Militants Give Condition To Stop Bombings In N’delta

Top militant leaders, who have been
causing havoc in the Niger Delta
and major oil depots in the South-
West, have laid out conditions under
which they would stop the renewed
bombing of oil installations and
embrace peace.
According to reports, the militants
said they would only drop their arms
when the Minister of State for
Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, meets
and negotiates with them.
The militants issued the position
after a secret meeting involving
their leaders from the Niger Delta
and their counterparts in Alepo,
Agric, Epe, Ikorodu, Itoki and
Igbokoda areas of Lagos.
One of the top leaders, who gave his
name as General Levi, said that they
would not want to back down until
the Petroleum Minister meets them
and secures amnesty for their
members to avoid being persecuted
by security agencies.
The militant leaders also said after
meeting with the minister, they
would thereafter take over the
responsibility of tracking and
exposing those bent on causing
further destruction to all facilities
and meting our appropriate
punishment to them.
They said they had been pleading
for amnesty since the days of the
President Jonathan’s administration
but nobody took them into
consideration and were ready to
work with the new administration to
bring about an end to oil bunkering
and pipeline vandalisation in the
Niger Delta region and the South-
West.
Levi said: “We are ready to drop our
arms and denounce hostility with
the government on the condition
that the Minister of Petroleum will
meet with us and hear our own side
of the story. We are not against the
government but we have genuine
issues yet to be addressed by
successive administrations in this
country.
“We are ready to commence
discussion and denounce association
with this present situation. From
now henceforth, we are ready to
block any channel for anyone not to
go through to bomb oil pipelines.”
The bombing of oil installations in
the Niger Delta commenced last
week as militants blew up major oil
and gas pipelines in the area.