“Our grievance with government is that after the consolatory statement of the government by Prof. Osinbajo, nothing is on ground to show sincerity by government”, this was the key argument of the Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders (NDRC), for planned resumption of attacks on oil facilities in Niger Delta effective September 31.
NDRC is one of the militant groups that had prevailed the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), led by Chief Edwin Clark, to stop all engagements with the Federal Government.
In a statement, the group added further that “Our grievance is borne out of the insincerity of Nigeria’s past and current leaders who after using out wealth and resources to build both Lagos and Abuja and even stealing for themselves and their unborn children, decided to bequeath a degraded environment to us and our children”.
This is as the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo lead government delegation to Niger Delta Youth Dialogue at Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Efurun Delta state yesterday.
NDRC said “to take back our heritage by stopping all oil and gas exploration and exportation in Niger Delta come September 31, 2017. And when that time comes, heaven will not fall”.
“We have resolved that resource control, fiscal federalism and devolution of powers are the only panacea. Anything short of that will not be acceptable to NDRC and the 21st century agitators of the Niger Delta.
“Our elders and distinguished personalities of PANDEF have tried in their advocacy. We realize that the balancing act of being elder statesmen and resource control advocates can be a very touchy act. That is why our goal is in consonance with the vision of Niger Delta’s emerging youth leaders in the clamour for resource control.
“The Nigerian nation should be grateful to PANDEF and most especially the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was so sincere in trying to do things in line with the best global practices of this 21st century, but the Nigerian elite and state, who feed fat on the resources of the Niger Delta do not care about the plight of the Niger Delta people.”
As at press time, reports of the communiqué reached at the PTI dialogue is not yet in.
