The Niger Delta militants were forced into carrying arms against the state by long years of marginalisation, injustice and lack of implementation of government’s policies on the region, Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said
Ameachi made the statement yesterday in Abuja at a breakfast meeting with heads of foreign missions and governors of states in the Niger Delta.
He said the region is blessed with oil “but there is a deliberate attempt to take away oil revenue to a different region.”
Amaechi said the ongoing crisis is brought “by an attempt by the poor people of the region to compel themselves on other ways of benefiting from Niger Delta oil just to live.
“Niger Delta people have resolved that they will not allow the Nigerian government to continue to cheat on them, they have to let the world know about what is happening in the Niger Delta. But the move was hijacked by criminals and leading to death of our brothers and mothers who were killed in the streets of Port Harcourt.”
“It is the responsibility of the government to provide security in the country which the government failed and showed lack of concern,” Amaechi added.
He also blamed the Federal Government for leaving Niger Delta area behind by using “its money to develop Lagos and Abuja.”
According to him, the Federal Government complicated the problem of Niger Delta by giving ransom to kidnappers at the initial stage, making it a new way of making money for the criminals.
In his speech, the chief host and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe said the Federal Government has recorded 307 cases of kidnappings and 407 hostage takings since January 2008 to date.
Madukwe assured diplomats who attended the meeting of their safety in Nigeria, emphasizing that the ongoing military campaign against the militants was not a war.
He explained that from January 2008 to date, 33 officers and men of the Joint Military TaskForce had been killed by the militants but not in active combat.
The minister said 55 personnel of the JTF were wounded while 38 were declared missing and five military gunboats were destroyed by the militant groups while the militants seized three military gunboats and 34 automatic rifles.