Tag Archives: Annkio Briggs

Militants give Bayelsa Government 48-hour ultimatum over alleged assault on Briggs

Posted on by
1

An amalgam of militant groups known as the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson to apologise to Ijaw woman activist, Annkio Briggs or face their anger.

The JRC said it held Dickson responsible for the alleged assault on her and others during a recent peaceful protest in Bayelsa.

Briggs was assaulted by hoodlums in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital a week ago to protest the allocation of 1, 200 hectares of land to Fulani herdsmen for cattle grazing.

According to the spokesperson of the JRC, Cynthia Whyte yesterday, if Governor Dickson failed to apologise “key agitating groups in the state would be activated to undermine the Dickson government.”

She said: “Within that 48-hour space, key agitating groups will first renounce amnesty and then commence series of activities to drive home our point and position. It is unfortunate that the same government which many Ijaws struggled and clamoured to win the 2016 elections would now turn out to be a government of tyranny, incompetence and ineptitude,” JRC said.

Whyte said: “It is unfortunate that today, the same bandit elements, armed robbers and unrepentant hardened criminals, who worked against Governor Dickson’s second term are the same band of renegades that would be hired to mug, mob and attack Annkio Briggs and her fellow protesters.

“This represents the fullness of treachery and tyranny. We will not allow this to happen in Bayelsa State, the cradle of Ijaw nation,” the JRC statement alleged.

“We will protect Wike”, Ann-Kio Briggs boasts.

Posted on by
1

The alleged withdrawal of the security details of the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, by the police featured prominently during the town hall meeting Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had with the people of the state on Monday.

Mr. Osinbajo is touring the Niger Delta region of the country to promote a “new engagement” that is expected to usher in lasting peace in the troubled region.

Some women in the state in their presentation to Mr. Osinbajo said they were ready to offer themselves as security to protect Mr. Wike against any harm.

Ann-Kio Briggs, a popular Niger Delta activist, spoke on behalf of the women.

“As women, we must express our serious concern on the removal of the security details of our governor,” Ms. Briggs said.

“If our governor is exposed to the risk of having inadequate security, this poses not only a threat to our state but to our economy and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“(And) if this extreme danger continues, as mothers we may have no other alternative but to consider protecting our governor.”

Ms. Briggs remarks elicited cheers from the crowd inside the hall, especially from the women.

She said the women would no longer be left out of whatever plans Nigeria has towards the Niger Delta.

“Women are the bedrock of our society,” she added.

The traditional rulers in the state also added their voice to the call for the “restoration” of the governor’s security details.

The Chairman, Rivers State Council of Chiefs, Douglas Jaja, who spoke on behalf of the traditional rulers, said Mr. Wike was the only governor in Nigeria without security men.

“Governor Wike is our son. As fathers, when any of our sons is in danger we get worried. We are worried (that) he may be set up for attack or assassination,” said Mr. Jaja who is also the Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom.

Mr. Jaja told the acting president, “We have no doubt that as a man of God you do uphold the sanctity of life.

“It is on this basis that we request that you assist us by bringing pressure to bear on the inspector general of police to restore the governor’s security aides to their former position.

“Under his watch, this state has protected the federal government infrastructure. No case of pipeline vandalisation has been reported in recent years.

“We believe that having done so well as a governor, he should not be subjected to such torture. Rather, he should be encouraged to do more.”

When it was the turn of Mr. Wike to address the meeting, the governor said he was in support of “all their presentations”.

The governor said that the Rivers government was not in contention against the federal government.

He enumerated what he said were his administration’s contributions to the federal government, including providing support for the security agencies in the state, the prevention of militant attacks on oil pipelines and the repairs of a section of the East-West Road.

He, however, added that the federal government in return wasn’t giving the state a fair treatment.

Mr. Wike said the Port Harcourt International Airport, owned by the federal government, for instance, was a disgrace to the state and the nation, and that most of the federal roads in the states were in dilapidated condition.

The governor accused the federal government of not allowing the seventh train of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, project in the state to kick off, as well as doing “political stunts” with the Ogoni clean-up campaign which the federal government flagged off last year.

The acting president, Mr. Osinbajo in his response, said Rivers State was important to the country’s economy, and that the federal government was beginning a “new partnership” with the state and the entire Niger Delta region.

