Leader of the NigerDelta People Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Asari Dokubo, has condemned the use of violence, hostage taking and guns in the struggle for resource control and urged the people to embrace dialogue.
Dokubo spoke at Agbarha-Otor in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
He said this was no time to sit on the fence as there was no fence to sit on, stressing that people must come together to fight the common enemy of the region.
�The struggle is not for banditry, violence, hostage taking, kidnapping, killings, destruction, sadness and sorrow, but it is for joy,wealth, peace and prosperity�.
According to him , if the struggle would not better the life of the people ,�then there would be no need for it and we should leave them where they are�.
I n a related development, Dokubo who was also at Warri vowed to fight for the release of the N243 billion the federal government is owing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Asari said that people of the Niger Delta region should not accept the federal government claim that the N243 billion statutory allocation to the NDDC has expired, when actually the government is indebted to the commission.
The resource control apostle insisted that the money be disbursed to the NDDC for the development of the region as soon as possible or the people of the region will resort to any means to make sure the fund is released.
Asari said it does not matter weather the billions have expired or not, �it should be given to us for our use�, saying there is no place in the world that money get expired.
Asari condemned the manner and way the federal government is going about the local content policy in the oil industry, saying �our people are not really involved�, that it is only in papers.
According to him, Warri and Port Harcourt are now shadow of themselves, as the multinational oil companies have moved to Lagos under the pretence that there is no peace in the Niger Delta.
He bemoaned the current situation where oil companies air lift their expatriates from Lagos to oil fields in the region, saying that this alone shows that the government and the firms are under minding the people of the region.