Why FG should not negotiate with NDAvengers - Ex-militants

Scores of ex-Niger Delta militants have called on the federal government not to dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers

The ex-militants said dialogue would fuel full-scale militancy in the oil-rich region

They said the demands of the Niger Delta Avengers were not germane but politically-motivated

Former militants under the aegis of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators (NCNDE-A), have warned the federal government against going into dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers.

In a communique released on Monday, June 20, after its meeting in Ughelli, Delta state, the ex-militants said negotiating with the militants will increase militancy in the oil-rich region, The Punch reports.

Speaking on behalf of the former militants, Israel Akpodoro, the president of the NCNDE-A said dialogue was a ploy by some political leaders in the region to stampede the federal government into more troubles in the region.

According to him, the ex-militants were opposed to dialogue because the demands of the Niger Delta Avengers were not germane but politically-motivated.

Akpodoro noted that the first consequence of negotiating with the militants would be to push youths of other ethnic groups to take up arms against the government.

He said the government should focus its energy on addressing the injustice occasioned by the marginalisation of the Phase 3 of the amnesty programme rather than the proposed dialogue.

The NCNDE-A president stated that ex-militants from other ethnic nationalities including Urhobo, Isoko, Itsekiri and Ndokwa were wrongfully schemed out of the amnesty programme and this was already getting youths in the region.

The Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for series of pipeline bombings in the region on the ground that it is agitating for a transformation. As a way of curbing their activities, the federal government has decided to dialogue with the militants.

A month ago, Akpodoro advised the federal government against negotiating with the new militant group as it would give rise to more of such troublesome groups and make things worse.

Akpodoro stirred controversy when he claimed that ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan created Niger Delta Avengers as a way of making President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration unsuccessful.

Kingsley Muturu, the national vice chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Phase II, described the allegation as the height of democratic recklessness and said that Akpodoro was sponsored by some political bigwigs.