The Federal Government has been told that only the release of the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Jomo Gbomo (Mr. Henry Okah), can bring about a lasting peace to the region.
A MEND leader, simply known as Boyloaf, made the declaration at the militant group�s camp in a remote creek in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Thursday evening.
The hundreds of fully armed and well-educated militants played host to the members of the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, led by Senator David Brigidi, in their den by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Brigidi�s committee was inaugurated in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on July 2 by the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to bring about a lasting peace in the volatile Niger Delta.
Boyloaf, a graduate of the University of Calabar, while addressing the committee, also said MEND was ready to cease fire for one year, but President Umaru Yar�Adua must properly develop the region within the period.
Accompanying Brigidi during the presidential committee�s visit was the group�s Secretary, Mr. Kingsley Kuku; a former member of the Ondo State House of Assembly; and the Bayelsa State chairman of the committee, Chief James Jephthah.
Boyloaf said, �We can give a chance to the new government (of President Umaru Yar�Adua). Our master, Jomo Gbomo, said we should give peace a chance, but we want development in the Niger Delta.
�We signed the peace agreement, but there is a clause in it. Let them bring Jomo Gbomo to the country, and then we will cease hostility for one year. But develop the Niger Delta. We are ready to comply with the agreement. All we are saying is, let there be development.�
The MEND leader then presented a bullet and a bottle of brownish water to Brigidi for onward delivery to President Yar�Adua.
Boyloaf explained that the bullet was to show the level of violence in the Niger Delta, while the water was a confirmation of the suffering of the people of crude oil and gas-rich region, who had been drinking the water in which they defecate.
Senator Brigidi, who represented Bayelsa West Senatorial District between 1999 and 2007, said the committee members were at the camp on behalf of the Federal Government to prevail on the youths to sheathe their swords.
He said President Yar�Adua was willing to dialogue with and listen to the people of the Niger Delta, especially the aggrieved youths.
Dec12007