THAT dog do not eat dog has remained
an incontestable aphorism for ages, but lately in the Niger Delta struggle,
militants have flawed theorists on the conviction, sensationally demonstrating
that dogs, in fact, can eat dogs. Unexpectedly, the Ijaw ethnic nationality and
the nation at large have been awestruck since August 6 when a group, Reformed
Niger Delta Avengers, RNDA, which claimed to be a breakaway faction of the
infamous Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, made a travesty of the adage.
File...MilitantsFile…Militants When the group surfaced, August 5, it wore the
toga of a guardian angel that renounced a Devil called NDA that refused to heed
the appeal for peace by the present government, former President Goodluck
Jonathan and other well-meaning Nigerians to halt pipeline bombings in the
region. It also traced its action to NDA’s rebuff to embrace the peace efforts
and initiative of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND,
already in dialogue with the Federal Government on behalf of militants and
other stakeholders of the region and its (RNDA) feeling of guilt over the
damage wrecked on the environment, among others. RNDA portrayed the image of
remorseful agitators on the same page with Dr. Jonathan, who just visited
President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss among other things his faith in the unity
of the country against the run of militants to declare a Republic of Niger
Delta, but the bombshell that came 24 hours later from the same group befuddled
onlookers. Spokesperson of the group, Cynthia Whyte, a moniker definitely,
named Dr. Jonathan, the man it said 24 hours earlier appealed to militants to
sheathe their swords, as the grand patron of Niger Delta Avengers. It said
Governors Nyemson Wike (Rivers) and Henry Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) were sponsors
of the group, including Senator Godswill Akpabio, Chief Government Ekpemupolo,
alias Tompolo, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr.
Kimi Angozi, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi and Mr. Kingsley Kuku. The group
mentioned Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin K. Clark, Mr. Tony Uranta, Mr.
Daniel Alabrah, Ms. Annkio Briggs, Chief Olisa Metuh as sympathizers, while it
said the operatives were Mr. Oyege Nimi Brown and others, VIP Timothy and
others, Mr. Joshua Macaiver and others, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo and others.
According to the group, Udengs Eradiri, current Ijaw Youth Council (IYC)
President, is the spokesperson of the Avengers known as Brigadier General
Murdoch Agbinibo. All the alleged grand patron, patrons, sympathizers and
operatives named by the RNDA had denied the allegation. Dr. Jonathan pointed
fingers at MEND, specifically the Okah brothers, whom he said have been after
his life even when he was President. Governors Wike and Dickson said the
imputation was baseless. Tompolo, who, in the last few months, had severally
denied any association with NDA was shocked that the RNDA listed him as sponsor
of NDA. His media consultant, Paul Bebenimbo, a Mass Communication scholar
currently doing his PHD was also aghast. Former Special Adviser to the
President of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku and a journalist, who once
headed the Media Department of the Presidential Amnesty Officer, Mr. Daniel
Alabrah, were by stunned by the accusation, which they pooh-poohed. Saturday
Vanguard gathered that Chief Clark, who the splinter faction dragged into the
mess, concluded that it was the antics of desperate youths, as right-thinking
persons know that at his age and what he stands for in the country, he could
not be involved in such a scandalous affair. Untroubled NDA Niger Delta
Avengers, who are at the centre of the storm, seem really perturbed by the RNDA
tirade, saying: The thinking to lure the public to another lie of split in the
Niger Delta Avengers is the way of government agents and agencies with
delusional disorder.” “ This is the result of government and security agencies
that are only becoming childish everyday for engaging drug addicts, bank
robbers, sea pirates, falling political angels and charlatans to undo the Niger
Delta people and our genuine desire to self-determination and resource
control,” the spokesperson, so-called Brig General Mudoch Agbinibo asserted. It
named a former governor of Bayelsa state, a Niger Delta activist, an
ex-militant leader as the main collaborators with security agencies,
particularly a top official of the DSS, to disorganize the Avengers. Let the
real Cynthia Whyte stand up “It is quite unfortunate that, Cynthia Whyte and
Jomo Gbomo of defunct Joint Revolutionary Council and MEND respectively are the
spokespersons of the Nigerian intelligentsia community because of some
political interest and a government that have abdicated powers to clansmen and
tribal lords. “The facts about Cynthia Whyte, aka George Karley and his
sponsors should be laid bare before the public now that the Nigerian security
and intelligent community has turned the Niger Delta genuine struggle to a tool
of political patronage and money making machine for miscreants and conflict
merchants,” Agbinibo said. NDA explained that the name Cynthia Whyte was the
negotiation organ for an ex-militant leader, a former governor and others for
settlements in kidnappings, bank robberies, illegal crude oil bunkering and
dirty jobs for government. It is all politics – HRM Ayemi-Botu A dependable
source told our reporter that Ijaw leaders have not slept since the
unflattering finger pointing by RNDA. They have held several meetings in Delta
and Bayelsa states since the bombshell and are mostly of the view that some
persons were using the RNDA to cause hostility in the region. Former national
chairman of the Traditional Rulers for Oil Mineral Producing Communities of
Nigeria, TROMPCON, and paramount ruler of Siembiri Kingdom Delta State, Pere
Charles Ayemi-Botu, told Saturday Vanguard: “No doubt, the whole thing is
politics, some people have used the RNDA to politicize the Niger Delta
struggle. “ “You know when the Boko Haram scourge was on, even though, it has
been tamed now, but still alive, and people were saying the sponsors were
Northern politicians, Jonathan almost wanted to name them, but later
backtracked. It is the same thing now. Some people have decided to use the RNDA
to discredit South-South leaders and PDP politicians in particular. RNDA should
first unmask itself “At what point did they now repent, why did they go into
the destruction in the first instance, is such a group credible? Just look at
the damage they have caused the country against advice by well-meaning leaders
from the region and other parts of the country. I think the RNDA should first unmask
themselves for the people to know them. Govt should be careful with RNDA
accusation- Bozimo Former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Brodrick Bozimo,
said: “Let me start with what is happening in United States of America, you see
one of the presidential candidates, Donald Trump, saying that President Barrack
Obama is the sponsor of ISIS. I hope you understand what he intends to achieve
with that allegation, it is all politics.” “That is what has happened in the
Niger Delta struggle and it is unfortunate. Some people have politicized the
struggle and it is all because of money. You ask me, I am perplexed at the
development. Wrong perception Bozimo maintained that whatever damage done on
oil installations in the region does not affect the country alone, but Niger
Delta people and the communities where the oil facilities are, adding: “Ijaw
communities are mostly affected in this destruction.” He stressed the need for
other ethnic groups, bitter with Ijaw on the mistaken notion that the tribe
deployed militants to sabotage oil installations to disabuse their minds, as
Ijaw leaders remain united in their objection to bombing of pipelines in any
manner as tool to negotiate development of the region with government. The
former minister urged government to dialogue with leaders and stakeholders of
the region and come up with a feasible development plan to assuage the angry
youths, who are livid about non-development of the region from Delta to
Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Cross River and other Niger Delta states.
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