Niger Delta Avengers warns Buhari that threat to use force is modern day colonisation

MILITANT group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA)  has warned President Muhammadu Buhari that the threat to use military force to resolve the crisis in the region will not work and they will resist any form of what they describe as modern colonisation.

 

Over the last year, militancy has returned to the Niger delta, with groups like the NDA attacking oil installations. In response, the government has tried to initiate talks but negotiations have failed to kick off as several groups have doubted the government's sincerity.

 

Exasperated with the lack of progress, president Buhari said in his independence day address that he is not ruling using brute force to solve the issue. In response, the NDA has sent President Buhari an open letter condemning what it described as disparaging remarks, claiming the threat of using force was totally unacceptable.

 

NDA spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo, also described as unacceptable any attempt by the federal government to engage in dialogue with the people of the region through the military and representatives of oil multinationals. He noted that such motives remained undemocratic for a civilian government.

 

Mr Agbinibo said: “The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers is constrained to write you, Mr President, General Muhammadu Buhari, on your continuous disparaging remarks, since the cessation and suspension of hostilities by our fighters for the liberation of the Niger Delta from economic colonialism of Nigeria. We are curious of comments like Niger Delta militants objective is to colonise Nigeria economically and Niger Delta militants are sponsored by economic looters, where you personally issued misleading statements and threats of decisive military action, if necessary.

 

"You threaten to deal with the Niger Delta agitation but you have purportedly opened up channels of talks through security agencies/agents and the multinational corporations. Mr President, do democratically elected governments open channels for talks in situations like we have in the Niger Delta through security agencies/agents or you are assuming the Niger Delta as a conquered colony in your 1984 era?”

 

Over recent weeks, the NDA has ordered a cessation of hostilities to allow the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan-Niger Delta Stakeholders commence dialogue with the federal government on its behalf. However, it has maintained that the people of the region remained resolute about the right to control their resources.