N-Delta leaders to Buhari: The boys have stopped bombing, let us talk now
FORTY-ONE days after the coastal states of Niger Delta under the auspices of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, led by former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the people are still unsure of Mr. President’s frame of mind.
Though the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had consistently re-assured that the President was ready to tackle the issues raised by the stakeholders from the oil region but was disturbed if they were capable of reining in the boys still bombing pipelines as of the date of meeting, PANDEF remained uncomfortable many weeks after with the apparent game of wits.
A top member of PANDEF told Sunday Vanguard in Asaba at the weekend: “Recently, we heard that the Federal Government was proposing a former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophilus Danjuma (retd), to head its Negotiating Team. We also heard that the security chiefs and some ministers were meeting over the matter. We do not really know what the stand of the government is on this matter.”
The prickly situation PANDEF found itself was not helped by the hostile response that trailed the meeting with Mr. President. There was jostling before and after the meeting on representation from different interest groups. Since the November 1 meeting, some ethnic nationalities have grumbled about the activities of PANDEF.
The third General Assembly of PANDEF, held December 9 in Asaba, capital of Delta State, provided the right ambience for stakeholders to appraise the meeting with Buhari, recent developments in the region and overall prevailing political and economic situations in the country.
Buhari and Clark
Clark, whose address was adopted as a working paper by the assembly, explained that Co-chairman of the Central Working Committee, CWC, of PANDEF and former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, and Secretary, CWC, Ledum Mitee, were unavoidably absent because of their participation in the session by the Senate on the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.
He stated that even though the region had not heard from the President on the way forward, the November 1 meeting with him in Abuja was a success, as it broke the ice.
Diete-Spiff clears the air
The presence of the CWC Co-chairman, HRM King Alfred Diete Spiff, who led a separate Niger Delta delegation to visit Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and made fresh demands after PANDEF had met with Buhari, assuaged the fears of many.
Diete Spiff, who briefed the assembly on the meeting with the President, explained that there was no split in PANDEF under the leadership of Clark, pointing out that the meeting with the Vice President had been previously arranged and the demands presented by the group were not different from these PANDEF presented to Buhari. He said the group was not a new body outside PANDEF and had no name. He restated his commitment to PANDEF, which, he said, was incontrovertible.
Those who attended
The assembly was attended by about 200 delegates from the various ethnic nationalities in the region, including, academician and scholar, Prof B I C Ijomah, a former military governor of Akwa Ibom State, Air Commodore Ndogesit (retd.) Nkanga, Ambassador Godknows Igali, and a former National Chairman of Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, HRM Charles Ayemi-Botu.
Others at the meeting were the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom in Delta State, His Royal Majesty Emmanuel Sideso, Ibenanaowei of Bomo kingdom Bayelsa state, HRM King Joshua Igbugburu, HRM Anthony Ogbogbo of Ozoro Kingdom, Delta state, HRM Joesph Timighaan of Ogulagha kingdom, Delta state, paramount ruler of Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom state, HRM, Edidem Udo Ntuk Obom and Col Paul Ogbebor (retd.) from Edo state.
Also there were Senator Stella Omu, Senator Aniete Okon, chairman of Bayelsa State Council of Elders, Chief Francis Doukpolagha and Dr. Monday Okony (Rivers state). Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi
