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An elder statesman and renowned activist in the Niger Delta, Sokari Soberekon, has asked the National Assembly to stop the idea of passing the National Coast Guard Bill.
The bill, which seeks to establish a National Coast Guard for the country, has passed its second reading in the Senate.
Speaking to Sunday PUNCH, Soberekon also urged President Bola Tinubu and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to stop the bill.
Explaining his reason for opposing the bill, he said, “My opposition to the bill is rooted in the historical resistance of the Ijaw and Niger Delta communities to foreign forces, particularly during the British colonial era.”
Insisting that he remained unequivocal in his stance to defend the Niger Delta, the retired soldier-turned-activist stressed that the establishment of a National Coast Guard, particularly one that operates independently of the Nigerian Navy, would be met with resistance by the Ijaw people.
Soberekon said he believed any maritime security force other than the Nigerian Navy, especially an armed one, would be viewed as an intrusion into their territorial waters and an affront to their sovereignty.
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