There are strong indications that the Federal Government may have shunned the overtures extended to it by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other prominent Nigerians seeking dialogue as the pathway to sustainable peace and development in the Niger Delta.
President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly invited the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PNDF), established by some Niger Delta leaders, to a meeting, this week, in Abuja, for talks before commencing an acceptable dialogue with the stakeholders and representatives of militant groups.
Soyinka and six others were nominated as negotiators by the Supreme Consultative Council (SCC) of the Eastern and Central Divisions of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), one of the numerous militant groups operating in the oil-rich region.
Other eminent persons on the dialogue team included a former Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Prof. Steve Odi-Owei; former Minister of Finance, Dr. Anthony Ani; a don, Mr. Nalaguo Chris Alagoa as well as Mrs. Alice Mobolaji Osomo.
The team, which was assembled in August this year, was meant to dialogue with the Federal Government on behalf of the militant group on the restoration of peace to the Niger Delta.
However, nearly two months down the line, the Federal Government has not contacted the team even after the Soyinka group was unveiled publicly.
Spokesman for the group, Mr. Ballantyne Agiri, told New Telegraph that whereas the dialogue team had held preliminary talks on how to pursue the peace pro- cess in the Niger Delta, it has been waiting for the Federal Government to make the necessary moves for the dialogue to commence.
He said that due to the long wait, some of the militant groups, which had earlier signed on to peace were becoming agitated and threatening to resume hostilities. “On the 31st of September, when we were all gathered in Lagos, an information came to us.
These boys called and threatened that they were going to destroy one oil installation in Bayelsa State. Precisely, it was the Texaco Platform, a massive installation of over two kilometres long. It is just like an island. It took us about three hours – I and other members of our group – to convince them to drop the idea of attacking the platform,” he said.
Agiri disclosed that given the array of personalities on the panel, it was decided that they need not force themselves on the Federal Government as that could be misinterpreted as an act of desperation for some selfish gains.
“We don’t have any special interest in this thing. Our sole interest is to prevent further damage to oil and gas installations because if it continues, it will affect everybody. So, we came on the premise to ensure there is peace, sanity and clean environment.
But when the Federal Government does not recognise you, you keep off. The Federal Government has the yam and the knife and they are at liberty to decide what to do,” he said.
According to Agiri, Soyinka had even gone out to contact some members of the House of Commons in London, a former President of Ghana, John Kuffor, as well as some American lawmakers to enrich the dialogue and bring lasting peace to the volatile region.
He said: “We also contacted other key stakeholders across every ethnic nationality in the Niger Delta. We were looking forward to a stakeholders’ conference where we can collate all the diverse views and submit the demands of the people to government.
The idea was that after this comprehensive dialogue and negotiations, there will be no more hostility and destruction of oil pipelines across the region.”
On the latest information that the Federal Government had opted to dialogue with another group led by a prominent Ijaw leader and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, the spokesman of the Soyinka team said it was all well and good provided the effort will restore lasting peace to the Niger Delta.
“The Federal Government has not approached us and they have not told us anything. But if the Federal Government says it is talking with the EK Clark and his group and that negotiation will bring peace to the whole region, it is all well and good because we don’t want to force ourselves on the Federal Government.
If the dialogue with the EK Clark group will take into cognizance the demands of everybody in the region, there is nothing wrong,” he said.
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