Hundreds of Ijaw youths on Wednesday invaded the office of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, forcing some staff members of the ministry to flee.
A video streamed on social media and posted by BigPen Online shows staff of the ministry of Niger Delta fleeing the edifice as the youths make their way to the eleventh floor where Akpabio’s office is located.
The youths, drawn from the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), were said to be protesting alleged hijack of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affair as well as recent appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The youths who chanted war songs, also invoked the spirit of a Egbesu, a popular Ijaw deity of war and protection, on the minister.
The protest came barely 12 days after President Muhammadu Buhari named Okon-Akwa, who was the acting Executive Director, Finance, and Administration in NDDC, as the commission’s interim administrator.
Protesting the appointment recommended by Akpabio, youths had stormed the ever busy Mbiama-Yenagoa junction of the federal highway blocking both sides of the road.
