• MEND wades in, appoints Ajumogobia, others to negotiate
Prospects for peace in the troubled
oil-rich Niger Delta region brightened at the weekend as the federal
government, using back channel communications, may have established
contacts with the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, whose
violent activities had shut in about 800,000 bpd of the country’s crude
oil production.
Faced with the huge production setback
resulting in huge revenue losses to the nation’s purse, the federal
government had set up a team under the auspices of the National Security
Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno, and the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, to reach out to the militants and
other relevant stakeholders and discuss ways of appeasing the restive
youths and bring peace to the region.
To pave the way for the work of the
committee, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had met with the governors of
the region, including Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Adams Oshiomhole (Edo),
Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo)
last week, stating the federal government’s position to stand down the
military that had been drafted to the area to enforce law and order.
Thisday learnt yesterday that the
peace efforts were yielding fruits as Kachikwu might have established
some contacts with some of the commanders of the NDA, who had initially
repudiated the move, preferring to hang on to its demand for
self-determination for the Niger Delta.
The contacts, Thisday further learnt,
might have been responsible for the cessation of bombings of oil
installations in the last few days, as the avengers were being prevailed
upon by FG’s back channels contacts to give peace a chance by embracing
dialogue.
Sources close to the process, told
Thisday that evidence that progress was being made was the Movement for
the Emancipation of Niger Delta’s (MEND) consistent calls for dialogue
instead of violence.
Using its own channels, MEND was said
to have intervened on behalf of Kachikwu’s team, reaching out to its
fellow militants to give the federal government a listening opportunity.
MEND said yesterday though that it was
taking advantage of the olive branch offered by the federal government
for dialogue and had appointed a former Minister of State for Petroleum,
Odein Ajumogobia; a former senator, Florence Ita-Giwa; Bismark Rewane
and four others as members of its team that will hold talks with the
government on the crises in the Niger Delta.
The spokesman for MEND, Jomo Gbomo,
said in a statement yesterday that it looked forward to the talks,
stating that while Ajumogobia would represent Rivers State in the
negotiating team, Rewane and Ita-Giwa would represent Delta and Cross
River States, respectively.
According to the statement, other
members of the team, it tagged Aaron Team, are Timipa Jenkins Okponipere
(Bayelsa); Ibanga Isine (Akwa Ibom); Ledum Mitee (Rivers) and Lawson
Omokhodion (Edo State).
It said the seven provisional members
had accepted to serve on the team, adding that the remaining members of
the team would be made public in due course after due consultations with
relevant stakeholders.
“Following useful exploratory
discussions held with high ranking officials of the current
administration, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) has constituted ‘Aaron Team 2’ to dialogue with the Federal
Government on the immediate, medium and long-term future of the Niger
Delta region,” the group said, adding: “The team is made up of patriotic
and selfless men and women of proven track record, integrity and
character; and drawn from different parts of the Niger Delta region,
members of the MEND Aaron Team 2 are by no means members of MEND.”
MEND recalled that it had in the past
10 years of its existence taken up arms against the federal government
and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) with a view to bringing to
national and international attention, the pitiable paradox of the Niger
Delta region.
It said it declared a ceasefire on 30
May, 2014 in response to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Democracy
Day speech of the previous day.
According to MEND, the ceasefire was
an indication of the group’s belief in dialogue and diplomacy as means
of settling disputes.
MEND invited the NDA to agree to a
ceasefire and join in the negotiation with the federal government,
warning that unless they both embraced peace, the Niger Delta’s struggle
for development would be hijacked, once again, by selfish interests for
their own personal aggrandizement.
It cited the recent purported demand
of the NDA made through the region’s governors that the federal
government should drop charges of corruption against certain individuals
and politicians from the region as an indication that the struggle had
been hijacked and described the demand as absurd, ridiculous and far
removed from the Niger Delta struggle.
MEND said: “Our message to the Niger
Delta Avengers (NDA) is simple: The Niger Delta struggle is beyond
attacks on oil installations. Indeed, prior to the MEND ceasefire; the
group had, among numerous daring attacks, on Thursday June 19, 2008
successfully carried out the spectacular attack on Royal Dutch Shell’s
offshore Bonga oilfield, which is located at a whooping distance of 120
kilometres (75miles) south-west of the Niger Delta.
“However, with the benevolent benefit
of hindsight, the group realised that, after the initial euphoria of
each successful attack, the gargantuan problems which confront our
region; including environmental pollution and political corruption,
increased geometrically. If indeed your cause is to avenge the injustice
done to the Niger Delta region; then, we urge you to agree to a
ceasefire and join us on the table of negotiating with the Federal
Government.”
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