Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, weekend, said since President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to shun the demand for legitimate dialogue with militants and stakeholders on the Niger Delta question, it would continue to encumber all avenues by him to export crude oil from the region.
The group in an exclusive interview with Vanguard renewed some of his demands albeit other comments. Here are 7 of them:
1. Tompolo is not part of us
Avengers deny the federal government ‘erroneous’ assumption that ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo was the sponsor of the group. “We have made our position clear to the world that Tompolo had been a friend to the Nigerian government, since the declaration of Presidential amnesty by President Yar’Adua and he will continue to be a friend to the government as he cannot be trusted with our struggle, so he can never be our Sponsor.
2. No dialogue, no export
“This phase of our struggle encapsulates our determination to ensure that the petro-dollar from the Niger Delta is not used to develop the 97 per cent of those President Buhari claimed voted for him as against the five per cent he said did not vote for him and are not worthy of a Maritime University.”
3. Buhari is insincere
“In the first instance, we suspended hostilities in good faith to see if the government of the day was sincerely speaking when it announced its dialogue initiative. Until we resumed operations, nobody reached out to us and government did not establish any genuine platform to address our grievances.”
4. Until he takes our demands serious…
“Until President Buhari takes our demands seriously and set up a genuine framework to address the Niger Delta question, we will continue to obstruct all avenues to export our crude oil to develop his 97 per cent.”
5. We are fighting for all
“This is another phase of the Niger Delta struggle to reclaim our resources for prosperity. Some mischief-makers can tag it Ijaw struggle, but our set short, medium and long-term plans are for us the people of the Niger Delta to control our resources and develop our land and pay tax to the central government.”
6. We need not repeat ourselves
“We have stated our objectives,(to the government) which are in three categories. It is President Buhari’s responsibility to show political will to address them.”
7. We want peace, good peace
We do not want ‘peace of our time,’ we want ‘peace with honour.’ There are no new demands on the table, what every past government has given the people of Niger Delta is graveyard peace.”
The group in an exclusive interview with Vanguard renewed some of his demands albeit other comments. Here are 7 of them:
1. Tompolo is not part of us
Avengers deny the federal government ‘erroneous’ assumption that ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo was the sponsor of the group. “We have made our position clear to the world that Tompolo had been a friend to the Nigerian government, since the declaration of Presidential amnesty by President Yar’Adua and he will continue to be a friend to the government as he cannot be trusted with our struggle, so he can never be our Sponsor.
2. No dialogue, no export
“This phase of our struggle encapsulates our determination to ensure that the petro-dollar from the Niger Delta is not used to develop the 97 per cent of those President Buhari claimed voted for him as against the five per cent he said did not vote for him and are not worthy of a Maritime University.”
3. Buhari is insincere
“In the first instance, we suspended hostilities in good faith to see if the government of the day was sincerely speaking when it announced its dialogue initiative. Until we resumed operations, nobody reached out to us and government did not establish any genuine platform to address our grievances.”
4. Until he takes our demands serious…
“Until President Buhari takes our demands seriously and set up a genuine framework to address the Niger Delta question, we will continue to obstruct all avenues to export our crude oil to develop his 97 per cent.”
5. We are fighting for all
“This is another phase of the Niger Delta struggle to reclaim our resources for prosperity. Some mischief-makers can tag it Ijaw struggle, but our set short, medium and long-term plans are for us the people of the Niger Delta to control our resources and develop our land and pay tax to the central government.”
6. We need not repeat ourselves
“We have stated our objectives,(to the government) which are in three categories. It is President Buhari’s responsibility to show political will to address them.”
7. We want peace, good peace
We do not want ‘peace of our time,’ we want ‘peace with honour.’ There are no new demands on the table, what every past government has given the people of Niger Delta is graveyard peace.”