NIGER Delta militants appear to be split over whether to accept the federal government's offer of peace talks as one faction is prepared to enter into dialogue while another is insisting on continuing with the ongoing armed struggle.
Over the last month or so, armed militancy has returned to the Niger delta, with a new group called the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) blowing up oil pipelines and installations. Initially, the government responded by flooding the area with troops but over recent weeks, it has been more conciliatory and sought to dialogue with the militants.
Last week the militants me to discuss the offer of dialogue with NDA rejecting it outright, insisting that its campaign will continue. Some of the other organisations, however, have expressed an interest in talking to the government, with even militant commander Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo, appealing for dialogue.
Also, the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Front (JNDLF), the presumed umbrella group of militants in the region, countered the NDA, at the weekend, saying the militants would negotiate with government. Spokesman Akotebe Darikoro, suggested that the cluster was already discussing with government.
He added: “We shall continue to engage in dialogue with the federal government if our demands are met. Our representatives in the dialogue, especially the governors and others, will not betray our demands with the federal government.
Any betrayal on their own part shall be viewed as betrayal of the entire region and we shall go after them immediately. They know our mode of operation in which they will not escape from us."
Commander Bibi Oduku, the commandant-general of Riverine Security, whose organisation is collaborating with security agencies to track down criminals on the waterways, said: “We received information that NDA’s next targets are Choba Bridge, Rivers State, Kaiama Bridge, Patani, Imo River Bridge between Rivers and Abia and the bridge linking Rivers and Akwa-Ibom in the Ogoni axis.
“The militant group also plans to bomb the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) facilities in Warri, Port Harcourt, Onne and Calabar. They are also targeting MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat facilities in the Niger Delta region with other major oil and gas facilities, so security agencies must take fast action to forestall the attacks.”
However, NDA spokesperson, Brigadier-General Mudoch Agbinobi, said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) was a band of criminal elements and political sidekicks of one of the south-south governors and an ex-governor from the region. He added that the NDA is unperturbed as it has a mandate that is clearly a departure from those old tactics of the defunct so-called Mend that indulged in kidnapping, hostage taking, sea piracy, illegal oil bunkering, bank robberies and social crimes.
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