Niger Delta Avengers insists it will proceed with independence declaration on Oct 1

MILITANT group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has boasted that nothing will stop its declaration of independence from Nigeria with the unveiling of the Republic of the Niger Delta on October 1 this year.

 

October 1 is Nigeria's independence day and is a symbolic date as on this day in 1960 the country was freed from British colonial rule. In recent months, the NDA has been up in arms against the federal government over negligence in the Niger Delta and despite the offer of talks, the group has insisted that its campaign will continue.

 

Contrary to media reports that it had accepted pleas to embrace negotiations with the federal government, NDA said its declaration of independence is still sacrosanct. It stated emphatically that the only reason for it to abandon the declaration is for the federal government to heed its calls for the restructuring of the country.

 

NDA spokesperson, Mudoch Agbinibo, said: “The October 1st declaration of independence is still sacrosanct if the Nigerian government fails to retrace its step by restructuring this country. We want to warn the general public that those using NDA to defraud the people, days of reckoning is close."

 

In the statement titled Our Prayer For Buhari, the NDA said its prayer is for President Muhammadu Buhari and the northern governors to discover oil in commercial quantity and allow the Niger Delta to go. It added that the Buhari-led government has failed Nigerians with their misdirected policies that have divided the country and as such, nobody wants to be part of that failed state not even the Niger Delta.

 

Meanwhile, to start the process of mending the security situation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, a meeting of all stakeholders from the six core states has been slated for Warri. Elder statesman and Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, said that the meeting had been called to forge a way forward for the region and to write off the impression that its problem is an Ijaw problem.

 

He appealed to the aggrieved youths and the NDA to give peace a chance, urging the federal government to be open and sincere in her proposed dialogue with militants in the region. According to Chief Clark, the under-development and marginalisation of the region cannot be resolved with bombing and vandalisation of oil facilities.