MEND, FG Deal: Dialogue Without Ijaw Leaders'll Fail-Clark

Any dialogue between Government and Militants in the Niger Delta region

without the involvement of Ijaw leaders is doomed, foremost Ijaw leader

and First Republic Information Minister, Edwin Clark, has said.

The position followed the deal between the Federal Government and the

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), to release

leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and MEND

operative, Charles Okah, held over his involvement in the October 1

bombing of the Eagle Square in Abuja.
Clark took the position at a consultative meeting of Ijaw leaders with

Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson and Deputy Governor of Delta State,

Kingsley Otuaro, in Warri.
“In 2008 and 2009 similar incident happened and Gbaramatu was affected. We

elders and leaders intervened and we got Amnesty. Today we hear that the

Federal Government is planning, already talking or negotiating with

militants and nobody has consulted us.
“That will not work. These children are our children and we cannot fold

our hands when they are being attacked and pretend not to notice. We must

be involved in whatever the government wants to do,” he said.

A communique issued at the meeting called for immediate restructuring of

the country along the lines of peaceful federalism.

“As panacea for the sustainable development of Nigeria. As a demonstration

of sincerity of commitment to dialogue, Federal Government should

immediately withdraw the military from all occupied Ijaw communities,

particularly Gbaramatu kingdom”, and called on government to release 10

innocent students of Gbaramatu kingdom.
The meeting also called on the Federal Government to immediately release

the 10 innocent students of Gbaramatu kingdom arrested by the security

agents.
“The meeting also condemn the move to scrap the Nigerian Maritime University

approved by the previous administration with temporary site at Kurutie and

call for the immediate takeoff of the university. The forum also urged the

militant groups of the Niger Delta to cease further attacks on crude oil

and gas facilities and embrace the dialogue offered by the Federal

Government”, the group said .
The post MEND, FG Deal: Dialogue Without Ijaw Leaders’ll Fail-Clark appeared first on Pointblank News .