A leader of the Niger Delta region and one of the founders of Pan-Niger Delta Forum, (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark said the forum is not intimidated by the recent threat by some purported members of Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) to resume hostilities in the region. Clark who described the threat as coming from 'laptop militants' said these boys usually sit in their houses to release statement.
In an interview with Punch, Clark said;
“Those are laptop militants; they don’t exist. Four of them will sit down in their houses and be issuing threats. These threats have existed since November 2016 when we met with Mr. President at the Villa. Some of these faceless boys issued the same threat and since then, they have been issuing threats.”
His comment is coming days after RNDA threatened to resume hostilities in the region if the Federal Government recognizes PANDEF as the mouthpiece of the region. On the huge presence of security operatives in the region and the obstacles facing PANDEF, the elder statesman blamed the federal government for the ugly development.
“The Federal Government was responsible for the unfortunate incident. I say this because I contacted the Director of Operations, Department of State Services in Abuja, who confirmed that they received an order from above.
“They (DSS) did not give any reason. So, we are asking them to give us reasons because we are not enemies of the government, we are friends of the government and we are doing our best to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.
“We had the last meeting with the Acting President then on the 3rd of August, which lasted for about three hours – from 7pm to 10pm. About 10 of our members attended a council meeting in Akure; that meeting was organized by the Ministry of Niger Delta.
“So, we don’t know why they should block our assembly. We want them to give us the reason why they did so. We are not a political body. Even a political body has freedom to move, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. We were not doing anything against anybody. They should have come to ask us if they considered our action as a threat to the government. If they don’t give us an answer, then we will re-examine the situation.”
