The NDPA, a socio-cultural group with massive following across the oil-rich region, specifically warned Buhari against using the Presidential Amnesty Programme initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as political tools to settle a few bigwigs of his party in the South-South.
President-General of the group, Chief Tombra Ekpedekumo, said in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, that the Niger Delta people should not be treated as conquered species simply because the region is not on fire after the harassment, intimidation and political manipulation to force President Goodluck Jonathan out of power.
“The harassment, intimidation and political manipulation through the use of the “Card-Rigger” by INEC and its collaborators in the recently conducted presidential election to force President Jonathan out of office remained a bitter pill to swallow for the Niger Delta people.
“The region is not on fire basically because of some considerations, which is the peace and unity of Nigeria that President Jonathan has been preaching”, the group noted.
It expressed regret that while the Niger Delta people had, for decades, suffered environmental degradation due to oil exploitation and exploration activities with attendant effects on fishing and farming which would have been alternative sources of livelihood for them, the people were still being treated as second class citizens despite their huge sacrifices to the nation.
The NDPA said the outcome of the 2015 presidential election, in which President Jonathan, an Ijaw from the minority Niger Delta region was forced out of office through institutional and organised conspiracy, was a testament to the age-long view that Nigeria as a political entity merely existed in name.
Part of the statement reads: “Nigeria’s unity had been preserved by the petro-dollars from the massive crude oil in the Niger Delta region, whose people are ironically the least beneficiaries of their God-given wealth. While the inhabitants of the area are bearing the brunt of the destructive oil exploration and exploitation activities by the multinational firms, the proceeds are used to develop and industrialize other parts of the country that now regard the Niger Delta people as second class citizens.
“Yet, the people have exercised caution and refused to engage in actions capable of breaking up the country. This is not a sign of weakness, but sacrifice they’ve borne for decades even with the stark reality that the project called Nigeria is a total conspiracy against the Niger Delta. Having maintained their peace for so long, the Niger Delta people should not be stretched beyond endurable limits.”
Meanwhile, Angry youths, yesterday set ablaze a section of the Ter Makurdi, Chief Sule Abenga’s palace in Benue State."
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