Rivers State Community Letter TO PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA 2025: STOP NIGERIA’S RUTHLESS OPPRESSION AND GENOCIDAL REIGN OF TERROR AGAINST THE OIL-RICH IJAW PEOPLE OF THE NIGER DELTA: AN URGENT CALL FOR IMMEDIATE GLOBAL ACTION TO SUPPORT AND RATIFY IJAW SELF-GOVERNMENT. 1/22 Morant Circuit Kambah ACT 2902. Legalengineer03@yahoo.com.au
18 June 2025
His Excellency The Hon Anthony Albanese Prime Minister of Australia Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,
• The Nigerian State, as a matter of deliberate state policy, perpetrates ruthless oppression and genocidal reign of terror on the aboriginal Ijaw inhabitants of the Niger Delta Region and devastates their habitat with extremely toxic and carcinogenic hydrocarbon pollutants that are byproducts of the unbridled large- scale commercial extraction of abundant petroleum and natural gas in their homeland to develop and enrich other sections of Nigeria to the deprivation and underdevelopment of the Ijaw people and without appropriate measures of environmental remediation or commensurate compensation.
• Since 1994, Nigeria, as a nation, has continued with ethnic cleansing of the oil-rich Ijaw people through the instrumentality of the Nigerian military forces of occupation in the Niger Delta, the Joint Task Force (JTF).
• Currently, Nigeria has excluded Rivers State (one of the 36 states constituting the Federal Republic of Nigeria), which is predominantly populated by aboriginal Ijaw people whose homeland constitutes a significant section of the Ijaw Territory, from participatory constitutional democracy in the country; not being governed by its governor and legislators who were democratically elected under Nigeria’s Federal Constitution but has been hijacked, captured and ruled as a private enterprise of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by a military Sole Administrator appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the treasonous connivance of Nigeria’s National Assembly and Judiciary.
• Contrary to the Nigerian Constitution, which stipulates that no person or group of persons can remove a governor or government whose tenure has not completed, President Tinubu and his cohort have removed the governor and legislators of Rivers State from their offices in flagrant violation of the due processes prescribed by the constitution without consequence; despite the fact that the Nigerian Criminal Code Act 2004 Section 41 makes such act of unconstitutional removal of a governor a treasonable felony; no one has been held accountable as Bola Tinubu and his co-hijackers of the Apparatus of Governance in Nigeria continue to squander the revenues and resources of Rivers State (predominantly populated by aboriginal Ijaw people), which has been excluded from the Constitutional Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• The judicial arm of Nigeria’s government, being corruptly influenced and controlled by the totalitarian Tinubu Regime, is unwilling and unable to hold the Tinubu-led government of Nigeria accountable; they make lip service pronouncements but do nothing to enforce them. The Supreme Court has declared emphatically that Nigeria practices constitutional democracy and that “Autocracy is out of place in a constitutional democracy.” And that that “it must be stated loud and clear that the crisis in Rivers State is as result of non-adherence to the rule of law as well as the flagrant disregard of court orders.” But the Judiciary does nothing to enforce the Court orders when breached by the President and his cohort.
• For instance, the Supreme Court has ordered that “The Rivers State House of Assembly should resume sitting with all elected members forthwith.” However, the Tinubu Regime has disobeyed this order by suspending the House of Assembly and making it impossible for the House Assembly to resume sitting, instead of facilitating the House of Assembly to resume sitting!In this regard, the Court has done nothing to enforce compliance of the lawless Tinubu Regime despite its power under Section 6 of the Nigerian Constitution which stipulates that everyone, including the president, must obey court orders.
• Another Supreme Court Declaration which President Tinubu and his Sole Administrator are in breach of states that: The Central Bank of Nigeria is not entitled (allowed) to release any amount, money, fund or revenue standing to the credit of Rivers State in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Rivers State domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria, “including all allocations and revenue receipts from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) due to Rivers State from the Federation Account or from any other source, to the Rivers State Government until the fund has been duly charged with the relevant expenditure by an Appropriation Law duly made by the House of Assembly of Rivers State.” President Bola Tinubu and the illegitimate Sole Administrator of Rivers State appointed unconstitutionally by the president have disobeyed this Declaratory Order of the Supreme Court and have continued to collect and spend Rivers State Revenue and resources without a Rivers State Appropriation Bill passed by the State Assembly, which is unable to pass an Appropriation Bill for the State by virtue of being suspended by the same President Tinubu as part of the egregiously unconstitutional measures he instituted in his State of Emergency Proclamation for Rivers State.
• The Ijaw Nation, which has been denied participation in Nigeria’s Constitutional Federalism by the utterly unconstitutional removal of their democratically elected Rivers State governor and members of the House of Assembly by the Tinubu Regime, earnestly asks for global support for their legitimate quest for self-determination and also requests the global community to facilitate the arrest and prosecution of the Nigerian officials responsible for the ruthless oppression, repression, marginalization and genocidal reign of terror and ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Ijaw people.
