Wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has been accused of sponsoring protests against the Bayelsa State Government over the state’s decision to allot the Bayelsa Palm for herdsmen operating there.
A group, the Ijaw Patriots, in a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital, maintained that the former First Lady was behind Ms Ankio Briggs’ rally in Bayelsa last week.
The Ijaw group stated that the decision of the ex-President’s wife to support a protest that might lead to the breakdown of law and order was not only insensitive, but done in bad faith.
Executive Secretary of the Ijaw Patriot, David Lawson, who signed the statement on behalf of the group, said the action of the former First Lady was condemnable and must be resisted by all well meaning Ijaw sons and daughter.
According to the organisation, Mrs Jonathan’s sponsorship of Briggs was hinged on her selfish interest to avoid paying taxes to the government on her own herds, herself, being an owner of over 500 cattle in the state.
It noted that restricting the movement of the cows to the area provided was not only a strategy against any unforeseen clashes between herdsmen and farmers, but would also help boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the state.
“She owns 500 Cattles and the protest was to ensure she does not pay tax per head of cattle as part of government’s decision to restrict herdsmen and their cattle to the Bayelsa Palm Area for grazing”, the IP said.
The group described the act as irresponsible and unwarranted and warned the former First Lady to steer clear of Bayelsa State in the interest of peace and public sanity.
The socio-political organisation also condemned attempts by Ms Briggs to lead the protest “after collecting huge sums of money from Dame Patience Jonathan to incite citizens in a protest against the Bayelsa State Government”
It called on all true Ijaw sons and daughters to resist any attempt to set them against each other, noting that it would not augur well for the badly needed cohesion required to advance the progress of the Ijaw people.
“We call on all Ijaw sons and daughters to join forces with government to keep the peace in the state rather than allow some people use their own selfish interest to destroy the state.
“Confining the Fulani herdsmen to Bayelsa Palm was aimed at pre-empting any security breach such as is happening in other parts of the country”, the group posited.
Also, a youth group in the Niger Delta has accused Ms Briggs of working for some political interests in the state.
The youths under the auspices of the Niger Delta Youths Coalition (NDYC) also stated that the self-styled Ijaw activist, has been heavily induced by Patience Jonathan and her co-travellers, who are intent on jeopardising the current peace being enjoyed in the state.
Specifically, the NDYC said that after collecting huge sums of money from Mrs Jonathan to lead a protest aimed at inciting the people of Bayelsa against the Bayelsa State Government, it was now obvious whose interest Ms Briggs and her sponsors were serving.
According to the youth group, from the information at its disposal, the decision to restrict herdsmen and their cattle to the Bayelsa Palm for grazing was one of the best that had been taken in recent times.
In a statement signed by the NDYC spokesman, Mathew Fobiri and made available to journalists in Yenagoa, while the so-called protest was hinged on the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle grazing in Bayelsa Palm, the sponsors had ulterior motives. “The real motive of the protest is political and it is all about 2019”, the statement noted.
The NDYC spokesman said: “Politics is what is at play here and we must sound it loud and clear that as Niger Delta youths we cannot allow ourselves to be deceived and used by those who have failed us before to further plunge our the Niger Delta into crisis.
“As for Ankio Briggs, she should come out and tell the whole world the truth. Pointing accusing fingers on the Bayelsa State government is all part of the grand design to make the Dickson-led government unpopular including leading a sponsored protest when she can afford to engage the governor one on one.
“The claim that she was beaten up by thugs sent by the state government is all lies. She was reportedly sharing money to youths in the Tombia Roundabout of the state capital, before a fight broke out among the youths over the sharing formula”.
While aligning with the state government’s decision to restrict the herdsmen and their cattle to Bayelsa Palm, NDYC insisted that the decision of the government was in the best interest of the state.
The group opined that the action of government has pre-empted herdsmen/farmers’ clashes as seen in many states including in the neighbouring Delta State, “where people have been killed by Fulani herdsmen in the last couple of months”.
