A group, The Niger Delta Advocate for Good Governance, Anti-Corruption and Transparency Initiative, on Thursday called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to urgently engage critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region over rising tension in the region.
According to the group, the engagement of the critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region over various contentious issues will sustain the prevailing peace and forestall any resurgence of militancy.
The group, which made the call after a high-level meeting in Abuja, urged the Federal Government to reach out to respected peace advocates and key stakeholders who played crucial roles during the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), particularly individuals who made immense sacrifices toward stabilizing the region.
In a statement signed by its convener, Engr. Momoh Royal Erickson, it said that one of such notable stakeholders is. Dr Shola Mese, also known as Mr FBI, a highly regarded Security Consultant and Peace Facilitator who played a significant role at the height of militancy in the Niger Delta region.
The group recalled that during the Presidential Amnesty proclamation era, Shola Mese courageously engaged several notorious militant groups operating around the Bini River axis of Egbema Kingdom, spanning Delta and Edo states and convinced many armed groups to lay down their weapons and embrace the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme, thereby contributing significantly to the relative peace presently enjoyed in the region.
It therefore maintained that individuals such as Shola Mese, who were instrumental in the disarmament process and broader peacebuilding efforts in the Niger Delta, should once again be consulted and actively integrated into ongoing peace and security initiatives.
“We call on Mr. President to engage other respected Niger Delta leaders and stakeholders, including elder statesman Chief Timi Alaibe, former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), pioneer Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, and former Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, who personally sacrificed to the success of the presidential Amnesty proclaimation and to the relative peace that the federal and the region is enjoying today, alongside other credible and influential leaders in the region.
“We accordingly propose the immediate establishment of a Presidential Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in the Niger Delta. Such a committee would bring together all relevant stakeholders for a comprehensive roundtable dialogue aimed at addressing emerging tensions surrounding the pipeline surveillance contract controversy, which, if left unresolved, could trigger renewed militancy.”
According to the group, the Niger Delta region has come too far in its journey toward peace to allow avoidable contractual disputes to undermine the fragile stability achieved after years of conflict.
“We also advise certain traditional rulers from Delta State, who are currently presenting themselves as members of the HOSCON Advisory Council, to exercise restraint and caution in their public statements.”
“Traditional leadership should be firmly directed toward fostering peace, unity, and inter-ethnic harmony, rather than issuing pronouncements that may deepen divisions or inflame tensions within the region.”
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The group also described as “misleading, faulty and entirely unfounded” the recent statement attributed to HRM Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, alleging that His Imperial Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III, the Olu of Warri Kingdom, and the Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL), was awarded an annual pipeline surveillance contract valued at over ₦2.7 trillion.
“We wish to categorically place on record that the recent statement attributed to HRM Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, alleging that the revered monarch, His Imperial Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III (CFR), the Olu of Warri Kingdom, and the Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL), was awarded an annual pipeline surveillance contract valued at over ₦2.7 trillion, is unverified, misleading, faulty and appears entirely unfounded.”
“Such claims lack credible evidence without any single truth, no proof, and should not be deployed to tarnish the integrity of respected traditional institutions.”