• The Ijaw Nation seeks global support for self-determination to end genocide against its people and end the subjugation and colonization of their part of the federal republic of Nigeria as a private enterprise or fiefdom of President Tinubu and his top government officials.
• On 12 June 2025, the day Nigeria celebrated Democracy Day, Rivers State was not part of Nigeria Constitutional Democracy. This lawlessness is a recipe to stir up tension to invite herdsmen to slaughter the people of Rivers State
• On the 14 June 2025, the Government of President Tinubu despite security information of impending attack and killings in Benue State, did nothing until the attack and killings completed killing over 200 people helpless people at Night, the people of Benue State as currently, the state of the people of Rivers State are denied the right of self- defense.
The Ijaws of which Rivers State form part of the territory of the Niger Delta of Nigeria are a remarkably peace-loving and longsuffering ethnic nation, constituting approximately 10% of Nigeria’s population and ranking as the fourth largest ethnic group in the country. They are predominantly settled in distinct riverine communities that span the ecologically unique and resource-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, their ancestral homeland. This region is endowed with abundant crude oil, natural gas, a luxuriant tropical rainforest, vast marine resources, and other invaluable natural assets.
Beyond Nigeria, the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality also maintains aboriginal settlements in several West and Central African countries, including Cameroon (Bakassi Peninsula), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The Ijaw people were divinely created as a free, self-sustaining, and self-governing nation, traditionally organized into naturally
Sovereign kingdoms and city-states. Each of these polities is governed by a monarch, known as Pere, Ibenanaowei, or Amanyanabo, in concert with a Council of Elders and Chiefs, whose leadership ascension is determined by natural lineage and customary processes.
Historically, the Ijaws have been renowned for their extraordinary kindness, hospitality, and accommodation toward their neighbors. Prior to the coerced amalgamation of their territory with neighboring lands into what is now modern-day Nigeria, the Ijaw Kingdoms and City-States exercised their sovereignty by entering into various treaties with the British colonial authorities and the Royal Niger Company, recognizing one another as co-equal, independent nations.
Nigeria stands as an independent and sovereign republic, governed through a federal framework deeply rooted in the principles of constitutional democracy. This model of governance is not a mere political formality; it is a deliberate and thoughtfully constructed system designed to ensure a clear separation of powers and an equitable devolution of authority between the central government and the federating units. Through this structure, Nigeria affirms her commitment to inclusive governance, the inviolability of fundamental human rights, and the promotion of justice, equity, and national cohesion.
The people of Rivers State (majority of whom are Ijaw people) along with the peoples of the other States making up the 36 States that constitute the Federal Republic of Nigeria declared in the Preamble of the Federation’s constitution, in consensus, as follows: We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international cooperation and understanding, And to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people, Do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution:-
At the very foundation of this constitutional edifice lies a bedrock provision found in Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which states with unwavering clarity:
“The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”
This declaration is not symbolic. It is a binding, enforceable, and patriotic affirmation of Nigeria’s allegiance to the supremacy of law over the rule of force. It is a constitutional firewall erected to prevent the unlawful seizure of power and to protect the democratic will of the people from erosion by any individual, faction, or institution operating outside the legal order. It is, in effect, the Constitution’s solemn rejection of authoritarianism, an unambiguous repudiation of tyranny, and a vigilant safeguard against all forms of political impunity.
This section of the Constitution, with its lucidity and unshakable resolve, encapsulates the very essence of Nigeria’s democratic aspirations. It is more than a legal command. It is a moral covenant. It reminds us that sovereign power resides ultimately with the people and that such power must be exercised transparently, responsibly, and strictly within the framework of the Constitution. Though our journey has been tested by adversity and shaped by complexity, this provision remains our compass, pointing us toward a future grounded in constitutionalism, justice, and the unassailable dignity of every Nigerian. To show that the afore-stated Section 1(2) of the Constitution is not symbolic but literal, the Nigerian Criminal Code Act 2004 Section 41 provides for treasonable felony for breach or unconstitutional removal of the federal government or a state government, as follows:
41. Treasonable felonies Any person who forms an intention to effect any of the following purposes, that is to say‐
(a) to remove during his term of office otherwise than by constitutional means the President as Head of State of the Federation and Commander‐in‐Chief of the Armed Forces thereof; or
(b) to likewise remove during his term of office the Governor of a State; or
(c) to levy war against Nigeria in order by force or constraint to compel the President to change his measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or in order to intimidate or overawe any House of the National Assembly or any other legislature or legislative authority; or
(d) to instigate any foreigner to make any armed invasion of Nigeria or any of the territories thereof, and manifests such intention by an overt act, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.
The people of Rivers State, majority of whom are Ijaw people, have been removed from being party to the afore-stated Preamble of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through unconstitutional governance by a group of people led by President Tinubu and his appointed Sole Administrator- a position not known in the Constitution of Nigeria agreed to by Rivers State in particular and the Ijaw Nation in general.
