You're Inciting Violence With Your Comments on Pipeline Explosions - Delta Group Blasts Buhari
A Delta group has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari's comments on pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta.
President Muhammadu Buhari
A Delta-based group, Foundation For Human Rights And
Anti-Corruption Crusade, FHRACC, has warned that masterminds of the
recent pipeline bombings in the state will spread their tentacles to
other parts of the Niger-Delta region if the military attacks any
community in Gbaramatu Kingdom under the guise of hunting them.
Daily Post reports that while cautioning President Muhammadu Buhari
to guard his utterance so as not to escalate violence in the region,
the group insisted that those who are calling for hawkish approach to
“this purely political issue” are only calling for total breakdown of
law and order. It stressed that the peace Nigeria enjoyed from the
wisdom of Yar’Adua Amnesty Pact has greatly stabilized the oil industry
and it will be unwise for any government not to toe the same line.
FHRACC gave this advice on Wednesday in a statement signed by its
National President, Alaowei Cleric Esq, where it maintained that
military action to the renewed militancy in the region will only
aggravate the situation to the extent that oil companies might not
operate effectively.
According to the statement, “The recent attack on pipelines by
these same militants in Bayelsa State has supported our position that
the military garrison in the creeks will only help to escalate violence.
The attack has further laid a solid foundation to the allegations
Tompolo raised before and after the pipeline bombings in Delta State. It
is expedient that the Government instead of sending the military to
maim or harass innocent civilians, set up a body of inquiry to unearth
the real culprits.
“The move by the military garrison in the region in
intimidating the riverine communities will only give these miscreants
the leeway to attack oil facilities across the length and breadth
region. This is what is happening in Bayelsa State.
“Comments made by some prominent Nigerians in some part of the
country to the recent pipeline bombings in the Niger Delta is
provocative and they are adding salt to the injury. To be specific, the
comment accredited to Col. Hassan Stanisious-Labo (Rtd) in Channels TV
Sunrise Daily programme on the 25th of January 2016 where he said that
the Niger Delta Communities where the pipelines were bombed deserved the
treatment Former President Obasanjo gave to Odi Community in Bayelsa
State.
“Comments like this exposes the plans perfected by a section of
the Country against the Niger Deltans and you cannot rule out full
blown militancy when the Country is already declared war against its
citizens.
"Also, President Buhari’s comments in Kenyan last week when he
was addressing the Nigerian community that it’s irritating for Niger
Deltans to lay claim of the oil in their lands is another comment that
should be condemned by all and sundry for the sake of our corporate
existence.
“This comment which is not only unpresidential, divisive and
discriminatory, it was also made to serve a sectional interest. One can
safely say that Col. Hassan who is a close confidant of the President
spoke the mind of the Government. We are not surprised if the military
has declared war of aggression against the defenseless Niger Delta
communities as a result of the pipeline destructions by hoodlums now
that Mr President has spoken in that direction.
“It is on record that the civil war was never bargained with
the oil in Niger Delta that the FG should claim corporate ownership of
the crude oil in the region. Niger Deltans were not at anytime before or
after the civil war discussed with anybody to give common ownership of
the resources in their lands to Nigeria. That is a misplaced comments
that should be ignored and it can capable of igniting national crisis.
Such should not come from the President who is supposed to be the father
of the nation. We therefore appeal to the Government to eschew every
sectional agenda in this issue and proffer a robust political solution
to the crisis. Niger Deltans are also Nigerians and should be treated as
equal stakeholders in this project.”


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