Niger Delta: Decisive Force Still An Option – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that decisive military action is among the options that are still open to his administration in containing the Niger Delta militancy. President Buhari said this in Kaduna yesterday at the passing out parade of officer cadets of the 63 regular course of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

The president, however, emphasised that his administration’s priority still remained constructive engagement of the stakeholders for peace.

He said: “Recently, we flagged off the cleanup of Ogoniland, as part of the programmes to salvage the ravaged environment. We are convinced that undertaking such a monumental project will contribute to addressing the root causes of militancy in some parts of the Niger Delta region.

“However, for the avoidance of doubt let me state that other options are still open including decisive military action, if necessary, to deal with the criminal elements disguised in ethnic regalia to sabotage the country largely for their selfish and parochial interests. Our priority still remains constructive engagement of the stakeholders for peace.”

This is the second time the president is talking tough on the Niger Delta crisis. In his Independence Day address, he warned that no group could challenge the federal government’s authourity.

Buhari recalled that this administration inherited a badly managed Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, saying the violence even spread beyond North-Eastern states.

“But the capacity of the insurgents to launch attacks has now been significantly curtailed. Boko Haram’s capacity to hold territories has been obliterated. What is on-going now are mop up operations to clear the remnants of the insurgents from their numerous hideouts. All these successes are largely the efforts of our gallant troops of the Nigerian military. I therefore commend our men and women in uniform and the intelligence community for their roles in dealing with the threat,” he stated.

Describing terrorism and insurgency as new global phenomena requiring concerted international cooperation to be defeated, Buhari said, “we’ve, therefore, strengthened our participation in the Multi-National Joint Task Force. We expect that other countries in the sub-region will continue to give the MNJTF maximum cooperation. Some of our diplomatic shuttles to Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin have significantly contributed to defeating Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the sub-region.

The president also noted that today’s challenges, however, go beyond Boko Haram, saying, “we’ve seen the negative impacts of kidnapping, cattle rustling and renewed militancy in the Niger Delta on our economy. The repeated attacks in the Niger Delta have been impacting negatively on oil revenue. The scourge of illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons, and the drug war among others remain issues which we are tackling seriously.”

The president called on all Nigerians to give peace a chance, jettison negative tendencies and join government in its efforts at addressing the numerous challenges in the path of building a better Nigeria.