Indications emerged on Tuesday that the declaration of ceasefire by the Niger Delta militants did not get the approval of all the groups involved in the struggle.
The Deputy National President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. David Reje, who was quoted as having signed the ceasefire document on behalf of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, denied appending his signature to the document.
Reje told our correspondent over the telephone from his Warri base on Tuesday that the document was forged by some agents of the government and some pecuniary-conscious elements bent on profiting from the Niger Delta situation.
The IYC leader pointed out that although some officials of the Presidency met with him and some others at the Teggi Hotel in Warri on Wednesday last week and sought their assistance to reach out to the militants for peace, they did not reach any agreement on ending of hostilities.
Reje said that the meeting facilitated by an Ijaw youth, Maxwell Peters, and another identified as Alagoa told the officials that the Ijaw needed two more states and an end to the deprivations in the Niger Delta as a prelude to peace.
He said he was extremely shocked to see his name as having signed a forged document on behalf of MEND declaring a ceasefire for three months.
Reje stated, �I want to state here that at no time did I sign the said press release, announcing a three-month ceasefire on behalf of MEND.
�I am of the IYC and not a member of MEND even though I support and respect them for what they are doing to bring about peace and development in the region.
�I stand by their struggle but I do not attend their meetings and I cannot sign any agreement on their behalf. There is no way I can support any ceasefire until Niger Delta people are empowered and the condition of the region improved.
Reje warned those he described as using his name to make quick money from the genuine struggle of the people to desist from doing so.
He said that the leadership of MEND had been threatening to deal with him for making a frivolous claim on its behalf and trying to use the name of the group to make money.
But in a telephone interview, the originator of the ceasefire document, Mr. Maxwell Peters, said on Tuesday that he sought and obtained the support of the MEND to issue the document.
Peters said that it was agreed that since the Presidency wanted to ensure peace and development in the region, the ceasefire must precede other activities being put in place by the Federal Government.
Reminded that Reje had disowned the statement, which he (Peters) released in Port Harcourt on Sunday, he said that all the issues had been sorted out and that there was no problem.
But our correspondent gathered that the disagreement amongst groups in the region had forced the Presidency to put on hold its planned meeting with a cross-section of militants on Tuesday.
THE PUNCH