RETIRED soldiers and ex-agitators from the Niger Delta region are reportedly gathering forces to battle the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA. A top government bureaucrat, who is an ex-army officer, disclosed to news men that “the plan has reached advanced stage, some retired army officers from the Niger Delta region have met and may call a larger meeting to take up the fight themselves if the militants do not stop destruction of oil and gas installations. “We have kept quiet for too long and with the way the militants are going, they do not seem to understand that they are destroying our environment and inviting the security agencies to come to our territory and kill our people,” he added.
A group, Voice Delta, also opposed to the bombings and which has persistently claimed that an ex-militant leader was behind the Avengers, tweeted: “Intelligence available to us indicate that over 90 per cent of the ex-agitators in the region are ready to partner with the Federal Government in flushing out the NDA.” This came as the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, which gave government a two-week ultimatum, last Saturday, to declare its stand on the planned dialogue, extended an olive branch to the Avengers to join its Aaron Team 2 for peace talks with government, but under stipulated conditions.
However, the well-placed government official, who is aware of the pronouncement by Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo last week, that government would not dialogue with Avengers, maintained that, “Government will not dialogue with criminals, but it will dialogue with other well-meaning stakeholders in the region that are working for peace. It will accept any condition from militants for dialogue and they must stop the bombings, otherwise, government will fight them.”
Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC,has taken MEND to task for conferring on itself the authority to negotiate on behalf of militant groups in the region, saying it does not have such power.
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