NIGER DELTA: BEWARE OF SABOTEURS, MILITANTS TELL YAR'ADUA
THE Joint Revolutionary Council, JRC, a body of some of the militia network in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil and gas region, is alleging that there are moves by unnamed ''fifth columnists'' to sabotage President Umar Yar'Adua's peace initiative in the region.
The JRC comprises some units of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, the Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, and other fighting groups.
Their Spokesperson, Cynthia Wyhte, claimed in a wire statement that in the past few weeks, there have been incidents of people and community attack by members of the armed security forces.
''This undue provocation by the double-speak Nigerian state and her imperialist collaborators have once again exposed the existence of a fifth columnist group within the larger infrastructure of the Nigerian state and its instrument of governance'', the militants said.
Continuing, they said, ''while we have remained responsive to the peace overtures by the Yar'Adua administration and driven by the presidential committee on peace and conflict resolution led by Senator David Brigidi, we believe there is a plot by the fifth columnist group within the Nigerian state to undermine the efficiency and potency of the Brigidi panel by questioning the strength and successes of the agreements that have been agreed upon by our groups and the committee since its inception''.
Adding, they said, ''in line with our intention to work closely with the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, we demand amongst others, a termination of all attacks against innocent communities in the Niger Delta.
We also demand the creation of two more states in the Ijaw and Niger Delta territory. These states must be created immediately to enable our people access development and prosperity in good time. The creation of Bayelsa State and the consequent developments it has enjoyed however stunted should serve as good motivators to those that lord over the Nigerian state and define the processes that govern state creation''.
''It is our belief that the creation of Toru-Ibe and Oil Rivers State are imperatives necessary to correct the grossly unfair and inequitable distribution of political power, revenues and development in the country, and will guarantee to good measures, peace and harmony'', they said.
They, however, pointed out that the continued incidents of unrest in the Niger Delta are tied to the incomplete sincerity of the government of the Nigerian state to the various agreements reached at the declaration of truce.
''The people of the Ijaw and Niger Delta territory have for too long now borne the brunt and carried the pain of sustaining the Nigerian state. The time has come for our people to receive just recompense for the long suffering that we have endured for so long. The God of our lands will not forgive those who deny us this entitlement for that which we seek is that which we deserve. We seek what we own'', they said.
They then stated that the struggle for the liberation and emancipation of the peoples of the Ijaw and the Niger Delta ''cannot be compromised by anyone and is on course. We will prevail''.