 |
| Shambolic Saber-Rattling! Panicky Buhari orders ceasefire in the Niger Delta as militants vow to rain fire and brimstone on Nigeria |
'General Muhammadu Buhari overzealous show of power in the Niger Delta has been deflated by the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force. Following their threat to start unleashing missiles across Nigeria, the Nigerian government has hurriedly called for a ceasefire.
Vanguard reports that Buhari,who fled to the United Kingdom on the pretence of having ear problems has ordered the military to suspend operations in the Niger Delta for two weeks to create a window for dialogue with militants.
Buhari had earlier vowed to crush the militants and treat them like terrorists. He sent in troops, gunboats, military jets, attack helicopters and warships in an obvious saber-rattling, which has woefully failed to curtail the activities of the militants. Fced with imminent collapse of Nigeria, Buhari was forced to call for negotiation, which he never give heed to at the onset.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed Buhari's willingness to negotiate with the militants, who he had been describing as criminals in Abuja, yesterday. According to him, the Federal Government is determined to explore the dialogue option, with a view to restoring genuine peace in the region, where oil production has been significantly hurt by activities of the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in the last two months.
He said: “The President is interested in dialogue and has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the NSA, dialogues with the militants to ensure peace in the region."
This is coming as more oil companies in the Niger Delta have reviewed their operations, following continued bombing of their facilities in Delta and Bayelsa states.
"The avenue is open for them, provided the militants are willing to embrace dialogue and allow truth to reign because we are going to involve key leaders from the region who have had previous experience in that area to play whatever role they can".
Speaking at the handover ceremony of Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas to the Federal Ministry of Education, Kachikwu stated that the Federal Government was not just committed to securing oil and gas installations but the lives and property of people in the region. According to Kachikwu, the Monguno team will consist of top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), service chiefs and ministers from the Niger Delta.
The NNPC boss said the country needed peace in oil production now than ever, given the circumstances currently facing the economy. However, Kachikwu expressed hope that the dialogue would yield positive results and get Nigeria back to maximum production as the country was currently producing about 1.6mbpd (600,000 barrels, short of the 2.2mbpd production target of the 2016 budget).
More oil firms review N-Delta operations
More oil companies in the Niger Delta have reviewed their operations, following continued bombing of their facilities in Delta and Bayelsa states. Investigations by Vanguard revealed that some of the oil companies have developed jitters over the latest impudence by militants operating in the creeks of the region. Agency reports indicated that Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, shut down operation after an attack, last Friday, by militants on its pipeline in Bayelsa State, forcing it to cut production by 65,000 barrels per day.
Spokesperson for Aiteo, Mr Shola Omole, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, which came under attack by Niger Delta Avengers, May 28, also said production on the line that conveyed crude to Bonny export terminal had been shut. He added that the company was compelled to shut daily production of 75,000 due to the attacks. It was also learned that Chevron Nigeria Limited and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, have started reappraising their operations in the region, particularly with the constant bombings of their facilities by Niger Delta Avengers and other nascent militant groups.
A source, who pleaded anonymity, said the company had shut down most of its facilities in Bayelsa State due to militants’ threats and bombings. Similarly, Shell said it was forced to declare a force majeure on its Bonny light crude blend because the militants attacked its Nembe Trunk Line which it relied on to evacuate crude from its oil fields in Bayelsa State. Vanguard also gathered that Eni, the parent company of NAOC’s production had been interrupted by 65,000 barrels per day, following attacks on its pipeline in Bayelsa State.
A source close to the company, said: “The total deferred production due to the attack is 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily.”
FG in talks with N-Delta stakeholders —Osinbajo
However, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, revealed that the Federal Government has commenced talks with the leaders and people of the Niger Delta to halt the spate of attacks on oil installations in the area.
Besides reaching out to the people, the Vice President said the government was beefing up security in the region, describing the blowing up of pipelines as economic sabotage. Speaking during a meeting with a delegation of the European Union, led by the EU Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Michel Arrion, Osinbajo called on the Niger Delta leaders to live up to expectations befitting their status.
“We are talking, we are ensuring that we minimize losses and we are stepping up security. We are also engaging the international oil companies, IOCs, to see what options exist,” he said.
The Vice President reechoed that the focus of the Buhari Presidency “is to ensure that the man on the street in the Niger Delta receives the benefit from all that is available there.”
South South doesn’t need North’s food supplies
Reacting to the call by some alleged divisive elements on northerners to halt food supplies to the South-South, National President of Ijaw People Development Initiative (IPDI), and the Foundation for Human Rights and Anti Corruption Crusade (FHRACC), Alaowei Cleric, said the South-South and, indeed, Southern Nigeria, do not need food supplies from the North to survive.
He said: “While we are in support of the unity of the country, we wish to let whoever cares to know that Southern Nigeria or better still, the South-South geo-political zone is self-sufficient and self-reliant.
The South can survive and will even do better without food supplies from the North. “The call on northerners to halt food supplies to the South-South by some divisive elements, which have the acronym of Pro-Buhari Supporters, is nothing but a self-destructive message, a booby trap that can only harm its progenitor.
“The said nasty message, which is widely in circulation in some online media, purportedly authored by those democratic naysayers, is the height of stupidity.
“They talk as if we are not farmers and fishermen in the South-South. Is it not because the oil companies working for government have polluted our land and river that people can no longer farm and fish that Niger Delta is complaining, yet government does not think that there is need to dialogue and address the issues?”
Military option’ll worsen matters The Ijaw National Congress, INC, in a statement by its National President, Mr. Boma Obuoforibo, appealed to the Federal Government to exercise restraint in its pronouncement to crush Niger Delta militants.
He said:
“We believe that this will not bring any lasting solution to this complex problem. The options of dialogue and negotiating are worthwhile and, therefore, should be pursued.” It condemned the present resurgence of bombing of oil installations by Niger Delta Avengers and other perpetrators, describing their activities as counter-productive.
No comments:
Post a Comment