Date Published: 05/25/09
Communiqué
Of the 2nd All Niger Delta Peoples Assembly
Held on May 23rd 2009 at the Presidential hotel,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Following extensive deliberations and specialized information from national and international Resource Persons, the Assembly noted:
- The ongoing avoidable and regrettable carnage in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State, and the categorization of the ongoing military overkill as “genocidal” by local, national and international observers;
- The delay in inaugurating a multi-stakeholder committee, by the Federal Government to work out the comprehensive modalities for credible and gazetted amnesty, disarmament, decommissioning, demilitarisation, rehabilitation and reintegration processes to expedite sustainable peace and development in the Niger Delta as severally promised by President Yar’Adua;
- The inexcusable delay in releasing the Federal Government White Paper on the Report of the Niger Delta Technical Committee which was submitted to President Yar’Adua on December 1, 2009, with recommendations that, if already implemented, would have averted the present humanitarian crisis;
- The continuing illegal flaring of associated gas by oil multinational companies, beyond the Dec 31, 2008 deadline, even without any direct compensation nor amelioration to the affected communities;
- The persistent and inequitable underfunding of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Ministry of the Niger Delta, especially contrary to the rule-of-law spelt out in the Enabling Act of the NDDC;
- The rampant electoral and institutional corruption in the region which continues to deny the people true representatives, that can be held accountable by the electorate, in government at federal, state and local levels; and which allows the commonwealth belonging to the people of the region to be brazenly stolen by public office holders and civil servants with virtual impunity;
- The Federal Government expressed plan to commence dredging of the River Niger without carrying out meaningful and comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments, and contrary to existing court injunctions restraining it from so doing;
- The continuing absence of unity and interconnectedness in the region, due to political lethargy and lack of creativity on the part of the state governments; and
- The unconscionable attempt to institutionalize genocide in the Niger Delta, as evidenced by the House of Representatives passing a Resolution which callously implores the Federal Government to extend the carnage in Delta State to Rivers and Bayelsa States, plus the condemnable call for the extermination of the twenty million Niger Deltans by Representative Bala Ibn N’Allah of Kebbi State.
The Assembly, whilst mourning the scores of lives of all the Nigerian citizens killed in these sad times, whether Niger Deltan or soldiers obeying unfortunate orders to invade helpless communities; and empathising with the thousands of injured and the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced innocent Niger Delta citizens hereby, resolves that:
- The Federal Government of Nigeria should unilaterally end the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has attracted widespread opprobrium throughout Nigeria and the civilized world, by immediately declaring a cease-fire and stopping its bombardment of Gbaramatu Kingdom, and totally ignoring any untoward calls to expand the carnage into any other part of Niger delta;
- The National Assembly should immediately rescind its licentious call for the spread of the regrettable hostilities in Delta State to other states of the region by quashing the Bill before it to that effect;
- The Federal Government should immediately allow unfettered access to the Gbaramatu Kingdom so that international and national relief agencies can better deploy resources to the grieving people of Gbaramatu kingdom; whilst adequate processes should be immediately established for the rehabilitation of the thousands of displaced persons, even as they should be immediately resettled in their original communities;
- The Federal Government should immediately take full responsibility for all acts of misdirected military action against the Nigerian citizens and communities of the Niger Delta, including making full and appropriate reparations before June 30, 2009;
- Niger Delta youths should immediately desist from attacking any government security force or property, should accede to a just and speedy resolution of this crisis, and participate fully and sincerely in all future credible peace processes;
- An intellectually capable team of Niger Delta Negotiators, acceptable to all Niger Delta peoples, should be set up by the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS), and its partners, to commence direct talks with the Federal and State Governments with an aim to attaining peace in the region before October 1, 2009, on terms acceptable to all stake holders, whether regional, national, or global;
- A Federal Government empowered Committee should be inaugurated before June 15, 2009, to work out a viable process of amnesty, disarmament, decommissioning, demilitarization, rehabilitation and reintegration that will recognize international best practices, such as the need for international mediators/arbitrators/observers for sustainable peace and development in the region and Nigeria as a whole;
- The Niger Delta Caucus in the National Assembly should demand the formal censuring by the Federal House of Representatives of House Speaker Dimeji Bankole and Dis-honourable Bala Ibn N’Allah for their unguarded comments which were patently supportive of ethnic cleansing and opposed to the principles of a united and progressive Nigeria;
- An Anti-Corruption Campaign should be launched immediately within the region by UNDEDSS and other stakeholders (both government and non-government) with an aim to stigmatize all electoral and financial fraud in the Niger Delta, and to establish/develop grassroots capacity to oppose same;
- All Niger Delta State Governments should immediately agree on modalities to enable them unitedly spearhead lobby and litigation processes to compel the Federal Government and multinationals to immediately stop gas flaring in the region, and ensure that any compensations hitherto paid to the Federal Government be transferred directly to the communities affected by the flaring;
- The Niger Delta Governments should also unite to lobby and litigate for the stoppage of Niger Delta gas being piped to Olokola in Ogun State, and demand that the Federal Government commences immediate construction of Gas Processing Plants within the Niger Delta to utilize the region’s gas and empower the region’s grossly-underdeveloped economy and peoples;
- The Federal Government should immediately put on hold all plans of dredging the River Niger until in-depth and comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments are carried out;
- The Federal Government should immediately begin the process of setting up a transparent Oil Heritage Savings Fund for the benefit of future generations of Niger Delta peoples whose resource base is fast depleting just as its environment is increasingly being despoliated;
- Relevant Niger Delta State Governments should establish special intervention commissions, within six months, to specifically address the peculiar developmental challenges of Oil and Gas Producing Communities, along the lines of Delta State’s DESOPADEC; and
- The Federal Government should publish the long-overdue Government White Paper on the Report of the President’s Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, as a first step of beginning the process of implementing the Report’s Recommendations.
In the unlikely the event that ANY of the above-addressed stakeholders fail to live upto their responsibilities as stated above, within the time-frames so stated above, the Assembly hereby gives notice that it reserves the right to employ every legitimate means and channels [including Mass Civil Social Action, Litigation and Advocacy] to press home these very reasonable Assembly Resolutions.
So help us, God.
Signed and Agreed to this 23 rd day of May, 2009 (On behalf of 150 Delegates present)
H.R.M. King Alfred Diette-SpifF
Professor Pat Utomi
Professor Desmond Wilson
Professor Austin Ikein
Alabo Graham-Douglas
Professor Kevin Etta
H.R.M. Eze Young Ogbonna
H.R.M. Pere Kalanama VIII
Dr. Monique Ekpong
Ambassador George Kobani
Dr. Omawunmi Davies
Chief Asuquo Ekanem
Ms. Annkio Briggs
Mr. Iniruo Wills
Mr. Albert Esiri
Ms. Emem Okon
Chief Francis Ifie
Mrs. Baarong Tony-Uranta
Comrade Eneruvie Enakoko
Ms. Joan Unuane
Comrade John Adie
Mrs. Sotonye Fulton
Mr. Onengiya Erekosima
Ms. Gloria Onowighose
Mr. George Kerley
Ms. Hilda Dokubo
Rev. Tony Essien
Comrade Bassey Henshaw
Mrs. Laura Erakpor
Mr. Belema Dickson
Ms. Tome Omu
Mr. Timi Igoli (ff. Comrade Joseph Evah)
Ms. Florence Kalio
Mr. Tony I. Uranta
|
