The leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief E.K. Clark has warned that Niger Delta militias might return to the creeks and resume hostilities if the federal government holds out too long in responding to their requests for dialogue.
He made the comments in Delta State this week while receiving the newly sworn-in executives of Izon-Ebe Oil and Gas Producing Communities Association (IOGPCA) – an association of oil and gas contractors of Ijaw origins cut across the entire oil-rich region.
He said
“It is getting late for President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government on the issue of dialogue with the aggrieved Niger Delta agitators who have stopped the bombing of pipelines and other oil facilities. If the dialogue fails to commence as soon as possible, the boys may feel betrayed and go back to the creeks and resume hostilities. I saw the president’s media man (Femi Adesina) claiming that we are not one and not united, and that the federal government was still looking for people to negotiate with. That was a great insult to us. I was in government before he was born. On July 30, 2016, I summoned a meeting of all Ijaw leaders and traditional rulers to my house in Warri and the Deputy Governor of Delta State was in attendance. After that first meeting, I decided to call for another one with paid adverts in national dailies, since it was not only the Ijaws that have oil and gas.”