“I am assuring you that this will be the beginning of the narrative that will change the Niger Delta,” Mr. Osinbajo said.

The acting president didn’t, however, respond to the issue of Governor Wike’s security details, apart from jokingly asking that the women extend their security protection to him (Mr. Osinbajo) as well.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, he denied that the police had withdrawn Mr. Wike’s security details.

Mr. Moshood said the police officers that were withdrawn from the governor’s security were those “found wanting” during the last legislative re-run election, and that they were dismissed from the police after an administrative trial.

The dismissed police officers were awaiting prosecution, he said.

 

Source: Premium Times

Thugs attack Annkio Briggs, other protesters in Bayelsa.

Posted on by
Reply

A peaceful protest embarked upon by a coalition of Ijaw interest groups in Yenagoa on Tuesday ended on a sad note as thugs allegedly attacked the protesters.

Annkio Briggs, a Niger Delta rights activist, was reportedly among those rough handled during the protest against the donation of land to cattle grazers.

The rally christened “Love for Bayelsa, Love for Ijaw land, Love for Niger Delta, Love for Nigeria” had barely began when the heavily armed thugs invaded the take off point of the rally at the Tombia junction, a witness said.

Thugs reportedly beat up and inflicted bodily injuries on the protesters, mainly women and youth, including one of the conveners, Ankio Briggs.

The presence of the police officers at the scene did not deter the thugs as they carried out the violence while the police looked on to the chagrin of the protesters.

While others sustained minor injuries, one Christy Odiko, a member of Ijaw Women Connect, IWC, was reportedly hospitalised due to sustained injuries.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the attack, Ms. Briggs who said she lost her phone in the cause of the melee, described the action of the police as “unacceptable”.

“All what we are saying is no to Ijaw land being ceded to Fulani people under any circumstance.

“At the rally, thugs came into the Tombia round about field, they invaded the place push me down, one particular boy collected my Samsung phone, my Identity Card was ripped off my neck and some people secured me and moved me away from the location.

“I told the police DPO that this rally was not against the Governor of Bayelsa, but against the decision he has made.

“It is unbelievable, I am an Ijaw person, I have fought for the Ijaw nation for as long as I can remember.

“I have been called a bigot because of my stand on Ijaw issues and if today I can come to Bayelsa, and Bayelsa children some of them are old enough to be my children, whether it is Gen Africa, and others; so if today they have appointments and positions and think that people like me no longer have the right to speak on Ijaw matters, that is a sad day for them and not for Ijaw nation.”

When contacted for comments, the spokesperson of the Bayelsa Police Command, Asinim Butswat, asked for more time and promised to call back. He did not call back before the report was published.

Annkio Briggs Advises Buhari On Biafra

Posted on by
Reply

Human rights activist, Ms Annkio Briggs has advocated for the self-determination of the Niger Delta people and urged member states of the United Nations to sup­port the demand by people of the oil-rich region for the control of their resources. She argues that the nation has short-changed the region for too long.

She spoke to newsmen after she addressed a conference en­titled: “Nigeria: Equity, corruption and justice” on behalf of a group, Niger Delta Self Determination Movement (NDSDM) in Lagos. Excerpts:

The Niger Deltans are asking for self determination while the Biaf­rans are asking for a separate state of their own, what is the difference in the two agitations?

The Biafrans are saying that they want a different country but we are saying that we want self determi­nation so that we can control our immediate areas of responsibility and pay tax to the federal govern­ment. That does not seem that we are asking for a different country of our own. It sounds like people who want to do for themselves what no other people can do for them. It is like confederation. What we have today is precisely that the centre takes everything and decide what you get whether you are dy­ing, dehydrating or not. When they give you your allocation, they feel you have taken your quota for the month.

On the issue of the Biafrans, if the Nigerian government wants to discuss with the Boko Haram, why not discuss with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Odi was destroyed and so many Niger Delta areas have been destroyed. What would have impressed me is that if President Buhari is going about asking for help to rebuild the North East and to negotiate with Boko Haram so that we can have security and stability, then he should include places like the Niger Delta and the Igbo people and find a way round their grievances and not have this mentality that 95 per cent voted for him and that five per cent did not vote for him.

Credit: SunOnline