Avengers vow to continue campaign for resource control

The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has declared that no military action will deter it from continuing the on­going struggle for resource con­trol for the people of the Niger Delta region.

In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesman, Mu­doch Agbinibo, the NDA said that agitations were the rights of component units in a feder­ation and that it owed no au­thority, tribe or political group any apology for fighting for its people’s interest.

Agbinibo said: “No amount of military action and surge will stop us from halting the flow of oil from our land to sustain Ni­geria. This is our land and we are the masters of its battle­fields.

“We have warned earlier that we want the “peace with honour, no more peace of our time. Any meeting with this government should be seen as driving a combustible vehi­cle laden with fire to safety; it must be driven with careful­ness,” he said.

While flaying the position of President Muhammadu Bu­hari on the region, the militants said it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to cooperatively manage all agi­tations rather than overheat­ing the system by thinking of fierce responses through deci­sive military action.”

The NDA said that for any fruitful talk and enduring peace in the region, it urged the gov­ernment, representatives of the multinational oil corporations, neutral international observers and elders as well as stakehold­ers who would be involved to be guided by various previous re­ports on the region.

“That if Mr. President will come down from his ethnic iron-horse to engage in discus­sions with our people in Octo­ber or any date he likes, the is­sues are not new. We want to control our resources and pay appropriate taxation to the central government that is fis­cal federalism in practice and in principle.

“The government, repre­sentatives of the Multination­al Oil Corporations, neutral international observers and elders as well as stakeholders should guide themselves with the following documents: The Sir Henry Willinks Commis­sion Report of 1958, the Ogoni Bill of Rights, the Kaiama Dec­laration document of the Ijaw Youth Council, the General Al­exander Ogomudia Committee Report, the Niger Delta Tech­nical Committee Report which contains the Pre-Amnesty is­sues and agreement with the government of Nigeria in 2009,” he said.