•Militants Photo: The Sun Publishing

Militants in the Niger Delta may have spurned moves by the federal government to douse the fresh tension in the region arising from the six state governors’ rejection of the proposed Petroleum Industry Reform Bill and reversal of the upgrade of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun, Delta State.

The Presidency, in its reaction to the development, had appealed to the governors to show some understanding on the issues, saying President Umaru Yar’Adua was not pursuing a northern agenda in the Niger Delta.

The president, who spoke through his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, said there is a serious misunderstanding about some of the issues raised but that he was concerned and has been talking to the state governors in the region individually.

“I’m aware a meeting has already been scheduled with them even before this latest development. President Yar’Adua has tremendous respect for the people of Niger Delta, identifies with the challenges in the region and is desirous of bringing development once peace is attained. The president believes in dialogue as the governors know very well and I’m very sure the issue would be amicably resolved…,” the statement read.
On the amnesty process, Adeniyi said from the daily briefing the president has been receiving from his Honorary Adviser, Timi Alaibe, the amnesty panel chairman and Defence Minister, Gen Godwin Abbe, the process is still very much on course.

“From August 6 when the 60-day amnesty process commences officially, Nigerians will begin to see the evidence of cooperation by the militant leaders, many of whom have bought into President Yar’Adua’s agenda for peace and development in the Niger Delta.
“I want to reiterate that the only agenda President Yar’Adua has for Niger Delta is not that of ‘North’ or ‘South’ but simply to create the enabling environment for development of which he is strongly committed.”

We’ll respond forcefully - MEND
The main militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), in its response to Sunday Sun enquiry via electronic mail, maintained that it will “react forcefully if that move (Kaduna Petroleum College) is implemented.”
The insurgent group added that the proposed Petroleum Bill was not only an insult to the people of the region but that it also showed that the government has not learnt any lessons from the group’s attacks on oil facilities.

"No patriotic Niger Deltan will support that insulting bill. It only shows that we have not inflicted enough pain to make the government come to their senses," its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, stated while subtly berating Niger Delta leaders for their pro-North posture.
"Are they (governors) just realising that a majority of the Northerners resent our region? After years of hibernating, they are now waking up to their responsibility. The junior minister in the Petroleum Ministry must be taking so much insult but does not have the guts to resign because he has no shame.
"MEND has said it before and we thank God that what we had seen and been fighting for is now coming to light. Only a people made of fools will accept this brazen cheating. In the past, they shared the best industries and institutions among themselves but this time around we will react forcefully if that move is implemented," it said.

In an unusual solidarity with the governors, the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), comprising alliance units of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, The Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force & The Martyrs Brigade, had on Friday threatened to attack the petroleum college in Kaduna at the appointed time.

“These people are not ready for peace in the Niger Delta and therefore we will not give them peace! At the appointed time, we will attack the Petroleum College in Kaduna,” the JRC spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte, said in an electronic mail statement.
The group said the attempt by the Yar’Adua administration to reverse the upgrading of the PTI in Delta State to a petroleum university, which was approved by the immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was deliberately targeted at keeping the Niger Delta people perpetually down and vowed to resist the trend.
“We condemn emphatically the decision to reverse the upgrade of the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, in preference for the National College for Petroleum Studies to be sited in the Northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. This decision is evil, wicked, condemnable and a representation of the demented quality of leadership over the contraption called Nigeria.

“The decision of the Federal Executive Council goes a long way to prove without any iota of doubt that Yar'Adua and his goons led by Rilwanu Lukman are not committed to the plight of the people of the Niger Delta. It is unbelievable that at this very sad juncture in the lives of the people of the Niger Delta, N14.5 billion would be used to set up a college of petroleum studies in a non-oil producing North while indigenes of the oil-rich Niger Delta are left to wallow in ill-equipped training facilities.
“…There is clearly an attempt by an ungrateful Northern cabal to perpetually keep the people of the Niger Delta down. We will resist and destroy these people,” Whyte stated.

The Niger Delta governors had after a meeting in Asaba late Thursday night threatened to dump the federal government amnesty granted militants who lay down arms and embrace peace.
Among the grouse of the governors is the proposed Petroleum Bill, which they described as anti-Niger Delta communities; the movement of the University of Petroleum from Effurun to Kaduna; the anti-South South posture of the Petroleum Minister, Dr Rilwan Lukman; as well as the absence of post-amnesty plan for the region.

Governors blowing hot air - Evah
Coordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), Comrade Joseph Evah, however berated the governors of the region for waiting this long before taking on the federal government on its alleged anti-Niger Delta policies.
The fiery activist, who spoke on the telephone with Sunday Sun on Friday evening upon his return to the country after undergoing medical treatment abroad, said it is hard to believe the governors because of their “unholy romance” with Abuja all these years.

“They are only blowing hot air. Why are they just waking up from their slumber? After selling us (Niger Delta) to the North and the powers in Abuja, is it now they have realised the federal government does not want the development of the Niger Delta? They are cowards and I heard some of them are already denying that they took that decision,” Evah said.