Militant group wants all-inclusive peace process

7 years ago

Militant group wants all-inclusive peace process

A militant group, the Ultimate Warriors of Niger Delta (UWND), has urged the Federal Government to promote a dialogue that will include all ethnic nationalities in the South-South region.

Its spokesman, Sibiri Taiowoh in an online statement yesterday said government would through this be able to reach genuine stakeholders to achieve an all-inclusive peace.

Taiowoh however, urged the Federal Government to be wary of people using the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to seek political relevance. It said it could also be a ploy to free Henry and Charles Okah, who it suspects are dishing out commands from their prison cells.

Taiowoh said MEND’s statements are diversionary and a divide-and-rule scheme.
Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Ahmed Lawan, said the Nigerian Armed Forces would defeat Niger Delta militants just as they have significantly degraded the Boko Haram insurgency. He added that activities of insurgents and militants like the Avengers undermine democracy and sabotage the economy.

Lawan, who spoke yesterday at the 56th conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), in Port Harcourt, Rivers State recalled that before the present administration, a vast territory of the country in the North East had been taken over by insurgents.

“However, with determination and motivation, the military has retaken all territories once captured by Boko Haram insurgents.

Lawan expressed optimism that the military replicate similar feat in defeating Niger Delta militants.

He promised that the military and the National Assembly would continue to collaborate to ensure that peace reigns in all parts of the country.

In Bayelsa, the state government commended men of the Operation Delta Save and the state security task force for apprehending those who killed four soldiers at a checkpoint in Nembe.

Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite said barely two weeks after Governor Seriake d!ckson inaugurated the ? Bayelsa Waterways Security Taskforce, it achieved major milestone.

The taskforce, headed by a former militant leader in the Niger Delta,? Africanus Ukparasia, otherwise called General Africa was given the mandate to work closely with and complement the efforts of security agencies to rid the state of criminal elements.