The Niger Delta Avengers on Sunday said it was ready for negotiations with the Federal Government, but ejected the nomination of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; a former Abia State governor, Mr. Orji Kalu; and five others to negotiate on behalf of the group with the Federal Government.
The group said this in a statement on its website by its spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, titled, ‘The NDA is ready when Nigerian government is ready.’
The spokesperson for the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, representing the eastern and central parts of the Niger Delta region, Mr. Inienimi Agiri, had on Saturday said Soyinka and others would speak with the government.
The NDA’s declaration came barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari called on militants unleashing violence on the Niger Delta to enter into dialogue with his government or risk being dealt with the same way the nation’s military dealt with members of the Boko Haram sect.
The NDA on Sunday explained that it was concerned by the insensitivity to the plight of the Niger Delta agitation by successive governments of Nigeria.
The group added, “The NDA cannot be teleguided by Charles Okah and Henry Okah from their respective prison cells using disorganised characters of the All Progressives Congress from the Niger Delta to impress Abuja. We are not unaware of the creations of the Nigerian intelligentsia community and security apparatus to sustain the Niger Delta struggle to bloat their pocket and credibility.
“The NDA (members) have unequivocally given our tacit support to Chief Edwin Clark, Niger Delta Elders and Stakeholders Conference Committee to lead the Pan-Niger Delta negotiations/dialogue team, whenever this wicked entity called Nigeria shows readiness.”
Buhari had told the Niger Delta militants unleashing violence on the area on Saturday to dialogue with his government or risk being dealt with the same way the nation’s military dealt with Boko Haram sect.
The NDA, however, said the nomination of Soyinka, Kalu and five others to negotiate with the Federal Government would not work.
Others nominated by RNDA are Prof. Steve Etubom, Anthony Ani, Nalaguo Alagoa, Chief Alice Osomo and Agiri, who has been acting as the spokesman for the group.
The spokesman for the NDA said Clark-led Niger Delta Elders and Stakeholders’ Conference Committee remained the sole negotiating team known to the group.
The NDA stressed that whenever the Federal Government was ready, it should go ahead and negotiate with Clark’s team.
“Putting the records straight, the name/names being paraded as factions of the Niger Delta Avengers are just the figment of some persons’ imagination in protecting their jobs and they are hell-bent on derailing the wheel of progress in the history of Nigeria and the Niger Delta agitation.
“We are amazed that Prof. Wole Soyinka has been taken on the jugular by enemies of the Niger Delta because of his belief that the government of the day should understand the need for restructuring and listen to the Niger Delta’s agitation positively.
“That we, the NDA, have named Prof. Wole Soyinka and some incredible names to advise and lead any group is the lie of the century,” a statement by the NDA read.
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