Rivers State, historically and culturally rooted in the Ijaw Nation, has been an integral component of the Nigerian federation. However, in a troubling departure from constitutional norms, March 2025 marked a moment of grave national concern. In direct contravention of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in collaboration with the leadership of the Nigerian Judiciary and the National Assembly, orchestrated the exclusion of Rivers State from the framework of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy. This unprecedented act, executed with the support of the Armed Forces, who are constitutionally bound to protect the republic, represented a stark betrayal of their sworn allegiance to the nation’s foundational laws.
Section 11(4) of the constitution provides: 4) At any time when any House of Assembly of a State is unable to perform its functions by reason of the situation prevailing in that State, the National Assembly may make such laws for the peace, order and good government of that State with respect to matters on which a House of Assembly may make laws as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or expedient until such time as the House of Assembly is able to resume its functions; and any such laws enacted by the National Assembly pursuant to this section shall have effect as if they were laws enacted by the House of Assembly of the State: Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on the National Assembly power to remove the Governor or the Deputy Governor of the State from office. (5) For the purposes of subsection (4) of this section, a House of Assembly shall not be deemed to be unable to perform its functions so long as the House of Assembly can hold a meeting and transact business.
With the tacit consent of all three arms of government, the Ijaw people of Rivers State, in the heartland of the Ijaw Nation, were stripped of their democratic representation and governance. In its place was installed a paramilitary, aristocratic oligarchy, an extra- constitutional regime wielding unchecked authority. This illegitimate authority commenced the appropriation and expenditure of the state’s revenue without the passage of an appropriation bill, in direct violation of both the Constitution and prior rulings of the Supreme Court, which has since remained disturbingly silent in the face of this constitutional desecration.
Since the imposition of this unlawful regime, Rivers State has been engulfed in persistent unrest. The Ijaw people, known for their resilience and lawful disposition, have endured state-sponsored violence, deliberately orchestrated protests designed to provoke chaos, suppress dissent, and inflict harm upon innocent citizens demanding a return to constitutional order. What ought to have been democratic engagement has instead devolved into a calculated campaign of terror. This systemic exclusion of the Ijaw Nation from constitutional governance is not only a violation of the social contract but a tacit endorsement of the perennial Ijaw call for their self-determination. The actions of the Federal Government have, through their unlawfulness, lent legitimacy to the longstanding grievances of the Ijaw people and further catalyzed the demand for autonomous self-governance.
The precedent set in Rivers State now threatens to metastasize. The governance model imposed there, rule by decree, financial impunity, and militarized aristocracy, is being insidiously extended to other Ijaw territories. This has sown widespread fear and insecurity among Ijaw leaders and citizens alike, who now face credible threats for resisting the encroachment of authoritarian rule. This unfolding tragedy represents the genesis of yet another state-perpetrated genocide, a targeted, systematic dismantling of the Ijaw Nation’s political rights, economic autonomy, and communal safety. It is a dark stain on the conscience of Nigeria, a chilling reminder of what occurs when the rule of law is subverted by the very institutions entrusted with its protection.
THE IJAW TRAGEDY: A CHRONICLE OF INJUSTICE, ECOLOGICAL DEVASTATION, GENOCIDAL REIGN OF TERROR, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN THE HEART OF NIGERIA’S OIL WEALTH
Tragically, since the inception of Nigeria, we, the Ijaw people, have suffered ruthless oppression and repression through fragmentation, balkanization, disempowerment, and subjugation as voiceless minorities spread across at least nine states: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Lagos, Abia and Adamawa. The current unnecessary and avoidable Rivers State Crisis, contrived by the illegitimate, evil, and lawless Tinubu Regime in Nigeria, with resultant premeditated egregiously unconstitutional and unacceptable imposition of an uncalled-for State of Emergency in the state with utterly ultra vires removal of the democratically elected governor of the state, epitomizes the ruthless oppression, subjugation, marginalization and disenfranchisement of the Ijaw people in Nigeria!
Alongside this political and social marginalization, we have endured wanton environmental pollution and ecological devastation of our habitat, resulting from the unchecked and continuous exploitation of crude oil and natural gas in Ijawland, without any meaningful benefits reaching our people. No countervailing environmental protection measures have been instituted by the Nigerian government or the transnational oil companies that derive immense profits from the extraction of these resources. Before the advent of crude oil and natural gas exploration in Ijawland, our rivers teemed with fish, and the Ijaw people exported large quantities to other regions. It is both painful and unacceptable that we now import fish for consumption, as pollution from highly toxic hydrocarbons due to continual oil spillages has caused the virtual extinction of fish in our rivers.
These pollutants have also rendered our farmlands barren and have made our waters poisonous, carcinogenic, and unsafe for drinking. The continuous flaring of gas in the Niger Delta, aside from being a reckless and unconscionable waste of a valuable natural resource, has severely poisoned the air we breathe and has caused acid rain that poses grave risks to both human health and the ecosystem. The ongoing destruction of our habitat and the eradication of our traditional means of subsistence through oil prospecting activities have led to the progressive deterioration of the socio-economic conditions of our already impoverished people. Consequently, the survival of the Ijaw people is under serious threat, especially in the face of the episodic acts of genocide committed against our population by the Nigerian state. We are, therefore, an endangered species.
