Ex-militant leader, Africanus Ukparasia, popularly called General Africa, has alleged that wanted ex-warlord of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, created the Niger Delta Avengers to blackmail government over his corruption cases.
Ukparasia thus warned the Federal Government against negotiating with members of the Niger Delta Avengers.
He said negotiating with the Avengers is a clear recipe for the emergence of hundreds of armed groups in the creeks of the Niger Delta with the hope of benefiting from criminality.
Ukparasia in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday, alleged that NDA was just a tool for Tompolo to blackmail the Federal Government to force it to negotiate with him and his sponsors.
Ukparasia revealed how he had alerted security agencies earlier this year of how Tompolo was training “boys” in Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State and how 19 metal boats mounted with double 200 horse-powered engines each were delivered to prosecute the criminal mission.
According to him, it was published in the national dailies, but the Nigerian security forces did nothing about it till it got out of their hands.
He warned the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to stop encouraging negotiations with the Avengers or any such group as many other criminal groups would emerge to hold the federal government to ransom.
Ukparasia warned that such move is unacceptable and would be sternly resisted by ex-fighters who worked for the All Progressives Congress.
He also accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of allegedly being behind the Niger Delta Avengers.
He said: “Having accepted defeat, Goodluck Jonthan refused to disarm these people who promised to destabilize the government in the event that the APC won. True to that promise, they are destroying the economy of the country by bombing oil and gas pipelines and further polluting the already degraded environment.”
Ukparasia said unequivocally that the NDA “fight” has nothing to do with the betterment of the living conditions of the people of the Niger Delta region, but simply because they have lost the juicy multi-billion naira pipeline protection contracts and billions of naira paid to them by oil bloc owners and coupled with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cases against them is what is causing the crisis.
According to him: “If Goodluck Jonathan was truly an Ijaw man who loved his people, why didn’t he do any meaningful thing for his people? In six years as President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan did not commission any project in Bayelsa state. The last time any federal government project was commissioned in Bayelsa state was in 2006 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo commissioned the connection of Bayelsa state to the national power grid and other projects.
“Former President Goodluck Jonathan should advise his boys to lay down their arms immediately or be held responsible for whatever consequences that would necessarily arise from their criminal activities as I ‘Gen’. Africa and other ex-fighters would no longer allow the Avengers to go unchallenged to destroy oil facilities in our territories.
“The Avengers who are calling for the release of Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu are not fighting a Niger Delta cause.”
Ukparasia, however, dismissed the purported threat by the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Front to bomb the Aso Rock Villa, the Police Headquarters, Defence Headquarters and other national assets in Abuja, Lagos and Kaduna as a mere threat.
He said they know each others’ capacity in the Niger Delta and that the JNDLF should not bite more than it can chew.
Ukparasia warned the Indigenous People of Biafra to steer clear of anything that has to do with the Niger Delta region because their meddlesomeness could cause a major conflict between the two regions.
He said the Niger Delta has not forgotten the ill treatment meted out to the Niger Delta people under the old Eastern Region and therefore warned proponents of Biafra to stop including the Niger Delta in their imaginary map of the Republic of Biafra.
The former militant leader however pledged to work with the Nigerian military to deal decisively with criminals operating in the Niger Delta and warned Dr. Kachikwu and the Federal Government not to negotiate with criminals because if they do, they would not be able to curtail the next round of economic sabotage and armed struggle in the region.
He also lashed South South Governors who he alleged had ignorantly indicted themselves for asking the Federal Government to drop corruption charges on some militant leaders and politicians in Niger Delta.
He said: “If what we have read in the media is true that the South South Governors also asked the federal government to drop all corruption cases against Henry Okah, his brother, release Ibori from London prison, and every other Nigerians presently under trial, then it should be clear the sponsors of the Avengers.
“We thought that the Niger Delta Avengers were agitating for the development of Niger Delta region. What does Niger Delta struggle got to do with former militants and wanted criminals who have corruption cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)? The South South Governors should maintain their reputation and be sincere to agitate for the development of the region instead of asked for the impossible. What they are asking for would even trigger more crisis and we would resist them.”
He expressed readiness alongside other ex-militant leaders in the region who reportedly supported and worked assiduously for the All Progressives Congress to “fight” and capture Tompolo and his lieutenants to face the law.
Ukparasia said: “All ex-agitators captured in the Amnesty Programme have dissociated themselves from the criminal activities of the Niger Delta Avengers, who themselves are beneficiaries of the federal government Amnesty Programme. The Amnesty office has also dissociated itself from them.
“We are going to work with the security agencies to fish them out to face the law.”
Ukparasia however advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to succumb to dropping corruption cases against wanted criminals in the region as such will tarnish the image of the country.
Meanwhile, Africa has commended the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Deputy Governor of Cross River State for allegedly opposing the dropping of corruption cases against wanted criminals in the region.
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