George Onah
2 December 2008
Following the inability of the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hear and resolve the Bonny dispute between the leadership and youths of the island, the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Bonny chapter has called on the state government to set up a judicial enquiry to unravel the cause of the trouble.
"We pray that the government creates a judicial enquiry to unravel the mysteries that took lives, broke families, shattered dreams and took away the peace and conducive business environment that Bonny community was proud of", the group said.
Chairman of the youth group Mr. Kingsley Adonis Pepple in a statement made available to Vanguard in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said the need for a thorough investigation to the crisis had become imperative in view of insinuations from the leadership of the island that "an armed revolutionary group exists to fight the Amanyanabo-in-council.
The alleged threat by a purported armed revolutionary group called "Okoloma Ikpangi", is a "creation of the council of chiefs.
According to the statement, "It is not only frivolous, baseless but a desperate effort by the associates of the Amanyanabo-in-Council to deceive and mislead the government and people of Rivers State. .
The said publication could not have come from the purported militants, as the said armed youth group did not present any memorandum before the Justice Kayode Eso led Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Again, the issuance of a statement saying the breakdown of hearing on the Bonny crises memorandum is a disappearance of a possible settlement of the rift between the Amanyanabo-in-Council is a frantic attempt by the backers of the king and his council of chiefs to corroborate their allegations before zone 6 Calabar.
We therefore call on all armed-bearing groups to lay down their weapons without condition(s) as their continued possession of arms denies them any bargaining power and no government can be pressured by arms-carrying groups into meeting any condition no matter how small
"The destroyers of Bonny Community claim that I Kingsley Adonis Pepple is a cultist and a militant, knowing I was the one who presented the Bonny crises memorandum on behalf of the National Youth Council of Nigeria Bonny Chapter.
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