The South-East caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday
urged the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to sheath its sword and give
President Muhammadu Buhari time to address their demands. This is
contained in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja by the spokesman of
the party in the South-East, Mr Osita Okechukwu.
The APC group told the NDA to be mindful of the laudable projects the
current administration had lined up for the Niger Delta and allow the
president some time to execute them.
The group, however, said that if the avengers had grouse with the
situation, they should direct attention of former President Goodluck
Jonathan, who failed to take certain actions to address the problems in
the area.
They said that for five years, Jonathan failed to clean-up the Niger
Delta, failed to complete East-West road and failed to review oil blocs’
allocation The statement said that the former president also failed to
amend the Constitution to the Avengers’ taste and failed to build the
three Greenfield Refineries which he awarded.
“Accordingly, we plead with our brothers, the NDA, for God’s sake, to do a
deep re-think and graciously allow peace to reign for our collective
national interest and indeed, to save the Niger Delta from ruins.
“No sane Nigerian will pray for the recurrence of ugly incidents like the
Odi, 1999; Zaki Ibiam, 2000 and Gbaramatu, 2009 or the unwarranted ugly
scenario which the Niger Delta Avengers are consciously simulating. “It is
our candid view that the bombing of Forcados pipeline, Bonga oil field,
Chevron trunk lines and other oil and gas installations will not
facilitate the implementation of 2014 National Conference Report,’’ the
statement said.
It added that bombing the facilities would not enhance funding of the
Amnesty Programme or make for the clean-up of the Niger Delta.