Interview
Deployment of Military to Confront the Niger Delta Avengers Is Not the Solution to Militancy
Reuben Wilson, an ex-agitator is the president of the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI). In this interview with Obire Maveyen, the ex-agitator spoke on a wide range of issues. Excerpts:
How would you assess the dialogue? Do you see it as a diversionary ploy since some groups have pulled out of the temporal cease fire agreement?
The federal government came out with a team for the dialogue but I have not seen the people selected to know if they are the right people or not. Another thing is that we do not know for sure the leadership structure of the avengers so as to a certain who and who to actually dialogue with. So until we can determine these facts and conclusively identify the both dialogue groups I cannot say how effective it would be. However I would advise the NDA group to embrace peace and accept dialogue with the Federal Government.
What do you think that really gave birth to the re-emergence of militancy in the Niger-Delta region?
Personally, I cannot say. Reason is that we, the Niger Delta Freedom fighter have accepted Amnesty and are still in the programme. So I see no reason why one should be involved with actions such as these. On the other hand, I think its emergence could also be attributed to the fact that certain groups are not happy with the present administration. Maybe as a retaliation to what Boko Haram did to Jonathan