Date Published: 06/02/09

Group tasks Fed Govt on war against militants

THE Federal Government has been called upon to halt the war against militants in the Niger Delta and that Abuja should rather re-channel the resources used in prosecuting the war towards developing the oil and gas region.

The call was made by a pressure group, South East/South South Solidarity Union (SESSSU), after considering the level of military onslaught and alleged deaths of innocent civilian population in the Deltaic region.

The body says it intends to remind the Federal Government of the sufferings of the dispossesed people of Bakassi, whose staggering conditions of life require urgent social and economic resuscitation efforts.

While asking the militants to respond to the offer of amnesty, the body also called on the President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration to convoke a Sovereign National Conference without further delay.

In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the union, Rev. 'Bisi Odota, SESSSU says the delay in convoking the much awaited conference is prolonging acts of restiveness and promoting distrust and undue suspicion among Nigerians.

The union continued: It is time for us to sit down and rob minds on how best to live together. Any objective observer on the handling of the Niger Delta problem would believe that the Federal Government is not sincere about its approach, or else, how can one interpret the unnecessary delay in releasing the White Paper on the Niger Delta Technical Committee and the execution of same.

They argued that if there had been a sincere approach to solvinjg the Niger Delta problem, the loss of several lives would have been averted.