Nigeria is principally sustained by the Ijaw people’s God-given wealth of petroleum and natural gas, which accounts for approximately seventy percent of the nation’s total revenue. Paradoxically, the Nigerian government has consistently refused to provide basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, drinkable water, healthcare, and quality education for the Ijaw people, even as it uses the proceeds from the Ijaw oil wealth to provide these necessities for other Nigerians. An example is that a road to Bonny Island from Port Harcourt started since 1972/1973 has remained uncompleted till date despite the Trillions of oil revenue provided to Nigeria.
Furthermore, the Ijaw people have been systematically robbed of their petroleum resources, as the Nigerian state has transferred ownership and control of these resources to other Nigerians. Through a brazenly unjust oil industry privatization scheme, crude oil wells have been allocated to individuals from other ethnic groups, particularly those that hegemonically control the levers of political and economic power in the country, to the near-total exclusion of the Ijaw people. While others have become millionaires and billionaires through the exploitation and looting of our oil wealth, the Ijaw people continue to live in conditions of abject poverty.
In response to our peaceful agitation for fairness, equity, and self-determination, the Nigerian government has unleashed an ever-intensifying genocidal reign of terror upon our defenseless people. Over the past few decades, members of the Nigerian security forces, acting on the orders of the government, have wrongfully and needlessly murdered thousands of Ijaws, raided and burnt Ijaw towns and villages, cruelly tortured many of our people, imprisoned numerous Ijaw rights activists, and raped countless Ijaw women and children – all in retaliation for our legitimate demands to end our oppression, the wanton destruction of our habitat, and the looting of our God-given wealth.
A classic example of this brutal oppression occurred when the Gbaramatu Kingdom of the Ijaw Nation was peacefully celebrating the anniversary of the installation of its king, only to be atrociously attacked, without provocation, by the Nigerian military forces of occupation in the Niger Delta, the Joint Task Force (JTF), on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. The Nigerian State deployed a military armada and several battalions of soldiers to Ijawland in a deliberate and calculated onslaught aimed at annihilating our people. We were anguished and appalled beyond description as thousands of unarmed, oppressed, and suffering Ijaw civilians in the Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State, were savagely murdered or maimed. Entire towns and villages were viciously decimated and ferociously razed through aerial bombardments, grenade attacks, and heavy artillery fire from warships and naval gunboats. Tens of thousands of our people were rendered homeless and fled into the forests, only to be hunted and slaughtered by the rampaging, genocidal Nigerian military forces. Thousands of the injured were cut off from the outside world by the military siege, and denied access to much-needed, life-saving emergency medical care. As a result, many died helplessly from their wounds.
The genocides that have been committed by the Nigerian State at Odi, Odioma, Kaiama, Ovu, Liama, Okpoama, Obioku, Yenagoa, Amarata, Ekeki, Opolo, Agudama, Epebu, Oluashiri, Okolobiri, Mbiama, Azuzuama, Ologoama, Oboro, Ogodobiri, Ojobo, Peretorugbene, Warri Corner, Okerenkoko, Gbaramatu, Ayakoromo, Torugbene, Ogbudugbudu, Ogulagha, Odimodi, Okigbene, Olugbobiri, Ikebiri, Nembe, Twon, Ferebaghagbene, Opia, Ikenyan, Okokodiagbene, Ogbe-Ijo, Izon-Burutu, Ekeremor-Zion, Sagbama, Aven, Patani, Amabulu, Peremabiri, Obuama, Fish Town, Koluama, Okrika, Bonny, Ataba, Iyak, Omelema, Otari, Degema, Bakana, Kula, Soku, Elem-Sangama, Opobo, Abuloma, Amadi-ama, Bille, Belema, Buguma and numerous other Ijaw communities are proof of the ruthless determination of the evil and ungrateful Nigerian State to oppress and kill us for our God-given wealth of petroleum and natural gas.
Since 1994, Ijawland has remained under the suffocating grip of military occupation by the Joint Task Force (JTF) of the Nigerian Armed Forces, which has repeatedly perpetrated episodic acts of genocide against our defenseless people. It is the gravest and most tragic irony that Nigerian soldiers, who are paid, clothed, fed, housed, and armed with the very oil wealth extracted from Ijawland, are the same agents of violence sent to kill our people, plunder our resources, and destroy our ancestral habitat. The fighter jets, warships, naval gunboats, grenades, artillery, and bombs that are ruthlessly unleashed upon our hapless communities are all purchased with the proceeds of our own God-given oil wealth. The Ijaw town of Oloibiri, the cradle of Nigeria’s crude oil industry and prosperity, being the site of the discovery of crude oil in large commercial quantity in Nigeria in 1956 and first oil export of Nigeria in 1958, is situated in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State, a homogenous Ijaw State in Nigeria, which is the next state targeted by the malevolent Tinubu Regime in Nigeria to unleash further mayhem and genocide. It is both painful and unacceptable that the blessings bestowed upon us have been turned into an inexorable curse. Nigeria’s proven intent to exterminate the Ijaw people in order to seize and monopolize our natural resources stands as a clear and undeniable justification for our demand to separate from a nation that continues to treat us with such systematic cruelty and contempt.
