PRESS STATEMENT BY THE IJAW NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC) ON THE RECENT PRESIDENTIAL PARDONS: A SYMBOLIC GESTURE IGNORING FUNDAMENTAL INJUSTICES

October 13, 2025 | Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

The Ijaw National Congress (INC), the apex socio-cultural organization of the Ijaw nation worldwide, has observed the recent exercise of the prerogative of mercy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which granted pardons to 175 Nigerians.

While we respectfully acknowledge the constitutional right of the President to wield this power, and recognize the symbolic value in correcting certain historical wrongs, the INC views this action with profound skepticism. We are not oblivious of the serious moral issues and questions raised by other critical stakeholders within and outside the country, but feel more bothered by the fact that this gesture, though wide-ranging, does little to address the deep-seated, systemic, and ongoing injustices perpetrated against the Ijaw people and the wider Niger Delta region.

Our position is informed by the following critical considerations:

1. The Pardon of the Ogoni Nine: A Welcome but Incomplete Act. The posthumous pardon granted to Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni leaders is a long-overdue acknowledgement of the grave judicial murder committed by the Nigerian state in 1995. However, this symbolic act remains tragically disconnected from the living realities in Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta. The environmental devastation, economic marginalization, and political repression that Ken Saro-Wiwa died fighting against continue unabated today. Pardoning the dead without healing the land and empowering the living is a hollow victory.

2. A Distraction from Core Issues of Resource Justice: The Ijaw nation remains the primary source of the oil and gas wealth that sustains Nigeria. Yet, we remain in the perpetual periphery of benefit, suffering from what can only be described as “economic asphyxiation”. The legal architecture of dispossession, from the Petroleum Decree of 1969 to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021, remains firmly in place, systematically expropriating our resources and severing our sovereignty. A presidential pardon that does not restore our dignity and right to control and manage our God-given resources is no use to us.

3. The Unaddressed Ecological Genocide. While the President offers pardons, the Ijaw homeland continues to endure an ecological collapse orchestrated by decades of oil exploration. With thousands of recorded oil spills and continuous gas flaring that poisons our air and water, our ecosystem—the bedrock of our livelihood and cultural heritage—is being systematically destroyed. We do not need paternalistic gestures of mercy; we demand environmental justice, ecological restoration, and accountability from multinational corporations and the Nigerian state.

Our Demands:

The Ijaw National Congress, therefore, reiterates that our struggle is not for symbolic pardons but for substantive justice. We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria and the international community to:

– Initiate a genuine process of resource control and fiscal federalism that allows the Ijaw people to own and manage their resources as a right enshrined in natural justice and international law.

– Enforce a comprehensive and urgent environmental remediation program in the Niger Delta, in line with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland and beyond.

– Repeal obnoxious laws like the Land Use Act and review constitutional provisions that perpetuate internal colonialism and “legalized oppression”.

– Address the disparity between the governance of the oil and gas sector, as contained in PIA 2021 and the solid minerals governance by the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007. This discrimination is designed to militarise, plunder and marginalise the Niger Delta, while affording a more equitable regime for solid mineral resources.

– Address the historical and political grievances of the Ijaw people, including the brazen political assaults on Ijaw sons and daughters, as witnessed in the recent illegal impeachment attempts against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State.

Conclusion:

The Ijaw nation can no longer be placated by tokenistic gestures. Our right to self-determination is inalienable and rooted in solemn treaties with the British Crown and validated by international law. We shall continue to pursue this cause through peaceful, diplomatic, and strategic means, with the full solidarity of the global community.

The INC remains resolute in its mission to champion the dignity, justice, and sovereignty of the Ijaw people. We will not relent until our people are free from the shackles of oppression and can truly determine their own political and economic destiny.

Long Live the Ijaw Nation!

Prof. Benjamin O. OkabaPresident,

Ijaw National Congress (INC) Global

Being a Press Briefing by Prof Benjamin Okaba President, Ijaw National Congress (INC) Global on September 6, 2025, at the International Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria, on Arrival from A 4-Day Working Visit to the Republic of Ghana.

The Ijaw National Congress (INC), the apex socio-cultural body of the Ijaw Nation, under my leadership as President, is compelled to address the Nigerian public and the international community on the grave and systematic injustices codified into law against the people of the Niger Delta. Our focus is the stark and discriminatory disparity between the governance of the oil and gas sector, as contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, and the solid minerals sector, governed by the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007.

