•Group lists terms for amnesty in River
From Ben Dunno, Warri and Tony john, Port Harcourt
The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) has warned the military to desist from harassing and intimidating helpless women (young or aged) in the name of looking for militants or be prepared for guerrilla warfare.
The group, in a statement by its spokesman, Gen. Aldo Agbalaja, reaffirmed its commitment even in the face of military intimidation to its earlier resolve to liberate the region from the oppression of Federal Government and the multi-nationals who they accused of using military force and ‘divide and rule’ tactics to further impoverished the region.
It dismissed the threat by President Muhammadu Buhari in his Independence Day speech to deal decisively with the Niger Delta agitators.
“In the face of an imminent failure, the Nigerian military is now resorting to very unwholesome practices, hounding and hunting people around, just to make it look like they are working indeed and justify the huge budget they have been allocated.
“Now, the Nigerian military is victimising and arresting even women in the name of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, just to cover up their ineptitude. What have women/wives got to do with militancy? The Commanding Officer 222 Battalion is beginning to over step his boundaries.
“However, we are using this message to warn you to stop intimidating and harassing our people, if your men continue troubling our people, we will be forced to adopt strategies that we had earlier decided against; your soldiers in all parts of our land will become an endangered specie, they will become targets of attack and if you push us to that resolve, you stand no chance against us,” warned.
In River State, a group of militants, the Egi Freedom Fighters (EFF) has listed conditions for the acceptance of Governor Nyesom Wike’s amnesty deal.
Wike recently inaugurated the state Amnesty Programme Committee with Ken Chinda, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Amnesty as chairman.
But EFF in a statement by its spokesperson, Jenniffer Black, demanded the rebuilding of houses of Obiezemini in Egi of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Governmnet Area allegedly destroyed by state forces.
Other demands include the unconditional release of their members in custody and employment/empowerment opportunities for teeming youths of the area.
The statement read: “We demand the rebuilding of all houses damaged in Egi communities by security forces sent by Total Nigeria Plc and release of all the people arrested during the raid of Egi community.
“Any skills acquisition and scholarship must come from Total Nigeria Plc and not from the State government. Total Nigeria Plc must create jobs for youths of host communities and maintain all existing structures in the communities.
“Beneficiaries of scholarship opportunities must be the less-privileged in the community. Total Nigeria must create special opportunities for the widows, whose houses were affected by the raid.
“Federal Government of Nigeria must be a signatory and must be aware of whatever understanding to be reached. The government and Total Nigeria Plc must work out modalities and ensure the release of all persons arrested in connection with the raid of our communities before we lay down our arms. This incident occurred in almost all of Egi communities, particularly, Obiezemini.”
“The Egi Freedom Fighters insist that these demands must be met before laying down their arms”, the statement read.
The EFF, however, did not give any timeline for government and other stakeholders to respond to their demands.