The Federal Government has been advised to be cautious of those parading themselves as Niger Delta stakeholders pressuring it to dialogue with them and those stoking the insurgency in the region.

The Warri Study Group (WSG), an Itsekiri think-tank, in a position paper made available to the media in Warri yesterday, also urged the government to treat the rising insurgency as criminality, adding that the problem facing the region is purely of bad management of resources.

The advice came against the backdrop of the deployment of heavy military hardware and personnel to Warri and other towns in the Niger Delta region last weekend.

The paper, signed by the group’s chairman, Edward Ekpoko, and secretary, Tony Ede, which largely reacted to the Chief Edwin Clark-convened regional stakeholders’ meeting in Effurun, Delta State, alleged that those coming out now as leaders of the region, seeking dialogue to end the festering crisis, were the people who initiated the idea to set the region on fire, using the insurgents.

It, however, discredited the conference as not, in any way, representative of the six coastal Niger Delta states it claimed to have drawn participants from, noting that more than 80% of those present were Ijaw. The visit to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, by some traditional rulers from the region, was strictly an Ijaw affair, WSG said.

The paper, which lamented the damage done to the economy by the activities of insurgents and the insecurity it has gradually foisted on the region, expressed surprise that the Clark-led conference failed to denounce the main insurgent group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) for bringing the situation about.

‘’It is an open fact that some of these elders and traditional rulers are acting the script of the militants and have only recruited and/or assembled some few innocent ones and/or those willing to be bought outside their ethnic nationalities to give it a semblance of a Niger Delta struggle for better life, conditions and infrastructure.

‘’We have sadly observed that the communiqué issued at the end of the stakeholders meeting by the so-called six Niger Delta coastal states, which was neither read nor generally agreed on at the meeting, raises more questions than answers, namely: It was signed by only Chief E. K. Clark and Prof. G. G. Darah – both of Delta State out of the so-called six Niger Delta coastal states.

‘’We condemn the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the Niger Delta. We call on the Federal Government to bring all perpetrators of the criminal activities to justice.

‘’Federal Government must separate acts of criminality from genuine efforts to develop the region. The problem of the Niger Delta is more of management of the resources allocated than anything else. Evidence abound. Inspite of the trillions of naira that have been provided to the Niger Delta Intervention agencies and ministries over the years, there is nothing on ground to show for it.

‘’Both the consultative meeting of the stakeholders of the six Niger Delta coastal states held on 19 August, 2016 and the Niger Delta monarchs group that met with the Minister of Petroleum Resources are all Ijaw-driven and not pan-Niger Delta. The rest of the Niger Delta, which is made up of the Ibibio, Edo, Urhobo, Ikwerre, Ogoni, Efik, Isoko, Ndokwa, Itsekiri, etc, should not be made to learn and discover that problem solving in the Region can only be through violence and aggression. Violence and aggression should be discouraged by every means.

‘’We encourage the Federal Government and the various states to indeed dialogue for a lasting solution to the Niger Delta problems, but with the right stakeholders, not those that are seeing the struggle as a money-making venture’’, the paper said.

..those coming out now as leaders
of the region, seeking dialogue to end the festering crisis, were the people who initiated the idea to set the region on fire, using the
insurgents...

Niger Delta militants meet in
Yenagoa, threaten war should Jonathan lose
presidential election

Prominent Niger Delta militants have vowed to
ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan wins
the February 14 presidential election.
Mr. Jonathan is of the Ijaw ethnic stock, and
the only member of a minority tribe to have
ever governed Nigeria.

The former militants, who said any attempt to
dethrone the President would be seen as a
direct attack on the Ijaw nation, threatened to
unleash violence on the country and take back
Niger Delta oil should Mr. Jonathan loses re-
election.

According to them the President’s victory in the
election is not negotiable.

The former militant leaders took the position
Friday in Government House, Yenagoa, the
Bayelsa State capital, at an enlarged meeting
that was attended by all the former militant
leaders and their followers across the Niger
Delta region.

Among those in attendance were, Mujahid
Dokubo-Asari, leader, Niger Delta Peoples
Volunteer Force, Victor Ben Ebikabowei, aka,
Boy Loaf, and Government Ekpudomenowei,
aka, Tompolo.