A comparative analysis reveals not a simple difference in administrative approach, but a deliberate and calculated legislative framework designed to militarize, plunder, and marginalize the Niger Delta while affording other regions a gentler, more equitable regime for their resources. This is a classic case of two Nigerias operating under two sets of rules.

1. The Fundamental Inequity in Community Benefits and Ownership

The most egregious disparity lies in the treatment of host communities.

· The Niger Delta Experience (PIA): The PIA offers a paltry 3% of annual operational expenditure from oil companies for host communities, a figure we rejected as insulting given the decades of monumental environmental devastation and socio-economic neglect. Furthermore, this contribution is not from profit but from operational cost, and it is mandated to be managed through a Trust Fund, effectively sidelining elected state governments and traditional institutions, reducing them to “siddon lookers” in the words of Bayelsa State’s Deputy Governor. Crucially, the Act imposes a collective punishment clause, holding entire communities financially liable for vandalism of oil assets, a provision that is unjust, unconstitutional, and inflammatory.

· The Solid Minerals Regime: In stark contrast, the Mining Act mandates that operators conclude a Community Development Agreement (CDA) with their hosts, addressing scholarships, employment, infrastructure, and enterprise development. There is no collective punishment clause. Most tellingly, while the PIA reinforces the total federal ownership of oil, the Mining Act, though also declaring federal ownership, has historically tolerated artisanal and small-scale mining by individuals and cooperatives across northern and western states, allowing them to benefit directly from their resources without military intervention . This operational laxity grants a de facto economic participation that is ruthlessly denied to the people of the Niger Delta.

2. The Environmental and Remediation Double Standard

The approach to environmental protection and remediation further highlights the bias.

· In the Niger Delta: Despite the PIA’s provisions against gas flaring, it includes a dangerous loophole allowing the Minister to permit it, rendering the prohibition weak. The environmental degradation from decades of oil spills and gas flaring has been catastrophic, destroying livelihoods and poisoning our ecosystem. Yet, there has never been a comprehensive environmental clean-up funded by the federal government or operators, with the much-publicized Ogoni cleanup being haphazard at best.

· In the Solid Minerals Sector: The Mining Act explicitly requires license holders to minimize environmental impact and rehabilitate mined land to its natural or predetermined state . While enforcement is a challenge, the legal obligation is clear and unequivocal, lacking the ministerial loopholes present in the PIA.

3. Security and Militarization: An Occupied Territory vs. Business as Usual

This is the most chilling aspect of the disparity.

*The Niger Delta: Our region is effectively under military occupation. The government has deployed the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Restore Hope since 2002 to secure oil infrastructure and prevent local refining. This militarization turns our communities into war zones, with our people subjected to human rights abuses, all to protect oil assets while denying us the benefits from them.

*The Solid Minerals Sector: There is no JTF in mining states. Despite widespread illegal mining, the federal government only announced plans for mining marshals as recently as March 2024, and even that has not been fully activated. This represents a deliberate non-militarization of the solid minerals sector, allowing for a more permissive environment that stands in stark contrast to the repression in the Niger Delta.

4. The Grand Larceny of Resource Allocation: 3% vs. 30%

The PIA commits the ultimate act of resource injustice by allocating a meager 3% of OPEX to host communities who bear 100% of the burden, while allocating a whopping 30% of NNPC Ltd.’s profit to explore for oil in so-called “frontier basins”. These basins are predominantly located in the North. This means that the wealth generated from the Niger Delta’s suffering is being used to subsidize the search for oil in other regions, with no guarantee of success. This is not national development; it is state-sponsored resource colonialism.

Table: Summary of Legislative Disparacies Against the Niger Delta

POLICY AREA

1. Niger Delta (Petroleum Industry Act)

2. Solid Minerals Region (Mining Act)

3. ⁠Implied Status of the Niger Delta

HOST COMMUNITY BENEFITS

1. 3% of Operetor’s Annual OPEX (Operational Expenditure)

2. ⁠Community Development Agreements (CDA)

3. ⁠A cost center to be managed

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION

1. Weak penalties, ministerial loopholes, no comprehensive cleanup

2. ⁠Clear legal obligation for rehabilitation

3. ⁠A sacrifice zone

SECURITY APPROACH

1. Militarize (Joint Task Force)

2. ⁠Non-militarized (Planned Marshals)

3. ⁠An occupied territory

RESOURCE CONTROL

1. Absolute federal control, no local participation

2. ⁠De facto tolerance of local mining

3. ⁠A conquered territory

REVENUE ALLOCATION

1. Wealth diverted to Frontier Basin (30%)

2. ⁠Benefits Largely retained within region

3. ⁠A colony to be exploited

Conclusion and Demand

The evidence is irrefutable. The PIA and the Mining Act, when read side-by-side, reveal a Nigeria that operates a two-tiered system of resource justice. For the rest of Nigeria, there is a pretension of cooperation and benefit-sharing. For the Niger Delta, there is only extraction, militarization, and legislative neglect.

