The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Tuesday said it was glad that the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) was ready to dialogue with it on how to end the crisis in the region.
Reacting to an interview granted to a national newspaper by NDA, MEND in a statement signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said it welcomed NDA for dialogue on the Niger Delta question as the only credible and sustainable solution to the festering Niger Delta problem.
It noted that with the development, it was imperative for the entire Niger Delta region to unite and speak with a single voice under a single umbrella in the forthcoming dialogue on the Niger Delta question with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
It however disclosed that the dialogue would hold under a single umbrella is the MEND Aaron Team 2 peace initiative headed by a former Minister for State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN).
The group said after receiving firm assurances from the highest level of federal government about its readiness to dialogue with the Aaron Team, it had decided to expand the representational capacity of the Aaron Team to accommodate the NDA on the grounds that it would among other reasons, “publicly renounce all forms of hostility against Nigeria’s oil and gas industry by an unconditional ceasefire by virtue of the extant provisions of the Presidential Amnesty Proclamation of 2009, all Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) fighters and commanders who agree to ceasefire are automatically entitled to benefit from the Presidential Amnesty Programme after due diligence and documentation by the office of the National Security Adviser and the Presidential Amnesty office headed by Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd)
“That the NDA shall publicly declare full allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and recognise President Buhari as the country’s President and Commander-in- Chief.”
