We’ll ground oil production — New militant group

Chukwudi Asake and Ovie Okpare – [PUNCH]   

One of the militant groups that have emerged since renewed militancy in the Niger Delta began, the Ultimate Warriors of Niger Delta, on Saturday said it had nothing to lose if oil production is disrupted in Nigeria.

The militant group, considered as an affiliate of the rampaging Niger Delta Avengers, described the alleged double speak of the Federal Government on dialogue with the people of the region as worrisome and inciting.

In a statement it issued, the militant group said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta should stop parading itself as leader of militant groups in the region.

The group said, “We have said it before that we have nothing to lose on the bombing of oil pipelines because our mission is to ground the oil economy if our demands are not met. We have said we are doing what we are doing to prod the government to renegotiate the control of our oil resources and other related matters.

“We have watched with chagrin the recent utterance by the President (Muhammadu Buhari) and the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo) and all we are see in them are double standard and lips service to the demand of the groups as its concerns the Niger Delta question and that is why all of our units and affiliates have not fully heeded to our ceasefire. Today, the president will say something, tomorrow his deputy and some of their dishonest and selfish lieutenants will contradict him and that only show how confused and unserious the government is about the problems and how to deal with them,” the militants stated.

Meanwhile, MEND has urged Niger Delta activists, militants and other agitators to be united in finding a solution to the region’s crisis.

It said in a statement that it was necessary for the region to speak with one voice and channel grievances and demands to the Federal Government through the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group.

The militant group expressed the need to speak through a single umbrella of the “Aaron Team 2 Dialogue and Peace Initiative” led by Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN).

It asked why many groups, who were silent during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s “neglect and misrule,” had suddenly found their voice and clamouring for recognition.

MEND also pointed out that it had carefully considered and approved the NDDCG proposal to join the Aaron Team, ahead of the expected dialogue with the Federal Government.

“All aggrieved minor militant groups, all those so-called Niger Delta activists, elders, tribal assemblies, sycophants and parasites amongst others, who have suddenly found their voice after six years of a criminal conspiracy of silence during the neglect and misrule of former President Goodluck Jonathan; and who are now clamouring for recognition, relevance and inclusion in the ongoing Niger Delta peace process should contact and channel their grievances and demands through the NDDCG, which will act as their representative.

“The subject matter of the discourse centred around the forthcoming dialogue with the Federal Government on the resolution of the current Niger Delta crisis and the imperative for the entire Niger Delta region to unite and speak with a single voice under the single umbrella of the MEND Aaron Team 2 dialogue and peace initiative led by Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN,” the statement said.