•Militants Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Militants in the Niger Delta continue to talk tough and heighten tension in the area regardless of the ceasefire called by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
One of the groups, the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), which claims to be an amalgam of the MEND, Martyrs Brigade and the Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, has warned that it would halt oil exploration activities in the region, especially the Ijaw territory, by 2009.

“From the next anniversary (celebration) of (late) Isaac Boro next year, there may be no oil production in Ijaw territory anymore. We will move our aged people unto production platforms for permanent residence. Women and children will take over rig sites and other offshore infrastructure. Unemployed youths will be moved into office spaces of oil companies.
“Unrest is not just a state of the mind. It is a course of action.

No one will be allowed to take our oil without our permission anymore. Our blessing will not be allowed to be our curse,” the JRC stated through its spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte.
The group had on Wednesday called off the unilateral ceasefire MEND declared 24 hours earlier after the former claimed the Nigerian armed forces launched attacks on militant camps in obedience to the directive of President Umaru Yar’Adua.
But MEND has dissociated itself from the JRC and its actions just as it insisted that its ceasefire was in force.

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is in no way affiliated with the JRC and they cannot act or take decisions on our behalf such as revoking the ceasefire we declared. The ceasefire remains valid,” its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, also stated in an electronic mail response to Sunday Sun enquiry.
The JRC, however, said it called off the ceasefire “to stir up the various groups agitating for the liberation and emancipation of the Niger Delta,” adding that the purpose was not for war as “wars are capital intensive.”

But it said its combatants were prepared to confront the military where necessary “as witnessed a few days ago” even as it said the goal is to achieve self-determination for the region.
“Given the insincere nature of the Nigerian state, self-determination remains our ultimate goal. The Ijaw and Niger Delta territory is bigger in geographical size than Kuwait or Kosovo. We will reward the countries and nation states that assist our struggle. We will guarantee them good access to the oil and gas resources at the appointed time. This is the time for them to sow seeds.

“Ijaws and Niger Deltans should have free entry and automatic citizenship to and in countries like the United States and imperialist Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland,”
On the proposed Niger Delta Summit, both the JRC and MEND restated their opposition to the forum and Prof Ibrahim Gambari as chairman of its Steering Committee.
But while MEND said it would not partake in a summit that excludes Henry Okah, its leader who is being tried in camera on gunrunning and treason charges by the Federal Government, the JRC vowed to attack any Ijaw elder and leader who attends the Gambari-chaired summit.

“Gambari is evil. He called Ken Saro-Wiwa and others 'common criminals' before the international community in order to impress his master and cruel despot, (the late General) Sani Abacha.
“We will not partake in the summit. Not only that, we will punish anyone who attends the summit…Anyone who attends will be punished somehow. The punishment will stick for a long time.
“How can you hold a summit when you are a keeping a key participant, Henry Okah, in solitary confinement and passing him through a Gestapo-type secret trial?...The whole thing is a concert in deceit.”

The militant group contended that rather than hold another conference, the Federal Government should implement the report of the General Alexander Ogomudia Panel on the Niger Delta, which was set up by the immediate past Olusegun Obasanjo administration as a starting point for further negotiations.
“We are not greedy people. The Ogomudia Report is not in itself exhaustive and satisfactory to us but it took a lot of effort by key stakeholders to get the report prepared. The demands and positions in that report satisfied quite a few people. Let them dust the report and tell us why it cannot be revisited,” it stated.