Through flagrantly corrupt manipulations of the judiciary, with despicable kangaroo court judgements, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nyesom Wike and their allies stopped Rivers State from receiving its constitutionally protected monthly revenue allocations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Federation Account with effect from the 22nd of November 2024 until they removed (suspended) Governor Siminalayi Fubara from office by means of their utterly unconstitutional and ultra vires Declaration of a State of Emergency in the state on the 18th of March 2025. They were so satanically disposed to starving the millions of Rivers State people to death by cutting off the state’s revenue allocation, which is their lifeblood! This unconscionably callous act bespeaks their genocidal intent and culpability for crimes against humanity; particularly in the face of the fact that the illegitimate Regime mobilized ten thousand troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces to Rivers State to remove the governor by force and repress and terrorize its citizens.
The lawlessness and shamelessness of the Tinubu Regime has been laid bare by its instantaneous revocation of the stoppage of Rivers State’s monthly revenue allocations upon their removal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara from office by fiat and the installation of their illegitimate Sole Administrator of Rivers State while the kangaroo court judgements stopping Rivers State from receiving its monthly revenue allocations that they engineered are still in force and not overturned or rescinded! Yet President Tinubu and his group continue to spend Rivers State Revenue and resources without constitutional oversight.
Nigeria’s Constitution provides for the removal of a democratically elected governor only by means of impeachment; it does not confer upon the president any powers whatsoever to remove a democratically elected governor from office even during a State of Emergency declared by the president. Tinubu’s actions are egregiously unconstitutional and ultra vires! It is utterly unconscionable and unacceptable that the illegitimate Sole Administrator has dismantled all the institutions of democracy in Rivers State; including the removal of the photographs of the elected governor from all offices when he has not yet been officially removed from office, and the suspension of the boards of existing statutory institutions such as the State Independent Electoral Commission, Governing Councils of Tertiary Institutions, and even the revered Traditional Rulers Council. This is in flagrant and obnoxious contravention of best global practices around the world which limit the authority and duties of a sole administrator as a placeholder.
Appallingly and ironically, the reality of Nigerian politics is that the presidential election campaigns of the political parties and their presidential candidates depend overwhelmingly (almost entirely) on the financial resources of the oil-rich Niger Delta states, specifically Rivers State, Bayelsa State, Delta State and Akwa Ibom State, which receive higher revenue allocations based on the derivation principle. There is therefore an all-out war amongst the political parties for political control of these states. Hence, there is unspeakable vote rigging, ballot snatching, thuggery, murderous violence and mayhem in these states during election cycles.
The current unnecessary and avoidable Rivers State Crisis is caused by the compulsive rabid desire of the Tinubu Regime to seizure and control of the political power, political structures and revenues of Rivers State in order to rig the upcoming 2027 Nigeria’s Presidential Election and thus thwart the democratic will of the citizens! Once they succeed in Rivers State, they will move swiftly to implement the same nefarious scheme in Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom States which is currently underway! They know that they cannot win free and fair elections and they are hellbent on establishing an authoritarian one-party state in Nigeria. They don’t care if they have to kill millions of Nigerians or burn Nigeria down to achieve their morbid inordinate ambition for political power and commandeering of the country’s wealth and resources.
NIGERIA HAS DESTROYED ITS BOND WITH THE IJAWS
A nation can only result from a free association of free individuals and free peoples who agree, by free will and not by coercion, to form a common country and a common government for the good of all. Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, in part, that: “No one may be compelled to belong to an association”.
Nigeria’s proven intent to exterminate us is an absolute contraindication for us to continue to be part of Nigeria! It is a very strong warning for us to part ways with Nigeria before it is too late. By its ungrateful and evil actions against the Ijaws, Nigeria has made its separation with the Ijaws inevitable.
The Ijaw Nation refuses to be part of a country whereby it is oppressed and marginalized by opportunists; whereby its developmental aspirations are subverted; whereby its resources are plundered; whereby its habitat is recklessly destroyed, and whereby its very survival is seriously threatened by ecocide and genocide. By virtue of Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we cannot be forced to belong to Nigeria where we are perpetually oppressed, repressed, marginalized, enslaved and impoverished as well as face an ever-increasing threat of annihilation!
