Militancy: Don't dialogue with associates of previous administration who failed Niger Delta, Emami cautions Buhari

Prominent Niger Delta Activist, Chief Ayirimi Emami has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari on the ongoing dialogue with select Niger Delta leaders on how to stop bombing of crude oil and gas lines in the country, saying the President should be wary of self -styled leaders of the region who hobnobbed with the Yar'Adua/Goodluck Jonathan administration for eight years without any meaningful development to show in the Niger Delta.          

The All Progressives Congress, APC Chieftain who expressed strong reservations on the way and manner The Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu was going about the dialogue with "hyped emissaries of the militants", opined that traditional rulers from the Niger Delta that were invited to Abuja for the jaw-jaw with the federal government, especially those who are not Ijaw, don't know the "game -plan of the sponsors and sympathizers of the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA".                       

He queried, "what did Chief Wellington Okrika do to better the yearnings of Delta oil producing communities during the crude oil boom when he held sway as pioneer Chairman of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC and why did the respected Chief Edwin Clark not prevail on the Yar'Adua/Jonathan administration to embark on extensive development in the Niger Delta despite the huge resources at their disposal, especially against the respect the administration had for him?".                 

Chief Emami who made the assertion in a press statement released Friday August 26,declared that the Niger Delta comprises of various ethnic Nationalities such as Benin,Afemai,Ika,Ndokwas,Urhobo,Efik,Isoko,Itsekiri,Etsako,Calabar,Ikwere",adding that dialoguing with criminal elements from one ethnic Nationality will set a bad precedence and worsen the current crisis in the oil sector.

×