MILITANT group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has issued a fresh warning to the federal government threatening to resume the bombing on oil facilities if ministers make the mistake of entering into negotiations with leaders who do not represent the people of the region.
Over the last year, the NDA has stepped up its bombing campaign as militancy has returned to the Niger Delta but over recent weeks, it has called a ceasefire in response to please to enter into negotiations. Government ministers have begun drawing up plans for talks with stakeholders in the Niger Delta but the NDA has armed that it pull out and revert back to armed struggle if the government makes the mistake of entering into negotiations with selfish leaders in the region that represent themselves instead of the interest of the people.
Already the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has endorsed a planned October 31 meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (Pandef). However, the Urhobo Common Cause (UCC) in Delta State, led by Henry Obukohwo Tafri, rejected the representation of Pandef, led by the former federal commissioner for information, Chief Edwin Clark, saying it was concerned about the internal colonialism perpetrated by the leadership of Chief Clark.
In addition, the NDA accused some unnamed selfish but vociferous Niger Delta leaders and groups of appropriating the overall interest of the region to themselves and cronies while the majority wallow in penury. NDA spokesman Col Rightman Hudson Opukurowari, warned that any attempt by the government to engage in any form of dialogue with Niger Delta leaders who had allegedly hijacked the commonwealth of the people for their selfish interest, would be resisted.
Col Opukurowari said: “Since we had agreed to suspend bombing oil facilities and enter into genuine dialogue with the government, the administration has not shown any seriousness in talking to the right set of people to move the peace process forward. Two months after the ceasefire, it has become clear to the world that this government has not been sincere and serious in meeting the simple demands of the people to put in place a concrete plan of transforming the landscape and giving us any sense of hope despite our critical contribution to the commonwealth of the nation.
“From the way the government is going after we had suspended bombings, it is clear to the world that it is not ready to make peace with us as earlier promised and we are under pressure to resume our attacks. It is obvious that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has rather chosen to be nonchalant to the dialogue and has deliberately decided to invite only their political friends for a dinner in the name of dialogue, by their own selective measures, thereby ignoring the chance for real peace and dialogue with the appropriate persons and groups."
He added that the government is trying to avoid a holistic approach to addressing the real issues affecting us and finding solutions to them but merely taking time off to engage those it sees as Niger Delta vultures sitting in Abuja with their sponsors, taking credit for genuine agitations. Mend added that it has watched and observed that with the body language of the president and the composition of the so-called dialogue group, no meaningful solution will be proffered unless the government invites all concerned and genuine individuals and groups for the purpose of finding a lasting solution to the crisis in the region.
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