A group, the Niger Delta Ambassadors of Regional Peace, NDARP, otherwise known as the Ambassadors, has warned of dire consequences should any person or group of persons dare threaten oil facilities anywhere in the Niger Delta region particularly in Rivers State under any guise saying the region had long embraced peace and whoever threatens the peace and tranquility of the region shall be hunted down by law enforcement agencies in collaboration with the people of Niger Delta.
Reacting through its leader in Abuja, Sunday, aftermath of a stakeholders meeting held at the instance of a popular ex-militant leader from the region, Layefa Ibinabor Ebelo, who dared the Justin Alabraba-led Niger Delta Development Force, said nobody is above the law and whoever blows up any pipeline would be hunted down by youths in the region and handed over to security agencies.
Ebelo wondered why an otherwise constitutional issue in Rivers State would bring about the threat of bombing oil pipelines, adding that the security agents are on red alert to take on any group who chooses to cause damage to oil infrastructure or engage in an untoward act in the region.
He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, and nobody can threaten or stampede him to carry out any action saying the raging feud between Governor Fubara, his political party, his followers on one hand, his godfather and his followers on the other hand are strictly constitutional matters.
The group said it’s a general knowledge that the duo of Fubara and Wike are entangled in conflict of interest, a development he said has no nexus whatsoever with oil infrastructure in the state or anywhere in the region.
He said Alabrabra and his sponsors are overreaching themselves, noting that, the Ambassadors will lead the military to fetch out whoever touches any oil facility in the region.
Alabrabra’s group had threatened to bomb oil facilities in the state should any court deliver a judgment that stops the disbursement of local government funds to the state, a statement Lyefa dismissed as an empty threat that may pave the way to demystify and end incessant threats of bombing oil infrastructure in that part of the country.
He added: “We know you up to your fathers’ houses, when we get to the bridge, we shall cross it. Nobody can challenge the might of the Nigerian state without ending in tears and sorrows.
“The military shall be taken to your community so that you will dance to the music. We know your leaders include that who also threatened to shoot down military plane and others. We will get you one, after the other.”
The Ambassadors adding that the group is a faceless one that was sent by the ‘culprits’ to test the waters through threats to the Nigerian state, saying “If you are not cowards, identify yourselves for the Nigerian public to know you are real.”
Pointedly, the Ambassadors called on the president not to treat criminals with kidgloves but go all out against them to forestall crimes and criminalities in the region.
He said that nobody can impede any court from entering judgment in any matter in Nigeria saying: “What we operate is constitutional democracy and nobody can threaten it.
“Should the matter go out of hand, we are calling on the president to declare a state of emergency in Rivers. The
President being the father of the nation had intervened in the feud but the demagogues and conflict entrepreneurs in the state won’t allow peace to reign between the two major gladiators.
“Now is when some feeble characters deemed it right to coerce the president to intervene whereas they sabotaged the initial efforts made by the president. The president should activate that emergency clause in the constitution.”