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Thu, Mar

Niger Delta Militants Withdraw Quit Notice to Northerners and Yorubas

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A coalition of Niger Delta militants on Friday, withdrew the October 1 quit notice issued to Northerners and Yorubas to vacate the region, Vigil360 correspondent in the region reports. The Pan Niger Delta People’s Congress (PNDPC), a new group that claimed to have the mandate to negotiate for the Niger Delta with the Federal Government and other interested stakeholders, said the issuers of the quit notice gave them the mandate to withdraw it.

The coalition had also claimed to have disbanded the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) after passing a vote of no confidence in the group and constituted PNDPC as the new negotiator for the region.

The militant groups 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.

Speaking on the issue, Loyibo said “People should disregard the quit notice from our youth. 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 added “we are peace loving 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 a 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 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.”

The Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators, CNDA, had in mid-August asked Northerners and Yorubas to leave the oil region before October 1 ahead of the resumption of attacks on oil installations. The current withdrawal of the quit notice, it is believed may douse the tension created by the initial act.

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