The Arogbo Ijaw Patriots has faulted the imposition of the Oodua anthem on the Ijaw minority in Ondo State.
The group also berated the state government for the use of the ethnic anthem in Yoruba for the conduct of a promotion examination for senior civil servants.
The group said that Governor Akeredolu’s attempt to foist an ethnic anthem on the Ijaws of Ondo State was a flagrant violation of the rights of the Ijaw ethnic minority in the state.
The group recalled that Akeredolu through a memo titled “Adoption of Oduduwa Anthem in the Public Secondary Schools across Ondo State”, signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Teaching Service Commission, Mr Tolu Adeyemi, on May 6, 2021, made it compulsory for the said anthem to be sung in all secondary schools in the state.
They said that it was absurd and disturbing that the governor would make it compulsory for Oodua or ‘Ondo anthem’ (in Yoruba) to be sung in all secondary schools in the Ondo State where there are indigenous Ijaws.
The group said the Ijaws of Ondo speak their own language in consonance with their distinct ethnicity as an Ijaw minority and would like to keep that identity and heritage.
They implored Nigerians to prevail on Akeredolu to respect the rights of the marginalized Arogbo Ijaws to a respectful and dignified existence in Ondo as provided for by the constitution.
They noted that Ondo comprises of two ethnicities- the dominant Yoruba, who occupy 17 local government areas, and the minority Ijaws who occupy a local government area of their own.
They lamented that the leadership of the Ondo State Civil Service took further steps in the abuse of the law to ask people, including Arogbo Ijaws, to sing the anthem in a promotion interview at the Governor’s Office Civil Service Matters.
They added: “While we (Ijaws) are not opposed to agitations of whatever form, we are alarmed by the brazen unfair, irresponsible expansionist attempt to make us assimilated Yoruba people.
“Our territory, which became part of Ondo State in 1976, is not a vassal territory and shouldn’t be treated as such.
“We call on the leadership of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) to intervene through its organs in the South West to avert further humiliation and oppression of the Arogbo Ijaws.
“We call on the Attorney-General of the Federation and indeed all Nigerians of good conscience to prevail on Akeredolu to stop his disdainful treatment of the Ijaw minority in the state.”
