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Efforts to dump Clark’s PANDEF heighten as N’Delta leaders insist they step aside

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The rejection of the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) from negotiating with the Federal Government on matters of concerns in the Niger Delta apparently heightened at the weekend following the meeting of some traditional rulers, renowned academics, clergy and several others.

The leaders of the oil region were said to have met in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Council in Bayelsa State, where they categorically stated that the mandate given to Clark led PANDEF to negotiate for the oil region has been withdrawn.

The meeting held at the palace of the King of Opokuma Kingdom, Bayelsa State, His Majesty, Diongoli Okpoitari. At the end of the meeting the leaders were said to have resolved to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari before the end of the month to brief him on what needed be done to achieve peace in the troubled oil-rich region.

At the meeting hosted by Okpoitari were the King of Seibiri in Burutu, Delta State and former national chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, (TROMPCON), Charles Ayemi-Botu, Capt Joseph Timiyan, the Ebenanawei of Ogulagha, also in Delta and Chief Mike Loyibo among many others.

Loyibo, and the leader of Pan Niger Delta Peoples Congress (PNDPC), Ayemi-Botu, who convened the meeting insisted that Clark and his men had lost the confidence of the people and agitators in the region and must not continue to speak for them.

According to Ayemi-Botu, PANDEF had been hijacked and so there was need to change the Niger Delta dialogue with the Federal Government with PNDPC.

Noting that the Kolokuma meeting was a follow-up to the the Warri, Delta State meeting held about a month ago, Ayemi-Botu maintained that the militants withdrew from the Clark-led PANDEF on the reason that the group turned itself into a vehicle for projection of personal interests.

He said, “This body is to ensure that the voice of the Niger Delta is truly heard. We set up committees that have articulated our vision and mission and the way we need to go and we have adopted the document.

“This clearly is a body different from the rest in the region. Only the interest of the Niger Delta will be protected. We will meet with the president on what we ought to do to protect the interest of the Niger Delta people.

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“Everybody will be carried along. We will not work for ourselves. We will work for the generality of the people. We know the problems. And these will be presented to the federal government. We need to make the Niger Delta the Dubai of Nigeria.”

Loyibo, who is the coordinator of PNDPC, speaking at the event said that only the new group had the mandate of the agitators to represent them. He explained that PNDPC are activists and not politicians like Clerk and his PANDEF group.

He said, “We are more of activists, not politicians. We are not fighting anybody. Clark has also paid his dues, whether negative or positive and we thank him for whatever he has done.

“The prayer of every dying father is to have a worthy successor. Let him rest and allow others carry on from where he stopped. Today, boys in the creeks have said that there is need for us to continue from where he stopped.”

Many of the leaders who spoke at the meeting also expressed their support for the new group and rejected PANDEF.

Leadership crack in the ranks of the Niger Delta became full blown after some militant groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) withdrew their support for PANDEF.

Subsequently, some of the militants had announced PNDPC as the new group to chart the course of the oil region with the Federal Government.

Meanwhile, the Clark-led group has relentlessly maintained they are the authentic voice of the region and have insisted PNDPC is a mere body of people seeking relevance.

 

 

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