Date Published: 12/15/09

Niger Delta: Dont deal with criminals, Rebels tells FG

JOINT Revolutionary Council (JRC), a rebel network in the Niger Delta that is pressing for socio-economic, political and environmental justice in Nigeria's oil and gas region, has called on their country's government to stop dealing with ''criminals masquerading as fighters'' for the peoples of the oil region.

Spokesperson for the rebels, Cynthia Whyte, claimed in an on-line statement to our correspondent on Tuesday, ''we are also not party to the ill-defined Aaron Team and reject it in its entirety. For us, the Aaron Team is a ruse and represents the failed attempt of criminal infiltrators of the Ijaw and Niger Delta struggle to give themselves a credible image''.

Continuing, she said, ''we wish to commend all heroic combatants of the Niger Delta struggle who have sacrificed intensely for the betterment of the people of the Niger Delta. From Isaac Boro to Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Government Ekpenkpolo (aka Tompolo), and Victor Ben Ebikabowei (aka Boyloaf). They deserve all our best wishes as they lend hands towards providing a better life for our people''.

JRC was however, reacting to statements attributed to Jomo Gbomo, Spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) refuting the JRC's declaration of a possible anarchy in the event of the forced resignation of Goodluck Jonathan from the office of Vice President of the Nigerian state.

''The Joint Revolutionary Council is an alliance of combat units drawn from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (comprising largely of initial MEND leaders drawn from the Eastern and Western swamps of the Niger Delta), the Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (the NDPVF) and the Martyrs Brigade.

''Over the years, the JRC has led by a collegiate leadership comprising of tested and trusted Ijaw and Niger Delta youth leaders who have displayed a firm commitment to the improvement of quality of life of the people of the Niger Delta such as Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Government Ekpemukpolo amongst others'', Whyte said.

According to her, ''we are not a gun-running assemblage and we remain focused on the larger Ijaw and Niger Delta objective''.