Nigeria has destroyed its bond with the Ijaws irredeemably in many ways, including the following:
• The Nigerian State, as a matter of deliberate state policy, perpetrates ruthless oppression and genocidal reign of terror on the aboriginal Ijaw inhabitants of the Niger Delta Region and devastates their habitat with extremely toxic and carcinogenic hydrocarbon pollutants that are byproducts of the unbridled large- scale commercial extraction of abundant petroleum and natural gas in their homeland to develop and enrich other sections of Nigeria to the deprivation and underdevelopment of the Ijaw people and without appropriate measures of environmental remediation or commensurate compensation.
• Since 1994, Nigeria, as a nation, has continued with ethnic cleansing of the oil-rich Ijaw people through the instrumentality of the Nigerian military forces of occupation in the Niger Delta, the Joint Task Force (JTF).
• Currently, Nigeria has excluded Rivers State (one of the 36 states constituting the Federal Republic of Nigeria), which is predominantly populated by aboriginal Ijaw people whose homeland constitutes a significant section of the Ijaw Territory, from participatory constitutional democracy in the country; not being governed by its governor and legislators who were democratically elected under Nigeria’s Federal Constitution but has been hijacked, captured and ruled as a private enterprise of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by a military Sole Administrator appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the treasonous connivance of Nigeria’s National Assembly and Judiciary.
• Contrary to the Nigerian Constitution, which stipulates that no person or group of persons can remove a governor or government whose tenure has not completed, President Tinubu and his cohort have removed the governor and legislators of Rivers State from their offices in flagrant violation of the due processes prescribed by the constitution without consequence; despite the fact that the Nigerian Criminal Code Act 2004 Section 41 makes such act of unconstitutional removal of a governor a treasonable felony; no one has been held accountable as Bola Tinubu and his co-hijackers of the Apparatus of Governance in Nigeria continue to squander the revenues and resources of Rivers State (predominantly populated by aboriginal Ijaw people), which has been excluded from the Constitutional Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• The judicial arm of Nigeria’s government, being corruptly influenced and controlled by the totalitarian Tinubu Regime, is unwilling and unable to hold the Tinubu-led government of Nigeria accountable; they make lip service pronouncements but do nothing to enforce them. The Supreme Court has declared emphatically that Nigeria practices constitutional democracy and that “Autocracy is out of place in a constitutional democracy.” And that that “it must be stated loud and clear that the crisis in Rivers State is as result of non-adherence to the rule of law as well as the flagrant disregard of court orders.” But the Judiciary does nothing to enforce the Court orders when breached by the President and his cohort.
• For instance, the Supreme Court has ordered that “The Rivers State House of Assembly should resume sitting with all elected members forthwith.” However, the Tinubu Regime has disobeyed this order by suspending the House of Assembly and making it impossible for the House Assembly to resume sitting, instead of facilitating the House of Assembly to resume sitting!
In this regard, the Court has done nothing to enforce compliance of the lawless Tinubu Regime despite its power under Section 6 of the Nigerian Constitution which stipulates that everyone, including the president, must obey court orders.
Another Supreme Court Declaration which President Tinubu and his Sole Administrator are in breach of states that: The Central Bank of Nigeria is not entitled (allowed) to release any amount, money, fund of revenue standing to the credit of Rivers State in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Rivers State domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria, “including all allocations and revenue receipts from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) due to Rivers State from the Federation Account or from any other source, to the Rivers State Government until the fund has been duly charged with the relevant expenditure by an Appropriation Law duly made by the House of Assembly of Rivers State.” President Bola Tinubu and the illegitimate Sole Administrator of Rivers State appointed unconstitutionally by the president have disobeyed this Declaratory Order of the Supreme Court and have continued to collect and spend Rivers State Revenue and resources without a Rivers State Appropriation Bill passed by the State Assembly, which is unable to pass an Appropriation Bill for the State by virtue of being suspended by the same President Tinubu as part of the egregiously unconstitutional measures he instituted in his State of Emergency Proclamation for Rivers State.
Nigeria has broken its geopolitical covenant with the Ijaw people. Consequently:
• The Ijaw Nation, which has been denied participation in Nigeria’s Constitutional Federalism by the utterly unconstitutional removal of their democratically elected Rivers State governor and members of the House of Assembly by the Tinubu Regime, earnestly asks for global support for their legitimate quest for self-determination and also requests the global community to facilitate the arrest and prosecution of the Nigerian officials responsible for the ruthless oppression, repression, marginalization and genocidal reign of terror and ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Ijaw people.
• The Ijaw Nation seeks global support for self-determination to end genocide against its people and end the subjugation and colonization of their part of the federal republic of Nigeria as a private enterprise or fiefdom of President Tinubu and his top government officials.
