Give Buhari time on 16-point demand, NDPC tells PANDEF

The Coordinator of the Niger Delta People’s Congress (NDPC), Chief Mike Ekayama Loyibo has appealed to leaders of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) led by a former minister of information, Chief Edwin Clark to give more time to President Muhammadu Buhari to act on its demands.

PANDEF leaders had threatened at a press conference in Abuja, to dump the peace talks currently going on between it and the Federal Government by November1, if its 16-point demand were not met by government.

But speaking with newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Chief Loyibo expressed optimism that Buhari would not fail the people of the region, stressing that there was no need for PANDEF to issue the threat.

“We don’t want any group to hold the government to ransom. The Buhari I know came to power with a lot of goodwill. So he represents the poor people in the entire nation; the ordinary Nigerians. So I believe he will not fail because we have seen some actions of his administration and we are convinced.

“We will continue to encourage him, support him to succeed and develop every other part of this nation not only the Niger Delta region. He is passionate about the issues we have raised. That is why there is a roadmap. “You must give government time and support the government to succeed. When the president came in, he was overwhelmed with the problems of this country. To destroy is very easy, but if you want to rebuild, it takes time. So PANDEF should support the government at the centre to implement those demands.

“The president is sick because of Nigerians. The president was in a hurry to correct the wrongs in this country and so he put in all his energy. He met a rotten Nigeria and this is a person that if you talk with him privately, you discover he thinks about Nigeria and he wants the best during his time,” he said.