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Nigeria: Summit - FG, Niger Delta Leaders' Talks Hit Rocks
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Vanguard (Lagos)
1 July 2008
Posted to the web 1 July 2008
Emma Amaize and Ben Agande
Abuja
A LAST-DITCH attempt by the Federal Government to rally South-South leaders behind it over the planned Niger Delta Summit hit the rocks, Sunday night, in Abuja with the South-South leaders rejecting the talks.
Initiator of the botched meeting, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, said at a meeting with the Honorary Institutional Investors Council yesterday in Abuja that the Niger Delta struggle had been taken over by oil thieves who, according to him, are sponsoring the militants for their selfish end.
The Niger Delta leaders at the Sunday meeting told the Vice President to advise President Umaru Yar'Adua to shelve the planned summit as the region would neither attend nor have anything to do with the talks to be chaired by one-time External Affairs Minister, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
"From the fury of the Niger Delta opinion leaders at the meeting, it was clear that the proposed summit will die a natural death," a reliable source close to the meeting told Vanguard, adding:
"It will, however, not be official until the Vice President briefs President Umaru Yar'Adua and the Federal Government makes a pronouncement on it."
Vice President Jonathan at the meeting attended by governors of the oil-bearing states, National Assembly members and other representatives confessed that he, in fact, nominated Prof. Gambari for the job and that his chairmanship of the summit was not a "Northern agenda," but the delegates told him that the people should have no business with Gambari because of his position and previous comments on issues concerning the welfare and people of the Niger Delta.
Vanguard gathered that Dr. Jonathan presented a very strong case for the summit for which the delegates commended him but were quick in stressing that they would not go back on their position, as all the talks in the past were jamborees that produced no tangible result.
Leaders ask FG to implement past reports
"They told Jonathan that what Federal Government should do is to set up a body to appraise the various reports that have been submitted on the way forward for the Niger Delta, from the Willinks Commission of 1958 to 2007 and let the body come out with the things to be done or not done from the different reports, and then, the larger house like the stakeholders gathered, could be called to fine-tune and ratify the final report," source said.
No communique was issued at the end of the meeting, although it was agreed that the Vice President would report to the President that Niger Delta people rejected the summit.
Those who attended
The meeting was well-attended by representatives from Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Abia, Rivers and Imo states. Present were Chief Edwin Clark, former governors of Delta and Akwa Ibom states, Chief James Ibori who sat near Chief Clark and Obong Victor Attah.
Also at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Alexander Ogomudia (rtd.); former military governor of the old Rivers State, King Alfred Diette-Spiff; prominent South-South leader, Ambassador Matthew Mbu; ex-Minister, Chief Don Etiebet; Senators Ndoma Egba and Henshaw; chairman of the Rivers State Council of Chiefs, King Opobo; and President of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), Chief Bello Oboko and Prof Sam Oyovbaire.
Itsekiri women leader, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor; Senator Stella Omu; former deputy governor of Delta State, Chief Benjamin Elue; the Publisher of Thisday newspaper, Mr Nduka Obaigbena and John Mitte, among others also attended the meeting.
Sources said it was as if the Niger Delta people had held a meeting prior to the meeting with the Vice President, as they all spoke with one voice, condemning the summit and the choice of Gambari as its chairman.
Clark speaks
Contacted, yesterday, Chief Clark said: "We told the Vice President that we don't want Gambari and we agreed that the various reports that have been submitted to the government since the Willinks Commission in 1958 to the Oladayo Popoola, Ogomudia reports and others should be looked into.
They should set up a committee of experts to study all the reports and put together a package from the various reports for the development of the Niger-Delta. We spoke our minds to the Vice President and he also spoke his mind to us."
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It was gathered that emotions were charged at the meeting when the issue of Gambari's chairmanship of the rejected summit was raised and speaker after speaker lambasted him for his previous utterances on matters concerning the region.
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If this administration is out of options at this stage them may I offer assistance. First of all, this summit preparation process has shown that there are things wrong with the way the summit was planed. This Gambari person should be substituted. secondly, this summit has a lot to offer the people of the Niger delta but as we can all see, the so called leaders like this edwin clarke person and (unbelievably the biggest thief of the Niger delta) Ibori, have other intentions (bunkering and sponsoring of militancy cannot be put past him especially). so the case for the... [Read Full Text]
In actual fact, the failure of this ochestrated manouvering by the administration, is due not only to Gambari chairing the summit but to the underlying problem of pure ETHNIC RECENTMENT or TRIBALISM that has controlled the polity since independence. 99.9% of the politicians in the country are downright TRIBALISTIC operating on the policy of non inclusion characterized by 'WE' and 'THEY' and using all means to loot the country's treasury so that the money in the country can always remain with 'US' not 'THEM'. These politicians will prefer to let the country run aground rather than support the... [Read Full Text]
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