COMMUNIQUE BY NIGER DELTA EX-MILITANTS TODAY TUESDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2023, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA
The presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and the National Chairman of the party, Barr. Julius Abure, the leading beneficiaries of the ex-militants declaration, were represented at the communique conference by the Head of National Publicity, Contact and Mobilization Team of Obi-Datti Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC), Comrade Prince Tony Akeni Le.
The Communique
Today Tuesday February 21st, 2023 we the undersigned ex-militants of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, being of well-known public identity, in full alliance with our elder statesmen and leaders of the Oil Producing Ethnic Nationalities for Good Governance (OPEN-GG), both of which umbrella bodies comprise over forty indigenous groups having common interest for the rapid social, economic, environmental and political development of our region, hereby undertake and sign this communique before the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
1. That we have diligently, clinically and objectively undertaken a study of the political manifesto, character, competence, capacity and virtues of the four major Presidential Candidates of the oncoming election scheduled to hold across Nigeria on February 25, 2023.
2. That in our 6-month study which began in mid-September 2022 and culminated yesterday February 21st, we put into solemn consideration our region’s best development interest especially in regard to our common vision, entreaty and wish list of One State One Refinery (OS-OR) industrial ideology for our region. An entreaty which shall be conveyed in due course to the incoming Federal Government Administration of Nigeria that shall begin from May 29, 2023.
3. That after the broadest, most encompassing and empirical consultation with ex-militants of various camps across the seven states of the Niger Delta, development experts, elder statesmen, wise men and stakeholders of our region, including trusted religious leaders, PANDEF and other revered ethnic nationalities, the glaring and crystal plain conclusion was reached that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party has the highest governance intelligence quotient, creative industrial competence, resourceful innate integrity, compassionate potentialities and propensity to decisively implement practical solutions to the well documented myriads of leadership failure, epic environmental degradation and traumatic corruption which have impeded real development of our Niger Delta region for too long.
4. Having come to that unanimous and unequivocal conclusion, we hereby passionately appeal to every ex-militant, youth, women group and leadership of ethnic nationalities of the region to come to terms with the rationales we have given above. Accordingly, we ask you to join us deliver every scrap of ballot paper that arrives the soil, shores, creeks, cities, towns, camps and hamlets of our Niger Delta region for Mr. Peter Obi and his amiable running mate, Sen. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, as the next President and Vice President of Nigeria come February 25, 2023.
5. While we acknowledge that the Nigerian constitution gives every citizen of voting age the franchise to vote the candidates of their choice, we cannot pretend to understand and applaud those few rebels and renegades for sale among Niger Delta ex-militants, youth groups, ethnic nationality leaders, traditional rulers and sundry citizens who have shamelessly endorsed and claim to align with the presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Abubakar Atiku.
6. For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state without reservation that Atiku Abubakar is an unfeeling Fulani who, having found a like-minded traitor in the visionless governor of Delta state, Mr. Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, has demonstrated to all peoples of Southern Nigeria his historic contempt for all southerners and political arrogance by breaking faith with the moral principle of North-South power rotation. An unwritten political code of conduct which has been in place for 24 years for the immaculate purpose of equity, sense of equality and peaceful coexistence among Nigerians of our two coordinate hemispheres.
7. By arrogantly insisting on running for President of Nigeria immediately following the eight years of catastrophic, genocidal and traumatizing misrule of the sitting Fulani president, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and his fellow Brutus, Mr. Ifeanyi Okowa, should know that they have gambled out the last political home run of their political careers. Their only remedy is to summon the courage to withdraw from the presidential race within the few hours remaining to the polls of February 25 and in so doing make epic history of turning from villains to heroes at the nick of time. The choice is theirs.
8. As for the presidential candidate of the APC, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during our seven-month study towards arriving at a consensus on the presidential candidate best suited to confront and provide enduring solutions to the arduous governance challenges of our peculiar region, Mr. Bola Tinubu made the job easier for us by telling us himself everything that we needed to know about him, which is that he is not a presidential material for this planet, neither our Niger Delta region.
9. As for Mr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP, the only comment we find worth making is that we reserve our comment till 2027 when he may materialize in the political space again for a shirt to play in that political season, Almighty Allah preserving him till then.
10. Finally, we urge all citizens of the Niger Delta to come out en masse without fear of harm to life and limb or rigging apprehensions. We call on all ex-militants in all the seven states of our region and beyond, wherever else they may be in the country on election day, to provide back-up security and safe polling environment for all citizens of the region and Nigeria at large to enable law-abiding citizens freely, safely and confidently cast their votes.
We call on all Nigerians to come out boldly to vote for Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed. Take your destiny in your hands and freely exercise your franchise right. Do not be afraid of so-called warlords on the sides of Atiku or Tinubu. There is a Warlord in Heaven who shall be watching over every other “warlord” and Governor of the region. Warlords and Governors who have procured their own bargain of illicit abundance through unscrupulous politics to sell out the freedom, franchise and destiny of the Niger Delta people.
The Pete Obi ticket is your best ticket to freedom. Seize it. Use it.
Thank you.
God bless the Niger Delta.
God bless Nigeria.
_*SIGNED:*_
_*Members from groups constituting Conference of Ex-Militants of Niger Delta for Industrial Rebirth (CENDIR) & _*B. For Oil Producing Ethnic Nationalities for Good Governance (OPEN-GG)*_
▪️Ijaw Leadership Stakeholders Working Group (ILSWG)
▪️Oporoza House.
▪️The Movement for Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality of the Niger Delta (MOSIEND)
▪️Ogoni Renaissance (OR),
▪️Urhobo Progress Vanguard (UPV).
▪️Edo Posterity Summit (EPS), Isoko Equity Agenda (IsEA).
▪️Kalabari Vision Vanguard (KVV).
▪️Ndokwa Progress Roundtable (NPR).
▪️Ondo Akatapa Oil & Gas Watch (OKOGW).
▪️Niger Delta Coast Guards (NDCG).
▪️Niger Delta Riverine Security Network (NDRSN).
▪️Niger Delta Congress.(NDC).
•General Commander
Tabu Obriki,
•Commander (Land and Sea) Abel Tariah.
•Mega Senior Prefect 1 Chief Long John Ebikaribo.
•High Chief Commander Solomon E. Oga.
•Marine Capt. R.S. Uduboh.
•Marine Capt. E.J. Dein.
•Marine Capt. E.G. Ebikeme.
•Marine Capt. M.N. Emberru.
•Tonye Wokoma (Esq).
• Elder Timi Kaiser-Wilhelm Ogoriba (TK).