DIVISIONS THREATEN FG/MILITANTS PEACE TALKS
We’re yet to see govt delegation – Clark, IYC Buhari speaking with wrong people – Orubebe Militants deny dialogue with FG
The Federal Government is delaying the commencement of peace talks with various militant groups that are bombing oil facilities in the Niger Delta region, leaders of the region have told Daily Trust on Sunday. The government seems not to be in a hurry to end the crisis as stakeholders in the area deny knowledge of any ongoing dialogue with militants.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that government was engaging militants in indirect talks being spearheaded by oil companies and law enforcement agencies. Dozens of militant groups in the oil rich region have claimed bombings of oil facilities which have led to shortfall in revenue from crude oil.
Although the Federal Government is yet to name its negotiators, multiple sources within the presidency confirmed that the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) was “playing a leading role” in the talks with the militants.
But before resorting to dialogue, government had, at various times, held talks with various stakeholders, including governors and traditional rulers from the troubled oil-producing region.
Various security and government sources had, on Monday, told Daily Trust on Sunday that government had reached out to more 60 groups in the region in its efforts at finding a peaceful solution without military intervention.
All the groups contacted had presented conflicting agendas and interests, some of them requesting monetary rewards for peace, the sources disclosed.
But the sources said Federal Government’s patience was wearing thin with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) which had continued to bomb oil facilities “despite government’s overtures for dialogue.”
“Even as these efforts were going on, the Avengers didn’t demonstrate the slightest gesture of goodwill by halting their violent attacks on the nation’s economic assets,” one of the sources said.
But a different source familiar with the ongoing dialogue said some stakeholders in the region had hijacked the process for selfish gains. Speaking to our reporter on the matter on Thursday, the source said, “Some people in the Niger Delta are deceiving the president. The people they are presenting as militants are not actually involved in what is happening. They have brought their relatives and children in the name of militants so that they can collect money from government. The minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, is dealing with the wrong people in the Niger Delta; that is why even as they claim to be in talks with the militants, more oil facilities are being blown up.”
Also, some key stakeholders in the region have denied knowledge of any ongoing dialogue with the Federal Government. A former minister of information and foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, told Daily Trust on Sunday that elders in the region had constituted a dialogue team and were awaiting President Buhari to constitute a presidential team for the proposed dialogue with agitators and stakeholders in the Niger Delta.
“We are waiting for Mr. President to set up a presidential team for the dialogue to begin. We are putting together a team of distinguished leaders of the people of the Niger Delta region. The Federal Government should as well set up its team for the dialogue. That is how it has been done from the Obasanjo administration down to that of Yar’Adua, which midwifed the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“We are happy that Mr. President gave his nod for the dialogue. Dialogue is the only effective solution to the issues that provoked the agitation. We all agree to a dialogue to address the issues prompting the agitations and militancy in the Niger Delta,” he said.
Chief Clark, who spoke to our correspondent by phone, said a team of leaders, elders and stakeholders in the oilrich region had been assembled and had been meeting constantly in Warri, Delta State.
He assured that the task to restore peace and security in the region had been put in
motion, awaiting the Federal Government to give official authority to it, while listing some distinguished personalities involved in the consultative forum, drawn mainly from Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states, where the activities of the militants are seemingly pervasive.
According to Clark, the Niger Delta Consultative Forum on the dialogue include the former deputy governor of Rivers State and traditional ruler of Opobo, HRM Sir Gabriel Toby, former Minister of Aviation, Alabor Graham Douglas, former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo and HRM Diette Spiff.
Others are the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, deputy governor of Delta State, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, one-time president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Chief Okwoligba. Other participants in the forum were drawn from traditional rulers in the region, some selected members of the Presidential Committee on Amnesty drawn from the region, among others.
However, the president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Udengs Eradiri, told Daily Trust on Sunday that he was not aware of any negotiation with anybody. He accused the Federal Government of insincerity in tackling the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) matter.
He said government officials were deceiving President Buhari that they were negotiating with the Avengers while they were ‘cornering huge sums of naira into their pockets.’
“I am not aware of any negotiation between the Niger Delta Avengers and the Federal Government. Who are they negotiating with? I am not aware of any negotiation, and if they invite me I will not come. There are ways of reaching out to people. Obasanjo and Yar’Adua negotiated