STARK REALITY: IJAW SELF-DETERMINATION IS THE SOLUTION TO NIGERIA’S OPPRESSION AND EXPLOITATION OF THE IJAW PEOPLE
A self-imposed selfish, corrupt, dictatorial and unaccountable clique of opportunists rules Nigeria. Since these rulers do not need the mandate of Nigerians or Ijaws to rule, there is no political pressure or incentive for them to change the corrupt and unjust status quo that benefits them. The Niger Delta Conflict would therefore be kept aflame perpetually because the unjust status quo would continually evoke disenchantment amongst our people. This is the stark reality. The cause of the conflict is that the Nigerian State is robbing us of our resources and destroying our environment. Nigeria has the opportunity to kill us and destroy our environment simply because it has access to our lands and resources by virtue of our being part of Nigeria. This would be eliminated once we separate from Nigeria. Self-government for the Ijaws is therefore the solution to the Niger Delta Conflict. Freedom is the solution to oppression. Therefore, we hereby reassert the sovereignty of the Ijaw Nation that had always existed prior to our conscription into Nigeria by colonial Britain. Our Fight is not against Nigeria or Nigerian soldiers but against evil and oppression! This is a battle of good against evil. We are confident of the glorious triumph of good over evil! We are absolutely confident of our victory God has promised and decreed.
LEGITIMACY OF THE IJAW STRUGGLE: THE CONSCIENCE OF HUMANITY
The right of the Ijaw people to freedom and self-government is fully anchored in the moral authority of the global community, as enshrined in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966 (Resolution 2200A [XXI]), as follows:
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.
Similarly, Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples re-affirms the Right of the Ijaws to Freedom and Self-government as follows:
Indigenous peoples have the right of self- determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
In the spirit of justice and the enduring pursuit of human dignity, we call upon all defenders of liberty, advocates of human rights, and champions of self-determination across the world to stand in solidarity with the Ijaw Nation. Join the Alliance for Freedom and stand with us against all forms of oppression.
A CALL TO CONSCIENCE: THE IJAW AGENDA FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT
In the grand theatre of human history, the struggle for freedom has always echoed across oceans and continents, unchained from the bonds of geography, race, or creed. It is the indomitable language of the human spirit — the birthright of every person who yearns to breathe free. The Ijaw Nation, anchored in the Niger Delta’s rivers and mangroves, has long stood at the crossroads of hope and heartbreak, enduring systemic oppression, environmental devastation, and genocidal persecution with a dignity that defies conquest. Now, at this defining moment in our journey, we declare to the world: sovereignty belongs to the people. The hour has come to allow the Ijaw people to speak with the purity of the ballot, unshackled from fear, unencumbered by the weight of colonial legacies and post-colonial exploitation. A Referendum on Self-Government is not merely a procedural step, it is the sacred echo of the Ijaw people’s desire to stand, as all free nations do, with heads unbowed, spirits unbroken and voices unsilenced.
We call upon the Commonwealth of Australia , the symbolic torchbearer of liberty, and the United Nations, the solemn custodian of peace and human dignity, to rise beyond political convenience and hear the call of conscience. The pages of history remind us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so powerfully warned. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity.
The Ijaw Struggle is not an isolated human struggle. It is a chapter in the universal story of freedom, the same story that birthed the American Revolution, the anti-apartheid movement, and the long march to equality for countless nations. As President John F. Kennedy once proclaimed, “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
We are that ‘one man.’ We are the forgotten voice on the global stage. We are the Ijaw Nation, 20 million strong, and our plea is simple yet profound: the right to choose our future. Let this be the hour when humanity’s better angels prevail over political apathy. Let the world gather not as indifferent spectators, but as compassionate allies, to ensure that the Ijaw people’s destiny is no longer determined by the muzzle of the gun, but by the voice of the people.
The rivers that cradle our homeland have for centuries whispered tales of resilience; let the international community now write the next chapter, one of justice, one of freedom, one of self-determination. We call on global leaders, human rights champions, faith communities, civil society, indigenous advocates, and free peoples everywhere to convene, to counsel, and to collaborate on this historic march toward self-government for the Ijaw people. For as President Nelson Mandela so aptly said, “Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.” Our chains must be broken. Our voices must be heard. Our future must be free.
AN APPEAL FOR GLOBAL SOLIDARITY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUMAN DIGNITY, LIBERTY, JUSTICE, PEACE AND SELF-DETERMINATION
Sovereignty belongs to the people. Accordingly, we shall conduct a Referendum on Self- Government, as soon as possible, to allow our people to decide, through free and fair voting, whether to remain within the Nigerian state or to establish self-government. We hereby call upon the Commonwealth of Australia and the United Nations to provide technical assistance to ensure the credible conduct of this referendum. The Ijaw people earnestly appeal for global solidarity for the advancement of human dignity, liberty, justice, peace and self-determination.
Sir, recognizing that you, as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia and a Leader of the Free World, stand as the ultimate global protector of human rights and the guarantor of the right to self-determination for all peoples, pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 21, 26, 27, 28, 30, and 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we, the twenty (20) million Ijaw people of the Niger Delta, hereby make a clarion call to you and the Commonwealth of Australia to take urgent and decisive action. We implore you, in your pre-eminent official capacity and through the agency of the United Nations, to halt Nigeria’s ruthless oppression and genocidal reign of terror against the Ijaw people, and to lend your full support to the Ijaw Agenda for Self-Government, as follows:
- Declaration that Rivers State must return to constitutional democracy immediately.
