Militant groups in the Niger Delta’s nine states have joined forces together with the General Officer Commanding, GOC, Niger-Delta Struggle, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, and the protesting Ijaw Youths Council, IYC, to threaten to shut down major oil flow stations, wells, and crude delivery lines of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in the region over President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to instruct Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to inaugurate the substantive Board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
In a statement issued by the Commanding Officer, self-styled “General” Agadagba Obus, alias Thunder, the militants under the auspices of Supreme Egbesu Freedom Fighters warned: “If the Federal Government refuses to inaugurate the NDDC board within the seven-day ultimatum already declared by Tompolo, then we will have no choice but to join hands with him, IYC, and other agitating militant groups in the crowed.”
“The Escravos-Warri to Kaduna NNPC major delivery crude line, the Escravos-Lagos Atlas Cove delivery line, the Trans Escravos Warri-Kaduna gas line that supplies electricity to Abuja, and the Trans-Forcados 48-inch terminal underwater Shell/NNPC crude delivery pipeline, as well as the majority of the Chevron RMP24 Clough creek line, will all be brought to a halt if Akpabio refuses to let go of his hands and enable the NDDC board to be inaugurated by the Federal Government.
“The President and the Federal Government should hold Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, and Effiong Akwa, the Sole Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission, accountable for whatever transpires in the region’s creeks at the end of the seven-day ultimatum.
“We want to be clear that, given the current state of affairs, President Buhari, who was elected to provide good governance to ensure the welfare and betterment of Niger Delta people and Nigerians in general, cannot fold his hands, remain silent, and allow so-called corrupt politicians from the region to push him against the will of the people in the region.
“These and other anti-people decisions are frustrating the tireless peace efforts made by some political leaders, such as Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy Senate President, and other stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to achieve sustainable peace in the creeks and are now being jettisoned by the greed of just one man with a false fake pretense of forensic audit and no good intention for the people,” he said.
“Rather, the crooked, fake, stage-managed, and arranged forensic audit is just a ploy and slogan to shortchange, silence, and deny oil-producing states and ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta proper representation on the NDDC commission board, so that one person can continue to hold the entire region to ransom and it will no longer be allowed.”
The agitators also warned that Milland Dikkio, the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, “cannot stand in our way or calm us down” if the seven-day deadline was not met, adding that “the long emancipated people of the Niger Delta have been denied a better life despite their blessed human and natural resources.”