Niger Delta militant groups have angrily faulted a recent statement credited to the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on the selfish motives behind the new spate of militancy in the South-south region.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo
A recent comment by Professor Yemi Osinbajo on the hidden agenda of the rampaging Niger Delta militant groups seem to have infuriated the militants who have threatened to resume their insurgency in the South-south region.
The trio of Niger Delta militant groups namely Niger Delta Volunteers, NDV, Niger Delta Peoples Liberation Front, NDPL, and Bakassi Freedom Fighters, BFF have express their disaffection with the recent statement that rubbishes their advocacies for the development of the region, Dailypost.
Osinbajo was reported to have made the statement claiming they were fighting for their pockets last weekend while delivering a lecture at Elizade University in Ondo State.
The militant groups, in a statement signed by their spokespersons – Ekpo Ekpo for NDV; Henry Etete for NDPLF and Asukwo Henshaw for BFF, stressed that instead of ridiculing them, the Vice President should have advised President Muhammadu Buhari to address the injustice in the Niger Delta.
In the statement made available to journalists in Uyo on Tuesday, the militants criticised Buhari for saying that Nigeria’s unity was not negotiable, stressing that the people of the Niger Delta were tired of one Nigeria filled with injustice, marginalisation and oppression minority ethnic groups.
They threatened to resume attacks against oil companies operating in the region and they urged oil unions to withdraw their members from rigs and platforms for their safety during the period.
The groups also condemned the newly constituted Board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company and demanded the appointment of someone from the Niger Delta as GMD.
“It is an insult on the Niger Delta region that the Minister of Petroleum who also doubles as the President of Nigeria is from the North, the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru and four other members of the board are also from the North,” they said.
The militants further called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate what happened to local government funds in Akwa Ibom State “because the local government areas in the state had not carried out people-oriented projects in the past one year.”