Also in attendance were the Special Adviser to
the President on Niger Delta Affairs, and
chairman of Amnesty Implementation
Committee, Kingsley Kuku, Bayelsa state Governor, Seriake Dickson and his deputy, President General of Ijaw Youth Council, Udengs Eradiri, among
others.

Addressing the meeting, Dokubo-Asari
deplored the alleged intimidation being meted
to the people of Ijaw stock in Nigeria, saying
the people cannot take it any longer.
”For every Goliath, God created a David. For
every Pharoah, there is a Moses. “We are going
to war. Everyone of you should go and fortify
yourself,’’ he said.

He advised those at the meeting to be ready for
the battle ahead and declared that Mr.
Jonathan would win reelection.

Mr. Dokubo-Asari, who condemned the attack
on Jonathan in the north in the ongoing
presidential campaigns, maintained that the
survival of the Ijaw nation rests in the hands of
the militants gathered at the meeting.

fratermathy:
The Ijaws have always hijacked anything that has to do with Niger Delta! This is another hegemony that we deal with everyday in the South South. If it's not Igbos trying to annex us in their dreamy Biafra, it's Ijaws overshadowing us and lumping their own struggles on all of us. This is why Niger Delta republic can never work! Biafra can never work! In fact, Nigeria is the best place for most of us that are minorities.

As an urhobo man, I know we have our own struggles and wishes. Just because we don't blow up pipelines like f**ls doesn't mean we won't be heard. Only time will tell...

fratermathy:
The Ijaws have always hijacked anything that has to do with Niger Delta! This is another hegemony that we deal with everyday in the South South. If it's not Igbos trying to annex us in their dreamy Biafra, it's Ijaws overshadowing us and lumping their own struggles on all of us. This is why Niger Delta republic can never work! Biafra can never work! In fact, Nigeria is the best place for most of us that are minorities.
As an urhobo man, I know we have our own struggles and wishes. Just because we don't blow up pipelines like f**ls doesn't mean we won't be heard. Only time will tell...

willjoe:
Truth be told, No one can conquer NDA and their powerful sponsors, nt even your President

willjoe:
Truth be told, No one can conquer NDA and their powerful sponsors, nt even your President

SuperS1Panther:
Other Niger Delta ethnicities are just waking up.

Ijaws are the face of criminality of ND. Let me bitter truth told.

We can all remember how they hijacked 99% of beneficiaries of Amnesty Programme, how they turned to the Lords of Niger Delta when GEJ was in power and how a miscreant calling himself Tompolo threatened Jonathan over the commissioning of the Gas City which was the only benefit the itshekiris got from GEJ in 6years.

What baffles me is how they called themselves 10m people when the home state of Bayelsa is less than a millio.

49cents:


I am igbo
I am not interested in SS oil
I am not interested in biafra that includes non-igbo cultural groups
How many Igbos on oil wells in SS?
Ken Saro Wiwa said he prefer north to Igbo.....and the north (Abacha an buhari) hung him like a dog!

Igbos don't need your oyel.....we have ours; and what is more an entrepreneurial culture that helps us excel.

The only whole of Africa is to shed the tribalistic mentality, embrace social emancipation rooted in social justice!

No one is gonna be a minority in the new world order

TonyeBarcanista:

Will you shut up? has any Ijawman ever destroyed pipeline in Urhobo of non ijaw area? what is this inferiority feeling from some of you?

TonyeBarcanista:

Will you shut up? has any Ijawman ever destroyed pipeline in Urhobo of non ijaw area? what is this inferiority feeling from some of you?

fratermathy:
The Ijaws have always hijacked anything that has to do with Niger Delta! This is another hegemony that we deal with everyday in the South South. If it's not Igbos trying to annex us in their dreamy Biafra, it's Ijaws overshadowing us and lumping their own struggles on all of us. This is why Niger Delta republic can never work! Biafra can never work! In fact, Nigeria is the best place for most of us that are minorities.

As an urhobo man, I know we have our own struggles and wishes. Just because we don't blow up pipelines like f**ls doesn't mean we won't be heard. Only time will tell...