The statement accredited to Chief Ayiri Emami in some national dailies where he was quoted to have said the NNPC is by act or omission instigating pipeline bombings in the Niger Delta region is the view being held by the generality of the Niger Delta people. All issues raised by Chief Ayiri in the said statement have the backing of all well-meaning Niger Deltans particularly we the civil societies groups. We are happy that Chief Ayiri has now come to term with the reality on ground after condemning the struggle. The Niger Delta agitation is instigated by the Federal Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the region. The Government’s sole interest is to tap the oil in the land without bequeathing any remedial benefit to the people of that degraded lands.
To buttress Chief Ayiri’s narrative, we make bold to say that the present upsurge in the Niger Delta is caused by the Buhari Government’s anti-people policies towards the region. The abandonment of the Gas Revolution Industrial Park at Ogidigben and its affiliate Deep Sea Port in the Gbaramatu kingdom, the Escravos Environs Power Supply Project, the cancellation of the already existing Maritime University at Okerenkoko as well as the low budgetary allocation of funds to the interventionist agencies in the region by the Federal Government were the immediate causes of these present brickbats in the region. The NNPC led by Dr Maikanti Baru is executing northern agenda whose interest is to use the oil wealth from the Niger Delta to develop the north while leaving the economically and environmentally pauperised Niger Deltans to live in squalor. Niger Delta region having fall under the category of people that gave the Government 5℅ votes does not form part of his agenda for Government’s attention. These are the reasons why Dr Baru and his northern cabals-dominated NNPC are cynical in commencing works on GRIP and other projects sited therein knowing fully well that the projects will generate a lot of jobs to the indigenous communities on one hand and the entire country at large.
Chief Ayiri and the retinue of his foot soldiers who were the in-house traducers of the Niger Delta crisis should have known that our problem is not the militancy per say but those occupational forces from outside the region who instigated the crisis. Until the Government makes genuine concession by giving the region its fair share of the Petroleum resources, peace will continue to be elusive. Now that Ayiri is sharing the pains of the genuine agitators in the region, we ask for collaboratory efforts by all concerned in order to achieve our common goal. Niger Deltans should see themselves as one being people who suffered the same fate because of our God-given wealth.
Signed:
Dickson Bekederemo,
President,
NIGER-DELTA Security Watch organization (NDSWON);
Fred Brisibe,
Coordinator – Ijaw Human Rights Monitors;
Comrade Austin Ozobo,
National President,
Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, (IPDI);
Alaowei Cleric Esq.,
National President,
Foundation For Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, (FHRACC).
