- Calls for release of 10 secondary school children, other ‘prisoners-of-war’
As the issue of militancy continues to
cripple the nation’s economy due to the destruction of oil and gas
pipelines, the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy
(UNDEDSS), the region’s coalition of ethnic nationalities and civil
societies, on Monday said only President Muhammadu Buhari can chair the
peace dialogue.
This is against the background of the
different calls from Niger Delta groups and militants that someone from
the region chair the dialogue for peace between the Federal Government
and the region.
Imploring the president to revive the
now-comatose platform of the holistic 2009 Amnesty Dynamic that late
President Umar Yar’ Adua deployed, the coalition said it was the only
way to stem the tide of the dangerously imploding reality of armed
agitation in the Niger Delta.
The coalition also called for the
release of 10 secondary school children and others detained as
prisoners-of-war, who they said have been in detention many weeks after
the military’s invasion of Gbaramatu Kingdom.
In the statement signed by UNDEDSS
Secretary General, Mr. Tony Iprinye Uranta, the coalition urged the
Federal Government to adopt the successful Yar’Adua template of 2009 by
appointing a credible special adviser on the region and re-establishing
the Niger Delta Committee/Council that operated five sub-committees to
holistically and sustainably address the challenges identified in the
region.
The statement reads in part, “UNDEDSS
and other leading stakeholders in the region have tirelessly interfaced
with very senior members of this administration and given them a
detailed template the president should deploy now to resolve this
growing insecurity in the region, which is negatively impacting all of
Nigeria.”
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