The name Annkio Briggs is one that rings
a bell across the nation as she is
undoubtedly one of the leading female
activists to have emerged from the Niger
Delta region.
As President of the Agape Birthright,
spokesperson of the Ijaw Republican
Assembly (IRA) and also the United Niger
Delta Energy Development Security
Strategy (UNDEDSS), Briggs is a force to
reckon with on matters concerning the
Niger Delta and in this interview culled
from VANGUARD, the fiery activist speaks
on the 2015 presidential election and
assertions by some Ijaw activists on the
sustenance of the Jonathan presidency.
Excerpts:
According to Ms Briggs, Nigerians are in
their present predicament because they
gloss over certain things some group of
persons say especially as it concerns the
2015 elections.
On the call for President Goodluck
Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential
polls, she says: “The decision to contest or
not to contest is Jonathan’s. If for
instance, the Niger Delta people agree
that Jonathan should contest and he says
he is not going to contest, that is his
choice. It is his choice and that is the
point I am making which is that it is not
the choice of Kaita or Buhari or anybody
to tell Nigerians who to vote for.”
She, however, declined to comment on
Jonathan’s performance in office saying
she is “on record of complaining about so
many things about Jonathan’s presidency
so far” and said her previous statements
will speak for her.
Retraction of statement
On her comments that oil pipelines will
be blown up and the economy brought to
a standstill if Jonathan fails to win in
2015, Ms Briggs said she stands by her
earlier assertion stating that, “The only
time I will retract anything is if the
condition that led to that statement
changes, then I will change my position.
Nobody is saying that Jonathan’s
government is perfect. Nobody has said
that. I have criticised it and I have used
the Niger Delta as a yardstick to measure
his performance and I have said it very
clearly.
“Now, having said that, we are two years
into a four year term and I am not
oblivious to the fact that from the day it
became clear that he was going to be the
president of this country that some
people constituted themselves into a sort
of opposition that would make him to
seem ineffective. People have now
forgotten about Boko Haram, Boko
Haram has now been relegated to the
background and you now have bandits
that are roaming around in some states in
the north!”
She claimed that certain forces are
working hard to derail the present
administration and portray it as not to be
performing saying “until these obstacles
are not there will I be able to say
categorically that Jonathan has not
performed.”
But she was quick to add that the decision
to contest the 2015 presidential elections
remained the perogative of Mr. Jonathan.
Ms Briggs kicked against the offer of
amnesty to Boko Haram citing the N/
Delta where it was first introduced. She
asked “what has it been able to achieve in
terms of time line and what it was
expected to achieve? We expected it to
create the avenue where development
will come to the Niger Delta, but that has
not happened”.
When reminded that the amnesty
programme had stopped violence in the
region, she retorted:
“Let me tell you why Niger Delta is no
longer violent is because Jonathan is the
president. Let me tell you the truth and
anybody that does not know that is
fooling himself. The reason why the oil
production has gone up is because
Jonathan is the president. That is just the
truth and that is the point that must be
made and must be understood and if
anybody else thinks that why the oil
production is gone up and the Niger Delta
is calm, then that person should reassess
the whole scenario.”
On statements credited to some northern
leaders vowing to recapture power in
2015 as President Jonathan had not lived
up to the region’s expectations, she said,
“If Ciroma, Kaita and all these elderly
people can come out and say these things
about Nigeria and about Jonathan, then
they should expect that we also must be
allowed to express how we feel and the
reality is, whether it is agreed or not
agreed, the resources are in the Niger
Delta, therefore it belongs to us.
“We are the ones drinking polluted water.
Is Kaita drinking polluted water? Is he
breathing gas flared oil? These are the
things that must be said. Is Kaita drinking
polluted water? When he talks like that it
is very offensive, therefore somebody
like me I will talk the way he has spoken
so that we will see if it is good or bad. If
he thinks that he can make Nigeria
ungovernable, we too can make Nigeria
ungovernable and that is what we are
saying.
“Is the presidency of Nigeria his birthright
to be handed over to him and his family?
Which president has performed better
than Jonathan? Answer me and who is he
worse than? What nonsense!”
No comments:
Post a Comment