CALL TO ARREST EX-MILITANTS: GROUP KNOCKS DANJUMA

• Says He is the one that must be arrested
• Describes Him Apostle of Terrorism
• Wants His Oil Bloc Probed Now
• Urges FG to appoint An Ijaw GMD, NNPC

THE Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change has taken the former Defence Minister, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma to the cleaners over his call for the arrest of High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Asari Dokubo, General Boyloaf and others over recent alleged war threats by ex-Niger Delta militants, saying he must be suffering from brainwaves and old age.

Describing the former Army Chief as Apostle of Terrorism, the group called for his immediate arrest for spearheading the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan in some states in the North during campaign rallies.

The group in a press statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Stanley Mukoro rained knocks on the former Defence Minister, saying his comments on Tompolo, Dokubo and others was uncalled for and should be retracted.

The group wrote that, “Our attention has been drawn to the recent comments of General Danjuma in Kano where he called for the arrest of our illustrious sons for speaking their minds on the state of the nation. We hate to join issues with General Danjuma who has been very insensitive to the plight of the people of the Niger Delta region, but we are constrained to react as we are left with no other option.”

Wondering why General Danjuma never called for the arrest of those behind Boko Haram in the North, the group warned that, “We are not going to take likely to reckless comments against our ex-freedom fighters such as Tompolo, Dokubo, Boyloaf and others from General Danjuma, a man suffering from brainwaves, old age and his co-travellers from the North.”

According to the group, “The former Army Chief is behind the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan in some states in the North during his campaign rallies. He should be rather arrested for being behind terrorism in the North. He has never raised his voice against the evil being carried out in the North against President Jonathan. Danjuma should shut up his mouth if he has nothing to contribute to the unity of Nigeria as an elder statesman.”

While imploring the former Minister to go and sleep on account of his old age, the group said “General Danjuma who has benefitted so much from the wealth of the Niger Delta region with his numerous oil bloc, yet he has been very insensitive to the suffering of the people of the region should go and sleep as we want to believe that he do not know what he is talking about as a result of old age and brainwaves.”

“People like General Danjuma who do not know the colour of crude oil, yet he is soaked with the wealth from our oil and he was bold enough to call for the arrest of our sons who have been fighting for a better deal for the neglected people of the region,” the group wrote.

While warning the former Defence Minister, to mind his “reckless utterances”, the group accused him of not acquiring his several oil bloc through due process and called on President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke to probe his oil bloc in the Niger Delta region, saying that, “We will not hesitate to move that they should be revoked and failure to do that, we will blow them up because they belong to us.”

The group also accused General Danjuma for allegedly working hand-in-hand with multinational oil companies to short change indigenous oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta region that have invested fortunes on capacity building as a result of their high hope on the Nigerian Content Law.

“We know the dirty roles General Danjuma and others from the North have been playing with the multinational oil companies to frustrate the efforts of indigenous companies in the Niger Delta region and we are making it loud and clear that we are tired and sick of the likes of General Danjuma who are making life unbearable for the operators of our indigenous oil and gas firms and the people of the region in general,” the group stated.

According to the group, “We want General Danjuma, an apostle of terrorism to refrain from making highly inflammable comments against our leaders such as Tompolo, Dokubo, Boyloaf and others. We say enough is enough.”

The group urged the Federal Government to appreciate the efforts of the Ijaw people to the nation by appointing one of them as the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The group said “We want the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Alison-Madueke to continue to protect Niger Deltans, especially the Ijaws working in NNPC but being deprived in many ways. The Ijaws working in NNPC are being threatened on a daily basis; they are being marginalized and this is why we are urging the Federal Government to appoint an Ijaw man as the new Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC. The former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed somebody from the West as GMD of NNPC during his tenure, just as the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua appointed a Northern as GMD of NNPC and President Jonathan should move now to appoint an Ijaw man as GMD, NNPC.”