinubu as a humanist and pro-democracy leader, we kindly call on him to assist in addressing these long standing afflictions of a peace loving people who are committed to a united, strong and prosperous commonwealth where liberty and justice reign supreme,” the Itshekiris stated.
