We’re remorseful, we erred; N’Delta militants say as they withdraw quit notice

The coalition of Niger Delta militants which issued an October 1 quit notice to Yorubas and northerners living the region, Friday withdrew the notice.

The Pan Niger Delta People’s Congress (PNDPC), a new group which claims to have the mandate to negotiate for the Niger Delta with the Federal Government and other stakeholders, said the issuers of the quit notice had given it the mandate to withdraw it.

Recall that the coalition had purportedly dissolved the Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) for alleged incompetence and constituted PNDPC as its preferred new negotiation vehicle for the region.

With the development, the groups had subsequently appointed His Royal Majesty, Pere Ayemi-Botu, paramount ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom, as the head of the PNDPC and named Chief Mike Loyibo as the coordinator/ convener of the group.

The coalition comprises the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers; Niger Delta Joint Revolutionary Crusaders Council; Niger Delta Supreme Egbesu Fighters; Niger Delta Red Scorpion Fighters; Niger Delta Youth Mandate for Justice; Niger Delta People’s Liberation Force; Niger Delta Fighters for Resource Control; Niger Delta for Urhobo Resource Control; and Bakassi People’s Liberation Force.

Loyibo confirmed that the coalition mandated the PNPDC to announce the withdrawal of the quit notice.

He said the youths were remorseful after he and members of the new group met with them and told them the implications of the quit notice to the peace and development of the region.

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Loyibo said, “People should disregard the quit notice from our youths. I have spoken to many of them and they mandated me to withdraw it on their behalf.

“They have called off the quit notice and discharged it. Everybody in the region in the west, east and north should go about their normal business. I can guarantee them of their safety.

“The entire Niger Delta people are not in agreement with the quit notice issue. The boys that issued it are very remorseful. So, they have asked me, because they mandated me to speak for them and the region, to discharge the quit notice.”

Loyibo noted that such unpatriotic remarks like issuance of quit notices had their origin from the cold war involving the country’s founding fathers during the precolonial era.

“This quit notice and counter quit notice found their foundations from the precolonial days. The three leaders that negotiated the independence of Nigeria did not love themselves.

“It was the crisis that extended to our era where everybody begins to struggle for their own. I don’t believe in regional or tribal considerations. As Ijaw people, those that had been good to us did not come from our region”.

He noted that the youths were only suspicious that the Federal Government was trying to weaken them through promises that they might not keep.

Loyibo also revealed that the leaders also told the youths to also hold their governors, appointees and regional interventionist agencies responsible for lack of leadership and development.

He blamed the Arewa youths for heightening tension in the polity, while lamenting the way and manner the government treated them.

He noted that nobody should be treated as a second class citizen, adding that all must be held as equal stakeholders in the Nigerian project.

The Ijaw leader, however, said the youths in the region still believed in the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and their ability to fulfill the promises they made to the region.

“We are peaceloving people. Our diversity is our strength. Mr. President has brought a lot of integrity to governance and he came in with massive goodwill. So, I believe that this is the time he should be addressing the issue.

“The late President Yar’Adua took the bull by the horn and declared amnesty and today amnesty is working. The place is being transformed in human capacity building.

“This is not the time for us to bring violence. When the militants and the agitators and the people of the Niger Delta named us to represent the Niger Delta as the new face, it did not come to us as a surprise because some of us have long history of integrity and openness.

“We believe that Nigeria will continue to remain as one under a peaceful situation. So, I hereby, use this medium to formally discharge that quit notice. It is of no effects and there is no element of seriousness and the people that did it are very remorseful after we met with them and scolded them”, Loyibo said.

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