Few hours after the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2nd Division of
the Nigerian Army, Ibadan, Major-General Kasimu Abdulkarim visited
Asaba, the Delta State capital, and threw his weight behind the military
exercise in the creek, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate has
blown up another major oil installation in Urhobo axis.
The facility, a major trunk/delivery line that was blown up on Friday
night, is being operated by Nigerian Petroleum Development Company in
Udu Local Government Area of the state. The group also warned the oil
firm not to embark on any repairs, pending when signals come from them..
The spokesperson of the group, Gen. Aldo Agbalaja, who claimed
responsibility for the bombardment in a press statement tagged “Ours is
not a Blind Campaign,” few minutes after the explosion, said, peace
cannot be realised in an unjust environment.
“Like we said from the onset, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice
Mandate is not just about causing calamity and delighting in chaos,
rather a child of circumstance, born to correct an injustice that has
brought upon us, from the time of our fathers.
“We are in this struggle, not to create any acrimony with our friends
and brothers in the riverine axis, who are equal citizens of this
over-sapped region, but to call the attention of the world to our
peculiar experience; that we, as people of diverse tongues and
orientation, have kept faith with both the Nigerian government and oil
multinationals over the years, by being peaceful, patient and law
abiding all through the years, but have in turn been abused and
abandoned by these same supposed partners.
“They have all along taken our quietness and disposition for peace
and choice for orderliness for granted. We have watched and seen that
they only encourage lawlessness and violence”, the statement read. While
the group maintained that its “quietness and disposition for peace”
have since been used by the Federal Government to shortchange the people
of the region, it has rearranged itself and chosen the line of action
they (the Federal Government) knows how best to quickly respond to.
“Peace and order are not strangers to us, as a matter of fact, they
are the way we have chosen for long and thus its difficult for us to
revert to, only that they will not cheap this time; they have to be
bought with mutual faith and doing right to our people and our lands”,
the statement further explained. Listing its demands, the in clear terms
urged the Federal Government, to in sincerity and forthrightness, call
for an urgent and all encompassing meeting of genuine stakeholders of
the core Niger Delta communities, especially those from oil producing
communities.
“This”, according to the group would truly create a Niger Delta platform, where real issues of injustice will be discussed.
The oil multinationals must be part of this and the United Nations
should serve as witness to this along side some very credible
international NGOS.
“While the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate is not opposed to
the on going negotiations between the Federal Government, oil companies
and the Ijaw elements of our region, we are not comfortable that this is
going on with an impression that it is the whole of Niger Delta that is
involved, we demand that the federal government call for a selection of
very credible persons from all regions who are who understand the pains
of our people and not some political criminals with names who are
looking for breast pocket money.
credit:newtelegraph
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