Crushing Niger Delta Militants May Spell Doom For Nigeria- Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife
Speaking with Daily Sun on the state of security in Nigeria, Ezeife urged President Muhammadu Buhari to engage militants and other aggrieved people from the South-South and South-East in dialogue.
He lamented that the security situation in Nigeria has collapsed despite the president’s efforts in combating Boko Haram in view of the actions of herdsmen in the South and the reawakening of the Niger Delta militants
“Buhari might have conquered Boko Haram but, the Niger Delta may spell doom for the country if the language the president is using is crush them.”
Last week, the Nigerian Army arrested several suspected members of a militant group called the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), thought to be behind recent attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta area.
Meanwhile, Ijaw leader and former Information minister, Chief Edwin Clark has condemned the new wave of attacks and destruction of critical oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta region and appealed to the NDA to sheathe their swords for peace to return in the region.
Clark, however, described the allegation that the NDA was formed by former president Goodluck Jonathan in a meeting he attended in January 2015 preparatory to the general elections, to make the country ungovernable for his successor, as absolutely untrue.
“It is nonsensical to imagine that Jonathan, who conceded defeat and congratulated President Buhari, even before the final result was announced, would make such a plan.”
In a statement in Abuja, Clark said the new wave of attacks and destruction of critical oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta and the attendant impact on the national economy were of great shock and concern to him.
Regardless, aggrieved Ijaw youths from the nine states of the Niger Delta region irked by the renewed hostilities in the region have called for the sack of the Chairman of the Amnesty Implementation Committee, Brigadier General Paul Boroh.
The angry youths accused Boroh of alleged incompetence and inability to organise a stop-gap measure against the rising cases of militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states.
According to the youths, under the aegis of the Concerned Niger Delta Peace Advocate (CNDP), Boroh’s sack was necessary since he could not use his office to organise intelligence-gathering among former militants registered under amnesty to unveil the identity of those behind the (NDA).
CNDP, in a protest march yesterday, in Yenagoa, noted that though Boroh may have served the nation meritoriously in the Nigerian Army, his knowledge of the Niger Delta region was faulty.
President and Secretary of the group, Joe Gbasa and Paul Sukari, respectively said the decision to call for the sack of Boroh was based on the confusion in the amnesty office.
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