Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders announces two-week ceasefire

A militant group, Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, based in Bayelsa State, yesterday, declared a two-week ceasefire within which it urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review his hard-line stance to dialogue with militants and first-rate leaders of Niger Delta to prevent total devastation of crude oil export facilities in the region.

This came as the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, accused ExxonMobil of telling lies about the bombing of its Qua Iboe 48-inch crude export pipeline on Monday.

Spokesperson of Avengers, self-appointed Brig-Gen Murdoch Agbinibo, stated: “ExxonMobil can deny or fool the general public about their export pipeline blown up on Monday. How long can they lie to their investors? Just in matter of days, the whole world will see the truth.

Qua Iboe 48” crude oil export pipeline is down, so says the Avengers.” NDRC, which recently blew up the Brass Creek Manifold, the largest in West Africa, situated in Peretorugbene, Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, said: “With clear evaluation of the happenings and advice of well- meaning Nigerians and Niger Delta stakeholders, we hereby, declare a two-week ceasefire for a sincere and proper dialogue.” Spokesperson of the group, WOI Izon-Ebi, said in a statement: “We want the Federal Government to consult distinguished personalities, royal fathers and chiefs of the Niger Delta communities.

Government should disassociate itself from negotiating with political jobbers in Abuja, but come down to the Niger Delta communities. “If after the two weeks of ceasefire, nothing meaningful happens, we have no option but to redirect our next phase of action to the exporting terminals to stop total export of our resources. “We hereby, call on Mr. President to do the needful by being sincere to himself and Nigerians in engaging in meaningful dialogue to ensure a lasting peace in the Niger Delta and Nigeria in particular.

“We have lived all our lives as victims and like fishes constantly immersed in pools of pollution, so it is no longer new to us. Come to talk about explosion and degradation, it did not start today, it has been so for the past 50 years. That is why the colonial masters pointed it out categorically to Nigerians before independence that the Ijaws and the Ogoni communities were priority areas of concentration and development by the Nigerian government.

“All we need is a clean environment devoid of pollution, development, good drinking water, motor-able roads cutting across our communities, electricity, universities, resource control.” The group expressed reservation about the Minister of Transport, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, saying, “He is taking his hatred against former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Ijaw nation too far, which is too bad for the peace and unity of the Niger Delta and Nigeria in general.

“Maybe Amaechi, the current Minister of Transport is not a good historian, otherwise, he should have known that the three higher institutions in his Ikwerre land except Rivers State Polytechnic were established by an Ijaw man, Chief Diette Spiff, the then military administrator of Rivers State. They are Rivers State University of Science and Technology and University of Port-Harcourt.”