- Declare the Ijaw Region in Nigeria as a Protectorate of the United Nations pending the completion of our transition to self-government.
- Establish a United Nations Committee for the Self-Determination of the Ijaws to: a) Mediate negotiations between the Ijaw people and the Nigerian State for a peaceful separation; b) Provide technical assistance for the conduct of our Referendum on Self-Government; c) Oversee the orderly and lawful transition to self-rule.
- Grant the Ijaw people representation as an OBSERVER NATION at the United Nations General Assembly, pending the successful completion of our transition to self-government, a status currently enjoyed by the Palestinian people.
- Order the Nigerian Government, through a United Nations Security Council Resolution, to immediately withdraw all military troops, submarines, gunboats, and weaponry deployed to the Niger Delta for the purpose of killing and repressing the Ijaw people.
- Impose stringent economic sanctions on Nigeria, including a total international embargo on Nigerian petroleum and natural gas, until the unconstitutional and unjust State of Emergency in Rivers State is rescinded, the democratically elected Governor, His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara, is reinstated, and all Nigerian military and paramilitary forces of occupation are fully withdrawn from the Niger Delta.
- Approve and facilitate a meeting between yourself and a high-powered delegation of the Ijaw Ethnic Nationality from the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria at your earliest convenience. This meeting will enable us to articulate the moral imperative and the urgent necessity for your intervention. You, Sir, stand as a divine instrument raised for such a time as this, to end Nigeria’s ruthless oppression and genocidal reign of terror against the Ijaw people and to champion the Ijaw Agenda for Self-Government.
Dear Hon Prime Minister, the Rivers State Community Ijaw Nation in Australia wishes you utmost success in your mission to fulfill your momentous Divine Mandate to bring historic peace and prosperity to Australia and the entire world as we are indeed grateful on your stands for world peace without fear among the warring nations.
Nigeria is a friend of Australia and should give account of internal actions that could jeopardize world peace and refugee outflow.
Example of such unconstitutional treatment of Rivers State with a democratically elected Ijaw extraction governor can be seen in different treatment of the two internally captured States of Benue State and Rivers State:
Benue State: People are killed on a daily basis including massacre, it is the food basket of the nation in trouble -“I will clear my schedule to visit the people of Benue on Wednesday.”
AND
“President Tinubu has equally charged the governor of Benue State with convening reconciliation meetings and dialogue among the warring parties to end the *incessant* *bloodshed* and bring lasting peace and harmonious coexistence between farmers, herders, and communities.”
— President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Rivers State:
People are living in peace in Rivers State, no killings, there was a political disagreement between Wike’s group and Fubara’s political groups, however the president remarked I will declare a state of emergency in Rivers State from Abuja and replace the governor with sole administrator
-President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The president did exactly that, by unlawfully suspending a democratic government in Rivers State with a Sole Administrator under his control in replacement.
Both States are under the same constitution but one removed from operating under the constitution against the oath of office and dictates of the constitution in the same Country under one government and one President, that is a clear recipe for oppression of the people of Rivers State, the women continue to protest the unconstitutional removal of their elected governor.
God bless you, your administration and the Commonwealth of Australia so richly as you call Nigeria for explanation.
Supported for and on behalf of the twenty (20) million strong Ijaw Nation by:
1. Prof(Chief) Emmanuel Ezekiel-Hart President, Rivers State Community Canberra Australia
2. Professor Mondy Gold, Chairman of the Ijaw Diaspora Council and Amadabo of Ijaw Diaspora.
3. Dr. Ebipamone N. Nanakumo, President Emeritus of Ijaw Foundation / Servant of God, USA
4. Mr Souton Dambo, Vice President, Ijaw Diaspora Council (Asia-Pacific), Australia
5: Mrs. Gesiere Brisibe-Dorgu, former Chairwoman, Ijaw Diaspora, USA
6. Dr. Dina Jackson-Davis, former Secretary, BOT, Ijaw Diaspora Council, USA
7. Dr. Charles Jumbo, Coordinator, Ijaw Diaspora Council, United Kingdom
8. Dr. Edward Agbai, former Secretary, Ijaw Diaspora Council, Canada.
9: Dr. Abiye Hector Goma, MD, Member, Ijaw Global Think Tank Committee, United Kingdom
10. Ebitimi Egbunu, Member of the Ijaw Nation Forum (INF), USA
11. Chief Dr. Brisibe Nabena, Board of Trustees, Ijaw Diaspora Council, USA
12. Dr. Emmanuel Obogo, MD, Ijaw Global Think Tank Committee, Saudi Arabia
13. Dr. Kenneth Sele Asiagbe, Youth Leader, Ijaw Diaspora Council, United Kingdom.
14. Chief Charles Opusoye Lulu-Pokubo, Vice President, Saskatoon Niger Delta Forum Canada
15. Sir Clifford Tamuno Inimgba, Former President of Wakirike, Canada