We, therefore, demand the following:

1. Immediate Legislative Harmonization: The National Assembly must initiate an amendment to the PIA to bring its community benefit provisions, environmental obligations, and ownership principles in line with the more equitable standards of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act. This includes, as a minimum, a review of the 3% and 30% allocations.

2. Demilitarization of the Niger Delta: The Federal Government must immediately withdraw the Joint Task Force from the Niger Delta and adopt a civil and regulated security approach, consistent with the approach in the solid minerals sectors.

3. True Federalism and Resource Control: The long-term solution to this perennial crisis is a return to the practice of true federalism and derivation-based resource control, as practiced in the First Republic, where regions managed their resources for their development.

The Niger Delta is not a colony of Nigeria. We can no longer accept laws that treat our people and our environment as sacrificial lambs for national unity. Enough is enough.

Signed:

Professor Benjamin Okaba

President, Ijaw National Congress (INC) Global

August 23, 2025

The Ijaw National Congress (INC), under my leadership, has taken note of the recent statement by his Excellency, Rt.Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State, announcing the award of reconstruction of the dual carriageway with reinforced concrete from the Spare Parts Market U-TURN, Effurun, to after Ohore Junction, before Omenta Bridge, to CCECC.

The INC commends the governor for his bold and visionary infrastructure strides, particularly the rapid execution of large-scale projects across Urhobo land, including dual carriageway, flyovers, and storm water drain networks. These projects are not only laudable but also demonstrate the governor’s commitment to modernising critical transport corridors and easing mobility for citizens in those areas.

However, as a pan-ijaw body, we cannot overlook the perpetual neglect and abandonment of the Ayakoromor Bridge project and the long demand road linkage from Warri through Ogbe-ijoh to Odimodi and Ogulagha-a critical artery to the ijaw heartland and the nations economic nerve centre in oil and gas production. This deliberate sidelining of ijaw communities, despite their overwhelming contribution to Nigeria’s energy wealth, is unacceptable and smacks of systemic marginalisation.

It is both disheartening and provocative that while billions of naira of our common partrimony are being channeled into infrastructural upgrade across Urhobo territories, projects of equal, if not greater national significance sited in Ijaw areas are left to rot.

The Ayakoromor bridge, in particular, has become a symbol of broken promises and political insensitivity – a project flagged off with much funfair in 2014 is now left to rot in abandonment, cutting off riverine Ijaw communities from meaningful economic integration of Delta State.

We, therefore, call on Governor Oborevwori to rise above partican or ethnic considerations and urgently prioritise the completion of Ayakoromor bridge and continue to extend roads connecting Warri to the riverine areas, either constructing Ayakoromor-Gbekebor-Obotebe-Burutu-Ofougbene-Forcados-Odimodi-Ogulagha route or the Ogbe-Ijoh-Isaba-Ayakoromor/Gbekebor-Obotebe-Burutu-Ofougbene-Forcados-Odimodi-Ogulagha route. These projects are not mere demands of a people; they are essential Lifelines that will unlock commerce, facilitate energy logistics, and address decades of infrastructural injustice in Delta state.

The INC is not against the development of any part of Delta State. On the contrary, we applaud progress wherever it is recorded. But equity, fairness, and justice demand that Ijaw communities – who bear the environmental brunt of oil exploitation, pollution, and hosts key national economic assets such as the Forcados and Escravos Oil Terminals which contributes collossally to Delta’s towering federal allocation must not continue to be treated as people under apparthide rule or second-class citizens in capital developmental planning. Inter-Community and internal community roads are very good, but they take our people nowhere.

Governor Oborevwori, the INC implores you to remember your oath to govern all parts of Delta State equitably and your repeated promises to complete Ayakoromor bridge. Only then can your vision of rebuilding a “Stronger Delta together” be truly inclusive and enduring.

Signed:

Prof. Benjamin Ogele Okaba

President, Ijaw National Congress (global).