Ijaw youths to Wike: develop host communities with Soku Oil Well’s earnings

The youths under the auspices of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the Patriotic Ijaw Youth Leaders (PIYL) commended the governor for ensuring retention of the oil wells in Rivers.

The youths said the feat achieved by Wike in pursuing justice for Soku people was for the benefit of all Rivers people, irrespective of their ethnic or political leanings.

Speaking in Port Harcourt, the Chairman, PIYL, Samuel George, who was a former leader, IYC Central Zone, hailed the apex court’s verdict and Wike for protecting the wealth of the state.

He said, “The Supreme Court’s judgement is a historic success to Rivers people beyond ethnic lines. What the governor of Rivers state did is for the interest of everyone in the state. We lost the territory of the Soku oil wells in 2002 to Bayelsa state and other administrations fought for it but perhaps did not take the right direction.

“But the governor has just made us proud. What he did in the case of Soku oil wells is for the benefit of all Rivers people and so it needs to be applauded.

READ ALSO: Rivers, Bayelsa governors clash over Soku Oil Well

“The 13 percent derivatives from the oil wells should be channeled to the development of Rivers people particularly the Soku People for reclamation of land and education.”

Also, the Spokesman, PIYLF, Gabriel Allen said Ijaw youths were in solidarity with the state governor for achieving the feat, describing it as a panacea to the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.

He said: “The National leaders of the Kalabari se Ikpangi of the Ijaw Youth Council in solidarity with the Patriotic Ijaw Youth Leaders Forum and Ijaw Youth Council, Eastern zone are in solidarity with Governor Nyesom Wike on the Supreme Court judgment over the embattled Soku oil fields in Akuku-Toru LGA of Rivers state.

“We stare unequivocally that the judgment of striking out the controversial suit of ceding the Soku, Adum-Ama, Kula, Elem-Sangama, Ekule-Ama, Kampala, Idama and Boro oil fields in present-day Akuku-Toru LGA of Rivers state to Bayelsa state by the National Boundary Commission in 2002 as a result of faulty 11th administrative mapping, is a step in the right direction and a panacea to sustainable development in the Niger Delta region.”