Indications emerged on Tuesday that the prevailing peace in the Niger Delta might collapse again as some notable ex-militant kingpins have listed fresh conditions for sustainable peace in the troubled region.
The ex-militant commanders, including Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, alias Tompolo, Chief Ajube, alias Shoot-at-Sight, John Togo and other notable former fighters insisted that the Federal Government must address their interests and wellbeing as a pre-condition to moving the region forward.
The former militant kingpins said that enduring peace could not be achieved by the present focus on the resettlement of their lieutenants alone by the Federal Government.
The spokesman of the ex-fighters in the western axis of the Niger Delta, made up of Delta, Edo and Ondo States, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, made this known in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.
Kuku, who represents Tompolo, Shoot-at-Sight, Togo and others in the Presidential Sub-Committee on Disarmament, Rehabilitation and Re-integration of Repentant Militants in the Niger Delta, headed by the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd.), said any attempt by the Federal Government not to address the legitimate interests of the repentant militant commanders could disrupt the prevailing peace in the region.
Kuku, who spoke with our correspondent less than 24 hours after bomb explosions rocked the venue of a conference initiated by Vanguard Media Limited in Warri, to fashion out the way for the region, stated that no programme or effort would achieve success in the region until the post-amnesty survival of Tompolo and other militant kingpins was firmly addressed by the Federal Government.
Kuku said the former militant leaders had the potential to curb the likes of Monday’s incident if they were involved and adequately taken care of by the government.
He said, “The bottom line of this renewed agitation can be addressed from the government’s practical determination to address the wellbeing and legitimate interests of all the leaders of the agitating groups, which have disarmed and embraced amnesty. There is nothing that is wrong with the amnesty process, the leaders of the agitating groups have disarmed and accepted amnesty.
“They have given the government time to address their personal welfare, group interests and aspirations that are legitimate as well as the essence of the regional struggle. Today, efforts are being made in the area of moving the agitators to the orientation camps to identity their personal areas of interests in terms of skill acquisition and training.
“This area is on course and I am also aware that efforts are also on in terms of planning and discussion on infrastructural development through the machinery of the Ministry of Niger Delta. There are also ongoing consultations in the areas that relate to community participation in the oil industry.”
Kuku, who is also the Secretary of the Federal Government Committee on Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Niger Delta, further said, “If the government thinks all these are enough to get the appropriate colour of peace without attending practically to the welfare and legitimate aspirations of the leaders of the agitating groups, then we have misfired and nothing will work in the way it should be.
“I am the representative of Tompolo and his frontiers across the Niger Delta in these discussions. I make bold to say categorically that we on behalf of the group we represent told the government enough on the need to consult properly and identify the welfare and security needs of those leaders and address them so that Tompolo, Fara Dagogo, Boyloaf, Ateke Tom, Shoot-at-Sight, John Togo and the various other leaders of the agitating groups can respond to the regional agitation to make peace reign in the region within the time lag for development.
“Do we expect these leaders whose interests are abandoned to be on watch out for those who do not want peace? They cannot do it because as it stands today, any empowerment programme that excludes them (ex-militant commanders) is seen as divide and rule tactic.
Kuku, also commented on the botched peace conference by Vanguard Newspaper on Monday and blamed its failure on the exclusion of the arrowheads of the Niger Delta struggle.