Even as the federal government has begun negotiation with militants in the
\nNiger Delta, a new militant group, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate,
\nNDGJM, has emerged.<\/p>\n
The group has threatened to destroy Eleme Refiner in\u00a0 Port Harcourt,
\nRivers State, Warri Refinery and the Utorogun gas plant in Otu-Jeremi in
\nUghelli South Local Government Area, Delta State in days to come if the
\ngovernment does not meet its demands.<\/p>\n
Besides, it issued a\u00a0 48-hour to oil multinationals still in the upland of
\nthe region, especially in the Ogba\/Egi axis of Rivers state,
\nUrhobo\/Isoko\/Ndokwa axis of Delta state and other upland oil producing
\nareas to evacuate their personnel from the region.<\/p>\n
The group lamented that all the people of the upland Niger Delta, under
\nwhose watch the largest and most critical oil assets are located, have
\nbeen ignored over the years as government and the oil companies pander to
\nevery whim and cough of those who have violently engaged the state.<\/p>\n
This is contained in a statement by its Spokesman, self-styled Gen. Aldo
\nAgbalaja, saying: \u201cWe have keenly watched developments in the country in
\nrecent times, developments that are most depressing, very much depicting
\nthe marginalization and subjugation of the hapless people of our region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have thought very deeply about the ongoing shenanigan and play-acting
\ngoing on between the federal government and some self-styled \u2018Niger Delta
\nagitators\u2019 and thought if we fail to make our own statement now, then
\nthere will be no future for the larger Niger Delta region.<\/p>\n
\u201cfor the avoidance of doubts, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate is
\nnot in the mold of the various criminal gangs that have so far paraded
\nthemselves as fighting for the interest of the people of the Niger Delta,
\nbut who indeed have been engaged in fight for personal enrichment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not one of them. We are out to tell the world that there is a
\nNiger Delta that is made up of many tribes and tongues, the people of whom
\nhave so far suffered both local and national oppression.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have come at this point to ensure that our oppressors, being the
\nfederal government, the state governments in the six core Niger Delta
\nstates who have received billions of dollars over the past years but have
\nbrought little or no development to the region and the so-called
\nsuper-ethnic nations, who have yielded to greed and wickedness and have
\nexposed the rest of us in the oil-rich, but deeply impoverished region, to
\ncrippling squalor<\/p>\n
Noting it is a coalition of forces across the Niger Delta region, fighting
\nfor the interest of the region, Agbalaja said, \u201cFederal government and the
\noil multinational companies have been making a very grave mistake by
\nequating the interest of the Ijaw people as that of all the tribes of the
\nregion. Indeed, this is a mistake that is about to take a more devastating
\ntoll than has ever been seen or experienced in the history of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny moment from now, we shall be making a loud statement which we
\nbelieve should be loud enough for all to see and take seriously and then
\nafterwards state our demands. \u201cWe have considered this \u2018coming statement\u2019
\nreluctantly inevitable because of the recalcitrance of federal
\nauthorities, as well as oil giants; they both have decided to ignore
\ncalls to reason and have made violence the only option.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as in the 2009 experience, the federal government and oil companies
\nhave started yet another round of negotiation with the Ijaw front, in the
\nname of all the people of the Niger Delta. This will not work. Since they
\ndo not regard the assets in our areas important enough to be protected, we
\nshall root them all out of the length of the Niger Delta. We don\u2019t want to
\nmake this mistake any longer, violence pays as it has become the only
\nvoice that government gives hearkens to.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, we are asking all the oil multinationals still in the upland of
\nour region; AGIP, TOTAL, SHELL, MOBIL, SHORELINES, NECONDE, E.D WESTERN,
\nSEPLAT and others to commence the evacuation of their personnel from the
\nregion, especially in the Ogba\/Egi axis of Rivers state,
\nUrhobo\/Isoko\/Ndokwa axis of Delta state and other upland oil producing
\nareas, within the next 48 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also want to bring it to the attention of the federal government and
\nthe NNPC that the refineries in Warri (Urhobo land) and Port Harcourt
\n(Eleme) and the gas plant in Otorogun will all come down in few days from
\nnow. \u201cWe just hope that the Nigerian government will continue ignoring us
\nso that we can perfect what those in the riverine area started\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even as the federal government has begun negotiation with militants in the Niger Delta, a new militant group, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, NDGJM, has emerged. The group has threatened…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n