Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) yesterday dissociated itself from the proposed dialogue between the Federal Government and some prominent politicians and traditional rulers from the Niger Delta.
According to a statement, signed by one Col. Rightman Hudson Opukurowari, the group accused the Federal Government of not only being selective in its choice of persons to dialogue with, but preferring to deal with those who have made a business of dialogue on Niger Delta issues.
The group said, “The Federal Government, under President Muhammadu Buhari, has chosen to be non-chalant to the dialogue and have decided to invite only their political friends in the likes of Edwin Clark, King Diete Spiff and others for dinner in the name of dialogue on the 29th of October.
“We have warned that any attempt for us to resume hostilities will be more brutal than before until we enter the promised land,” the group said. If the Federal Government was serious and ready for any real negotiation for a lasting peace and solutions in the Niger Delta, NDA said, the dialogue must not involve certain personalities who had always positioned themselves as representing Niger Delta when indeed they do not have a hold on the real actors in the swamps and creeks.
The statement made listed personalities they want excused from the dialogue as:
1. Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi
2. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matters, Brig-Gen. Paul Boro (rtd)
3. Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang
4. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Ikachukwu
5. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State
6. Chief Timipre Sylva, a former Governor of Bayelsa State
The Avengers said that the militants involved in the struggle do not have confidence in these men because, according to them, most of them have been on the corridors of powers and are beneficiaries of the perennial crisis in the region and would not want it to
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