Leaders must sacrifice for interest of Ijaw land – Jonathan

Former Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, has called on leaders and stakeholders of Ijaw Nation to make sacrifices for the interest of Ijaw land.

Jonathan wants them to shun divisiveness and work together in love and unity for the collective interest of Ijaw people in Nigeria.

According to him, the relevance of the Ijaw ethnic nationality as a minority group in Nigeria is being threatened because they don’t exist within one location, except in Bayelsa where their homogeneity is very pronounced.

He made the call on Friday when the national executives of the Ijaw National Congress accompanied by the Central Zone officials of the Ijaw Youth Council, paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa.

The former President said, “But the key point about us is the unity of the Ijaw people. And that is key. We are not too many in terms of physical numbers. We are widely spread, not concentrated in a geographical area, so our relevance is threatened along many states.

“Apart from Bayelsa State where we have a majority or almost the whole population, others are spread thinly (in other states). And people like this need to be united to make an impact. The collective interest of Ijaw should take precedence and people must sacrifice because of the interest of Ijaw land.”