Youths of Niger Delta Origin who are resident in the 19 Northern states on Thursday held a rally in support of the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The youths, according to a statement released by the Special Assistant on Media to the Amnesty office, Murphy Ganagana, said that the hundreds of Ijaw youths were drawn from the huge population of Niger Delta indigenes resident in the North.
The rally, which terminated at the corporate head office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme was also used to rally support for the Coordinator of Amnesty Office and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Prof. Charles Dokubo.
The placard-carrying youths led by the president of the Ijaw Youth Association in Northern Nigeria, Comrade Akasah Eniyekeye Kelvin, said the solidarity march was to galvanize support for President Buhari’s re-election in the forthcoming election.
He said that the group has scheduled a Town Hall meeting for Tuesday, January 29 in Abuja to endorse President Buhari for a second term, adding that plans are also underway to hold a three-million-man march in the nation’s capital.
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Akasa said: “We are here to tell the whole world that President Buhari and Prof. Charles Dokubo have done well. For the past nine months that Mr President appointed him, he has done enough. Since he came into office, all the moribund training centres, he has revamped them. As a matter of fact, he has done enough and he is still doing more. So, the whole world should disregard the sponsored petitions and protests against him.
“We are saying they should give him enough space to work. Give him time so that everybody will benefit from him. We are queuing behind President Buhari and Prof. Dokubo because they’ve done well and will Niger Delta to the Next Level.”
The statement quoted Dokubo while responding to the groups as expressing appreciation to members of the group for publicly demonstrating support for him and President Buhari. He assured that the Amnesty Programme will be used under his watch to transform youths in the Niger Delta region.
He said: “Our people have come to show Mr President and I support which will go a long way. This office belongs to all of you and I was appointed to change the tune and narratives in the Niger Delta. This office belongs to everybody from the Niger Delta. You are supposed to benefit from it; to transform you. It is not only about paying N65, 000. It is for making you realize that through this office, which has been supported by the President, who has given us the backing, you must work for him.”
”I will work hard for the Amnesty Programme; I will make sure that the people of Niger Delta benefit from this organization. If they do not benefit, I would have also destroyed myself. When I finish here, where I am going to? To you! At the end of my day, when I come back, I am coming back to you. I will live in your midst. If I have not done well, will I have any face to look at you?
“I am really elated. For you to have come out from your tight schedules and come to this office, I am ready to give you any support. This is the support I need more than any other thing. Let my people know that they have a place here that they can call home. This is your home. This is the capital of Niger Delta. So, please, let us work together. Let us stop bringing down people. Let us work for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
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