Yesterday, prominent human rights advocate Annkio Briggs cautioned politicians hailing from the Niger Delta against sacrificing the oil-rich region and its inhabitants for personal gains.
The environmentalist, in a statement, said: “Niger Delta politicians should stop selling Niger Delta and the people for their political interests. This is the time for the Niger Delta women to rise for our parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren and their future.”
She emphasized that historical figures such as Adaka Boro, Owonaru, and Dick, along with their limited supporters, who protested against injustice years ago, couldn’t have foreseen the extraction of gas from the region, including the resources belonging to both current and future generations.
She said: “Boro, Owonaru and Dick were unaware of the gas the International Oil Companies, IOCs, and Federal Government flare to kill us. Boro, Owonaru and Dick did not know the beloved people of the Niger Delta will today be as they were when they declared war on injustice inflicted on them.
“They did not know the Nigeria they fought against and then fought for, will today not only take away our resources but kill some of us and turn the living ones into beggars, with help from our own selfish politicians.
“I am reminded and agree with Boro when he said years ago, ‘We had long sought a separate state, not because they (we) loved power, but because their (our) conditions were (are) peculiar and the authorities did not (do not) understand their (our) problems.’
“My question to all Niger Deltans, indigenous and ethnic nations is: What is wrong with us, are we blind, deaf and dumb?
“After the All Progressives Congress, APC, under former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, now the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, used the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs anyhow, sucking it and everything we fought for and got in the past 20 years dry.
“The incumbent President Bola Tinubu comes along, fulfilling his promise to continue where Buhari stopped. He has scrapped the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. What reason did he give and when did he speak with the people of the Niger Delta.
“Niger Delta people in politics, oil and business, how long will you be begging to have a drop of what is yours? If they will not develop the Niger Delta with Niger Delta oil and gas, why should they develop other regions in Nigeria with our oil and gas?
“If Niger Delta men and women cannot be the big players in the oil and gas industry, upstream and downstream; if Niger Delta people cannot be the richest in Africa and the world, why should any other Nigerian be the richest with our oil and gas?
“When will we realise that Nigeria will not stop until they finish the resources in Niger Delta.”
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