By Francis Sadhere
The South South Reawakening Group, has condemned the unending bombing of oil and gas Facilities in the Niger Delta Region.
Converner Of South South Reawakening Group, Mr Joseph Ambakederimo in a press statement called for an end to destruction of oil and gas Facilities in the region and elsewhere in the country by militants.
According to him, the people of the South South Region have portrayed themselves once again as barbaric and a timid people who believes only in one channel to ventilate their grievances all the time.
He said that there are better and civilized ways to ventilate grievances, saying the world has since gone past this pattern the people always employ to draw attention to the perceived injustice done to their people “and we must now find new and acceptable ways of ventilation of grievances”.
“The single reason that Government has not come up with any position or delayed dialogue should not be a yardstick for renewed offensive. The idea of, if not me, then nothing positive can happen in the Niger Delta should be discountenanced by all well meaning people. Some of these persons opposing this very important summit are the ones who are financing and giving covert support to the malicious damage of our infrastructure and despoliation of the environment.
“Some of these persons have been there over the years negotiating and dialoguing with government without any positive developments that has accrued to the region, yet they keep insisting they are the best ones who must represent the people. For these ones they have made ” negotiating and dialoguing with every government that comes their past time. And we should warn that the scramble by different bodies and groups to be part of negotiating and dialogue teams are not looking for how much money they can get and put in their pocket. It is time we try fresh minds and brains and see where it leads us”,he said.
He added that; “It is our position that we should be part of the summit as a first step and present the many reports of previous committees that have gathered dust on the shelves of Government ( Ledum Mitee technical committee report and TImi Alaibe’s NDDCmaster plan. We do not think stampeding government to hurriedly take action on a matter as critical and complicated as the Niger Delta imbroglio will serve the best interest of our people,” if l may posit rhetorically, we do not negotiate development. l do not think so, we know and recognize development whenever we see one coming”.
The Government, he stated, should be given the benefit of the doubt and honour the invitation and present the past reports,saying, “Let us have faith in the Government. Even if this is the case as so many people have suggested the Government still have to re-study these documents by ways of setting up committees to harmonize these documents and come out with a far reaching report that will set the path to providing world class infrastructure for the region.”
“We must understand that there are processes that are to be followed in dealing with issues of this nature.”
“The opportunity offered by the government for a dialogue should be seized wholeheartedly by everyone and the summit convened by the office of the Vice President we believe is the starting point. We must get it right this time and in getting it right we need to get our own acts together and articulate a common position to present to government rather than all these multiple disorganized and disjointed position that we have today.”
“We should also note that our strength or euphoria should not be lost only on the Federal Government when it comes to the issues of the Niger Delta. We should also call to question the position of the state Governments and the NDDC. What does the state Governments have to put on the table, we need to know the sum total and put them side by side with what the Federal Government will eventually sieve from the various reports. We therefore urge our brothers and sisters to grab with our both hands the invitation by the office of the Vice President to the proposed Niger Delta summit whenever it is reconvened”, he posited.
