President
Muhammadu Buhari has been warned that if he fails to give Niger Delta
militants their share from the Excess Crude Account, there will be
disaster in the country.
Posted by Thandiubani on Fri 22 Dec, 2017
Niger Delta militants
The coalition of Niger Delta militants on Thursday sent a protest
letter to President Muhammadu Buhari demanding their own $1 billion
share from the Excess Crude Account.
According to Punch, the militants, under the auspices of the
Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, slammed the Federal Government for the
controversial proposal to deduct $1bn from the Excess Crude Account to
fight the Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.
They described the plan to withdraw $1bn from ECA as wicked and
insensitive, saying it allegedly disregarded the peace accord signed
with the people of the Niger Delta region.
The RNDA, in an email signed by ‘Major General’ Johnmark Ezonbi to journalists in Yenagoa said the militants warned the government “not to take the present ceasefire agreement for granted.
“Through the ceasefire, the country is enjoying daily crude oil
production of between 2.2 and 2.4million barrels of crude production
which amount to billions of naira daily for the Federal Government. It
also helped the country to get out of recession. So, the government
should not take our patience and silence for granted.
“We want to state categorically that the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government is insensitive and practically negating
the principles of natural justice by using resources derived from a
neglected region to combat insurgency in the North East in the senseless
Boko Haram war to the tune of $1bn from ECA.
“Why not access the fund from excess account from the sale of
agriculture products in the northern part of the country? Why must it be
from the creeks of the Niger Delta?
“The Federal Government’s insensitivity to the Niger Delta
development has obviously reached its crescendo. We will not take this
but resist with our might. This broad day light robbery against the
Niger Delta people will not be accepted by us. We are going to resist
this perpetual injustice against our long-neglected people in the
region.”
They, therefore, demanded the region’s own share of $1bn from ECA for the development of the Niger Delta within four weeks.
They warned that the region would witness a massive destruction of
oil pipelines if the government failed to accede to their demand.
The coalition boasted that in a well-coordinated attack tagged, ‘Cripple the Economy with Zero Crude Oil Production’, there would be no more oil funds to finance the 2018 budget.
They added, “We will ensure that anything that stands in our
way will be crushed without mercy. All foreign nationals are hereby
advised to leave the region as all our unit commanders have been put on
the red alert to resume ‘operation zero oil production’ on the
expiration of the four-week ultimatum."
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