Chai! Militants Disown Elders’ Meeting With Buhari,Want Ex-Agitators To Lead Dialogue

THE Niger Delta militants have disowned elders
from the region who held a meeting with President
Muhammadu Buhari yesterday at the Aso Villa,
Abuja, saying that the elders cannot represent them.

The militants emphasized that none of the
stakeholders who met the President had the proper
knowledge of the plight of the Niger Delta people,
stressing that bombing of oil facilities in the region
will continue
In separate statements, the Niger Delta Peoples
Democratic Front (NDPDF) and the Concerned
Militant Leaders (CML) expressed dissatisfaction
that no former militant leader was among those
chosen to be part of representatives of the region in
the meeting with government.

Leaders of the two groups, General Ben and General
Playboy maintained that such a meeting without any
recognized former Niger Delta militant would not
protect the interest of the people of the region.
They also doubted the Federal Government’s
sincerity on the $10 billion development fund to be
earmarked for the Niger Delta.

“Pipeline bombing cannot stop because the people
going for the meeting do not know why they are
going there. It is not the first, second, or third time
and would not be the last. So, we cannot be
deceived or bamboozled by whatever tag is given to
the meeting.

“We insist on implementation of the report of the
National Conference and other reports on the
development of Niger Delta region. Anything short
of this is insincere and will not be accepted. For a
genuine peace, past reports of several commissions
on Niger Delta must be visited,” they said.

General Playboy said: “Our elders and leaders are
not helping matters at all. They do not really know
the plight of Niger Delta people because they are
wealthy, quite rich and do not take issues about the
region seriously.

“They do not know the common people in the
region because they are not based in Niger Delta
and cannot show holistic commitment to our
struggle. Our elders represent themselves, and not
the people in the rural areas.

“We don’t need people who will play politics with
the genuine struggle of Niger Delta people. We
don’t want people, who are not agitators. The real
agitators are people like Alhaji Asari Dokubo, High
Chief Government Tompolo, Egberipapa, General
Africa, General Joshua and many others.

“These are the kind of people that can negotiate for
our people. They know the plights of the Niger
Delta people because they live in the same
environment with them. They are not based abroad.

They come down to the communities to know the
feelings of the people. Such people should
represent us.”

General Playboy, however, noted that their position
did not mean that they were disrespectful to the
elders in the region, insisting that they (elders) were
not needed at the meeting with the President.

http://www.socialtimesng.com/2016/11/militants-
disown-elders-meeting-with-buhari-wants-ex-
agitators-to-lead-dialogue/