Open Letter to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria
NEWS. SPORTS. ENTERTAINMENT
Your Excellency,
We, the members of Ijaw Women Connect, Rivers State Chapter—a formidable socio-political platform representing thousands of Ijaw women across our riverine communities—write to you with heavy hearts, profound respect, and an unshakeable belief in your avowed commitment to justice, equity, and the Renewed Hope Agenda that swept you into office on a wave of national aspiration.
As mothers, wives, community leaders, and steadfast stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil-bearing heartland, we have borne the brunt of decades of environmental devastation, economic marginalization, and unfulfilled promises in the Niger Delta. Yet, in 2023, the Ijaw nation—particularly in Rivers State—stood resolutely with you. We campaigned tirelessly, mobilized our families, and delivered overwhelming support because we trusted your vision of inclusive prosperity, where no ethnic nationality would be left behind, and where loyalty and sacrifice would be met with fair recognition.
It is precisely this trust that makes our present disappointment so acute.
We are deeply troubled by the pattern of recent appointments in the upstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian petroleum industry—appointments that appear to sideline highly qualified, experienced, and deserving Ijaw sons and daughters from Rivers State in favor of others, including two notable Ogoni men elevated to strategic positions. While we celebrate every Nigerian’s right to aspire to high office, and while we recognize efforts to heal historical wounds in Ogoni land, equity demands balance, not substitution.
The Ijaw people are not peripheral players in Nigeria’s oil economy. We are its very foundation. Our lands and waters host the overwhelming bulk of the nation’s hydrocarbon reserves; our communities have endured the toxic legacy of extraction for over six decades—oil spills, gas flaring, destroyed farmlands and fisheries, health crises, and youth restiveness born of exclusion. In return for this sacrifice, we have consistently demonstrated loyalty to every administration that promised fairness—yet too often, that loyalty has been rewarded with tokenism rather than meaningful representation at the decision-making tables that shape our future.
Your Excellency, competence and experience abound within the Ijaw community of Rivers State. We have produced world-class engineers, geoscientists, administrators, economists, and industry veterans who have excelled in both public and private sectors of the oil and gas value chain. These individuals are not asking for handouts; they are demanding fair consideration based on merit, track record, and the principle of federal character enshrined in our Constitution.
To overlook such talent in favor of narrower representation is not merely an act of omission—it sends a dangerous signal: that loyalty is expendable, that sacrifice goes unrewarded, and that the Niger Delta’s largest ethnic nationality can be taken for granted. Such a perception risks eroding the very unity and stability your administration has worked tirelessly to build.
We therefore passionately urge you, Mr. President, in your characteristic boldness and sense of justice, to:
Immediately review these appointments in the upstream and downstream sectors with a view to ensuring equitable representation that reflects the true demographics of oil production and the sacrifices of host communities.
Prioritize the inclusion of competent Ijaw professionals from Rivers State in key roles, thereby reinforcing public confidence in your Renewed Hope Agenda.
Reaffirm, through deliberate and visible action, that no ethnic group shall be disproportionately favored or marginalized in the governance of our shared national patrimony.
Your Excellency, history will remember not only the policies you enact but the manner in which you honor the trust of those who believed in you most fervently. The Ijaw women of Rivers State still believe in your leadership. We still carry the hope you ignited. But hope deferred makes the heart sick—and prolonged exclusion breeds despair.
We respectfully await your positive intervention and decisive action in this matter, confident that you will rise—as you have so often done—to defend equity, restore balance, and keep faith with the people who stood with you when it mattered most.
May God continue to grant you wisdom, strength, and good health as you steer our nation toward true greatness.
Yours in patriotic service and unwavering solidarity,
Lady Dabota Jumbo
Secretary
Ijaw Women Connect
Rivers State Chapter
On behalf of the Executive and entire membership
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