*I’m not Avengers
spokesperson- Udengs Eradiri, IYC president
WARRI- THERE was confusion,
weekend, as the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA and its alleged splinter faction, Reformed
Niger Delta Avengers, RNDA, played dirty, the latter having released the namesof 22 persons it claimed were sponsors, members and sympathizers of the
principal group, Saturday evening.
An Ijaw leader, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, to Vanguardngr on phone, lamented: “It is unfortunate that they
have penetrated our boys with money and they are now using them to fight
themselves. This is bad for the struggle.”
Spokesperson of NDA, self styled
Brig General Mudoch Agbinibo, had in a retort to Vanguard, said the group was
intact and in a subsequent statement, fingered a top government official,
former governor and ex-militant leaders hiding under the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, to announce the purported split.
“It is
quite unfortunate that Cynthia Whyte and Jomo Gbomo of defunct Joint
Revolutionary Council and MEND respectively are the spokesperson of the
Nigerian intelligentsia community because of some political interest and a
government that have abdicated powers to clansmen and tribal lords. ”
The fact
checks about Cynthia Whyte and his sponsors should be laid bare before the
public now that the Nigerian security and intelligent community has turned the
Niger Delta genuine struggle to a tool of political patronage and money making
machine for miscreants and conflict merchants,” NDA said.
National president of
Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, who RNDA listed his name among theoperatives of Niger Delta Avengers, reacted to the allegation, yesterday,
saying: “I have no business whatsoever with the Niger Delta Avengers.
I am the
President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the largest youth organization in
the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and not Spokesman of the Niger Delta
Avengers.” He said”
My attention has been drawn to a statement purportedly
issued by a splinter group of the Niger Delta Avengers in which several Niger
Deltans were mentioned as sponsors and operatives of the Niger Delta Avengers,
including my humble self as the spokesman of the Niger Delta Avengers, who go
by the name Brig. Gen. Mudoch Aginibo.
“Since the splinter group of the Niger
Delta Avengers said they have broken away and repented from their old ways, I
call on them to come out in open and identify themselves openly, instead of
still using pseudo names such as Cynthia Whyte to issue statements.
“Any
discerning mind would know that the said statement purportedly naming sponsors
of Avengers was issued by the promoters of the Aaron 2 MEND negotiation with
the federal government.
Their grouse against me is because I said in my recent
interviews that MEND Aaron 11 team does not have the mandate of the Ijaw and other
Niger Delta people to negotiate with the federal government.
They are desperate
because of the lack of credibility in what they are doing,” he said.
Eradiri
asserted: “I wish to state that no amount of desperation and blackmail would
stop me from stating the position of the Ijaw people as far issues affecting
the Niger Delta region are concerned.
I was elected to promote and protect the interest
of the Ijaw and Niger Delta people and not the selfish and personal interest of
a few.”
“I also want to put on record the consistent threat to my life by the
promoters of the Aaron 2 MEND negotiation with the federal government.
They
have been consistently saying that they would deal with me.
“The security
agencies, especially the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the
Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) already know them
since they claimed to be negotiating with the government and should take note
and appropriate actions on this threat,” he added.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of
IYC, Mr. Eric Omare, in a statement, Sunday, said called on security agents to
stop the indiscriminate arrest of Ijaw and Niger Delta youths under the guise
of fighting renewed militancy in the Niger Delta region.
“In recent times,
there have been indiscriminate arrests of Ijaw and other Niger Delta youths by
security agents without charging any of them to court.
So far, security agents
have arrested Ijaw youths such as Mr. Simeon Bebenimino, Bomboy Oluba, Aboy
Muturu, the Oporoza 10 and several others.
The latest of the victims of this
indiscriminate arrest is Comrade Daniel Ezekiel, an Ijaw youth from Egebma Clan
in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta.
“Daniel Ezekiel, who is the
spokesperson of a Niger Delta- based civil society organization, the Ijaw
Peoples’ Development Initiative (IPDI) was arrested/abducted on Thursday,
August 4, 2016 while on his way from Sapele to Warri in Delta State.
“Up to the
time of issuing this statement, the whereabouts of Mr. Daniel Ezekiel are
unknown.
In the days leading to the arrest/abduction of Mr. Ezekiel, he
complained of threats to his life by some persons, who claimed to be working
for the federal government and security agencies in the Niger Delta,” he said.
His words: “Daniel Ezekiel is a passionate believer in the Niger Delta cause
and like several young Nigerians has actively used the social media in
articulating the Niger Delta cause. The IYC wonders when it has become an
offence to express one’s support for a cause through the social media.”
Omare
added: “After all, President Buhari is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the
social media during the last presidential election; so why the clampdown on
those who expresses dissent to his administration through the same medium? He
stated:
“The IYC wishes to strongly advise the federal government and agents of
the federal government, including party chieftains not to use the renewed
militancy in the Niger Delta as a political tool to arrest and silence opposing
voices in the Niger Delta region.”
“There are indications that more opposing
voices in the Niger Delta may be arrested in the days ahead on the instigation
of some politicians to settle political scores.
We call on President Buhari to
call the security agencies to order, as indiscriminate arrest of Niger Deltans,
especially those expressing dissent to the administration’s approach to issue
affecting the region would not do him any good.
“We reiterate our call for
those under arrest to be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction in line
with the rule of law or be released without delay,” he added
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