As the Ijaw National Congress (INC) election is set to hold on Saturday, March 7, 2026, the Movement for the Survival of the Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) has expressed concern over the purported disqualification of Elder Timi Ogoriba, one of the aspirants aspiring for the post of National President of Ijaw National Congress.

MOSIEND, who spoke on Tuesday, stated that the purported disqualification will expose what many now regard as a predetermined attempt to impose weak leadership on the Ijaw nation through technical contrivances rather than democratic choice.

MOSIEND therefore alerts the entire Ijaw nation to the grave and unfolding danger posed by what it calls the manipulation of the 2026 Ijaw National Congress (INC) electoral process.

A statement by the National President of MOSIEND, Dr Kennedy Tonjo West, on Tuesday and made available to Journalists, stated that what is currently presented as an election is, in substance, a carefully orchestrated exercise capable of undermining the very foundation upon which the INC was established, adding that the integrity of the institution is at stake.

The group maintained that the justification advanced for this exclusion, including the alleged one-year membership requirement, is legally questionable, morally indefensible, and politically provocative.

MOSIEND further noted with deep concern, the troubling silence of who the group called key stakeholders, including governors of Ijaw states and the outgoing INC President, Benjamin Ogele Okaba adding that “MOSIEND is aware of the strides of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, who emerged from the struggle platform and played a foundational role in Ijaw grassroots mobilization adding that ” at moments of institutional strain, silence is often interpreted as consent.”

The state continued:” We state unequivocally that the purported disqualification of respected and widely accepted frontline candidates particularly Elder T. K. Ogoriba, exposes what many now regard as a predetermined attempt to impose weak leadership on the Ijaw nation through technical contrivances rather than democratic choice.

“A constitution that has not been duly ratified by a properly constituted National Congress lacks both the moral and legal authority to determine eligibility. To deploy such an instrument selectively against credible contenders is to weaponise procedure against democracy.

“The Ijaw nation is too historically grounded and politically conscious to be misled by procedural technicalities designed to achieve predetermined outcomes. Elder Ogoriba represents a generation of patriots whose sacrifices predate the institutionalisation of the INC. To exclude such a figure is an attempt to rewrite the history of the Ijaw struggle and sever the organisation from its ideological roots.

“​This development reinforces growing fears that a narrow circle of entrenched interests has reduced the INC to a closed establishment where leadership is rotated among familiar actors through questionable arrangements. No institution survives when its processes are perceived as manipulated, and its credibility is compromised.”

​The moral authority expected at this defining moment, according to MOSIEND, must not be absent.

“We reckon that if this flawed process proceeds unchecked, the consequences will be severe and enduring, as the INC remains the most important unifying institution of the Ijaw people. Any process that erodes public confidence is a direct threat to the collective future of the Ijaw nation.

“Our unity as a people cannot survive institutional injustice. ​Leadership produced through manipulated processes will lack the moral authority required to represent the Ijaw people credibly at national and international levels.

“The INC must produce a President recognised by the people as their authentic voice, not one manufactured through procedural exclusion.

“​If the election proceeds under present circumstances, the outcome will be widely rejected and remembered as one of the most controversial episodes in the history of the INC.”

​To avert a historic crisis within the Ijaw nation, MOSIEND calls for urgent intervention and immediate dissolution of the Electoral Committee, adding that the present committee has lost the confidence of a significant segment of stakeholders and has demonstrated insufficient sensitivity to the unity and stability of the Ijaw nation.

The group also called for ​the immediate postponement of the INC elections due to the prevailing atmosphere of distrust, which it said will only delegitimise the outcome.

” We also call for a convening of an emergency national stakeholders engagement to determine the legal validity of the 2019 Constitution, establish a broadly acceptable electoral framework and appoint a neutral and credible Electoral Committee

“​These measures are safeguards, not obstacles. The greatest threat to the INC today is not postponement; the greatest threat is a discredited election.

“​The responsibility before today’s leadership is historic. The INC was built by patriots who sacrificed comfort and safety for the collective future of the Ijaw people. No individual or group has the right to manipulate that collective destiny.

“​History will record whether unity was defended or expediency prevailed. The Ijaw nation is watching. The conscience of the struggle is awake.​This is not a time for imposed leadership.

“This is not a time for elite endorsements. This is a time for legitimacy. The Ijaw nation must not be betrayed.” The statement concluded.