Managing Director of Foreword Communications Limited, publishers of National Point newspaper, and award-winning Niger Delta journalist, Ms. Ibiba DonPedro, was among prominent Ijaw achievers that were conferred with Heroes of Ijaw Nation Awards last Sunday in Port Harcourt.
DonPedro’s award came in the Journalism category and was recognized for being “in the trenches for the emancipation of the Ijaw race.” According to the citation, the CNN and Reuters-IUCN award winning journalist “is revered in the innermost circles of the struggle and her integrity and uncompromising steadfastness on principles is a sweet smelling savour that sets her apart from the ordinary.”
Other awardees included Prof Lawrence Ekpebu, Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, Elder Paul Worika, Tony Uranta and Chief Promise Ikpuku in the Posthumous category. Other awardees were Ms. Annkio Briggs, Alabo Reginald Abbey-Hart, Chief Veronica Bamuza-Mutu, Dr. Sam Dede, Chief Timi Ogoriba, Pastor David Ibiyeomie, Chief Ephraim Faloughi and Prof. Benjamin Okaba. The others were Chief Government Ekpemupolo, Gen. Kenneth Minimah, Dr. Eruani Godbless, Gen. Barry Ndiomu, Ambassador Maureen Tamuno, Dr. Fafaa Dan-Princewill, Prof. Iyalla Peterside and Tamaraibi Abraham.
The Recognition of the Ijaw Man of the Year was conferred on High Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, whose philanthropic gestures in education and disaster relief were acknowledged.
Alatubo Charles Harry, the President of Ijaw Republican Assembly Patriotic Front, organizers of the awards, said the recognitions were a reflection of the truth for which the awardees stood for. “We spend this time each year to tell ourselves the truth. Ijaw means the truth, and the truth will set Ijaw free,” he said.
The National President of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, urged the Ijaw to seize the opportunity of the electioneering campaigns to extract commitments from the presidential candidates as a condition for voting for them in the coming elections.
He expressed satisfaction with the high presence of Ijaw sons and daughters in the governorship election in Rivers State, and warned against any Ijaw people that would work against the emergence of an Ijaw governor in Rivers State. “We cannot remain slaves in a state that our forefathers fought for,” the INC president said.
In the keynote address, Prof. Sofiri Peterside of the University of Port Harcourt called on the Ijaw candidates contesting the governorship election in Rivers State to go into an alliance that will ensure the emergence of an Ijaw governor in 2023. “The Ijaw national Congress can take the lead so that we are not again consigned to the dustbin of history,” Peterside said.
Peterside also condemned what he called the “repression and shrinking of the civic space in Rivers State.” He said Executive Orders 21 and 22 recently issued by the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, were undemocratic and capable of depleting the capacity of the people to participate in the democratic process.
One of the awardees, Annkio Briggs, lamented the ingratitude of Nigeria to the sacrifices made to the country by Ijawland.
“The question I ask is: Have we ever received any thanks for what we have given this country? And the answer is no! Ijaw means truth. So, in truth I must tell us the reason we are still in the struggle. We are still in this struggle not because of the oppression alone but because we allowed the oppressors to continue to oppress us in Rivers State, in other Niger Delta States and in Nigeria.
“Where we are today is not where we ought to be. I therefore call on all Ijaws home and abroad to put Ijaw first, especially in Rivers State.
