VICE President-elect, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday accepted the U.S. government�s description of militants� activities in the Niger Delta as those of terrorism.
He said that the Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar� Adua�s presidency would not hesitate to use brute force to deal with the problem.
Dr. Jonathan, who spoke in an interview at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos, said there was no other phrase to describe the kidnapping of people other than terrorism.
He spoke against the backdrop of the kidnap of six foreign oil workers as well as that of mother of the governor-elect of Rivers State, Mr. Celestine Omehia and said the federal government would treat the militants behind the spate of kidnappings in the region as criminals and treat them as such.
�What is happening in the Niger Delta is terrorism, no doubt about that. Taking somebody on hostage is terrorism, so they (U.S. government) are right in that respect, but not to the extent they blow it.
�The issue is being blown out of proportion. There are some other parts of this world that you have worst situations, but the people manage it. �In Nigeria, we normally over-expose and blow our own things out of proportion and help people outside to think that Nigeria is always burning,� the vice president-elect said.
Jonathan described the militants as armed robbers who should be treated as such, and assured Nigerians that the matter would soon become a thing of the past.
He said: �This is the beginning of the end. We will end this problem. We have been talking about the problems of the Niger Delta for some time now, and if you look at the events of the past three years, you will really know that a lot of criminality is involved.
�The issue of resource control struggle and marginalisation is being abused and criminals are just like armed robbers. An armed robber is an armed robber. We have no choice than use carrot or stick or stick and carrot approach.�
He noted that government�s strategy in dealing with the problem was not one to be exposed on the pages of newspapers.
On the question of whether the Yar� Adua�s government would seek the assistance of external forces to deal with the militancy problem, Jonathan said Nigerians would be used to deal with the problem, since it is a local problem.
�Nigerians are capable of dealing with the problem; it is a local problem. Dialogue is part of it, we�ve been dialoguing, we�ll continue to dialogue, but we will not tolerate criminality any longer in the Niger Delta,� said Jonathan .