by Alexander O. Onukwue

A Coalition of some Niger Delta groups has threatened to start destroying oil facilities in the South South again.

This will be in defiance of the Acting President who had urged, in his visits to the region earlier in the year, that there should be no more sabotage of the nation’s oil facilities. Condemning the recent meeting Acting President Osinbajo held with the PANDEF, the groups allege that the meeting did not include the real leaders of communities and groups affected in the region, including representatives of youth groups.

In keeping with the tradition of other groups from the Niger Delta who start movements against the Federal Government, the coalition are adamant that they have been cheated all this while by Nigeria, so they are taking the fight to the government. It is possible that they feel more agitated at this present time because of the threats made by some youth groups in the northern part of the country asking all Igbo persons to vacate the north and forfeit all of their assets and properties.

Ten years ago, Niger Delta militants surrendered their arms under the presidency of Umaru Musa Yar’adua as conditions for an amnesty programme. The programme was supposed to divert the youth of the region from their armed activities to schemes that would engage them profitably and make them more socially responsible.

None of that seems to be in place at the moment, and with the recession yet to subside well enough for businesses to start growing again, the youths are showing impatience and threatening to further worsen the situation.

It could be that their latest threat to begin sabotaging the nation’s oil facilities in the region from September 10 is a direct call to the Acting President to revisit them again and hear directly from them, rather than speaking to persons who they have not chosen to represent them.

Editor