The meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PNDF, comprising of monarchs, leaders, groups and stakeholders of the coastal states of Niger Delta, will now hold on Monday, October 31 and not Saturday, October 29. Yesterday, the modification from the leader of PNDF, a former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, and Secretary of the Central Working Committee of PNDF, Mr. Ledum Mitee. A former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, and HRM Alfred Diette-Spiff are co-Chairmen of the CWC of the PNDF. However, the Minister of State (Petroleum), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who conveyed the first date of the meeting to PNDF, told Sunday Vanguard that he was actually looking at October 29 until it was found out that it was a Saturday.
It was actually a suggestion that the meeting could hold about that date, but having found out that 29 is a Saturday, you know it is not possible to drag the President for such a meeting on that day. The better day is Monday, October 31; so that is date,” he said. Militants challenge IOCs Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, NDGJM, the only militant group in the region that has refused to cease hostilities, yesterday, warned International Oil Companies (IOCs), not to re-open the Trans-Forcados pipeline in Delta State, allegedly undergoing testing by experts, or face the consequence.
The militant group in a statement by self-styled “Gen” Aldo Agbalaja, said: “The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, NDGJM, has not been deterred from meting out justice to the abusers and pillagers of our people and our natural assets, we shall execute this ongoing campaign until last vestige of our enemies (the heartless, conniving oil and gas companies and their criminal partners, the military) have been vanquished and evacuated from our land. This can only be halted if these leeches listen to the voice of reason and seek to do right by (sic) our people and do so by taking the right steps.”
Greenland opposes Buhari’s meeting with PNDF Curiously, the group kicked against the pan-Niger Delta mandate of PNDF, saying: “We thought we should continue to ignore the grand error being orchestrated by those who are responsible for the current parlous state of our region. These people seem to have succeeded in bewitching and railroaded the federal government into settling for a dialogue with them, in the name of the Niger Delta people.”
Itsekiri group backs PNDF Meanwhile, Itsekiri, under the auspices of Itsekiri Progress Club, Warri, Delta State, have pledged solidarity with PNDF, as the rallying point of the region’s stakeholders on the planned dialogue with the Federal Government. The Itsekiri group formally joined forces with PNDF in Warri, last week, and were received by former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, who represented Clark on the occasion.
On the Itsekiri delegation were two chiefs of Warri kingdom, Chief Fred Ogbe and Chief Anthony Onuwaje, an engineer as well as Lawrence Okubeinje, among others. Lawrence Okubeinje, who spoke for the Itsekiri Progress Club said: “We have seen the magnificent work Pan Niger Delta Forum has been doing.
When someone or a people are doing something good, it is wise to join them. We are happy that this body has been able to bring our children together to say hold on, let us talk with federal government.” Forum for all N-Deltans- Bozimo Alaowei Bozimo , who hosted the group, said: “We feel very comfortable with your position. The forum, as you can see, is not driven by ethnic separation. We are together as brothers.
SOURCE: VANGUARD
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