The President of the splinter group of the Ijaw Youth Council
Worldwide, Mr. Elvis Donkemezuo, has called on the security agencies to
intensify efforts to fish out real faces behind the Niger Delta
Avengers’ mask.
Donkemezuo, who made the call in a statement on Monday, urged the NDA to leave IYC and the Ijaw nation out of their antics.
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| Niger Delta Avengers |
He said his group had been intimated on reports in an online medium
containing a statement from a faceless group, the Reformed Niger Delta
Avengers, by a pseudonym, Cynthia Whyte, that named some Niger Delta
leaders as sponsors of the NDA.
He said, “But for the fact that our noble organisation, the IYC, was
mentioned in relation to our erstwhile interim President, Udengs
Eradiri, which the RNDA claimed is also known as ‘Brigadier General
Murdoch Agbinibo’ and ‘serves as the NDA’s chief spokesman’ and the
enormity of our ignoring this lame attempt at linking the IYC to the
hostilities of the Avengers, we would not have dignified them with a
response.
“Nonetheless, given that our silence would mislead the unsuspecting
public and embolden the source of the publication, we have decided to
set the records straight.
“For the sake of clarity, we want to state unequivocally that Eradiri
is no longer the President of the IYC. IYC is not Eradiri’s private
estate. Therefore, we urge those who have personal or business quarrels
with him not to drag the name of the Council into their tussles.
“The IYC and the entire Ijaw nation distance ourselves from the NDA
and any splinter group from it as well as all their sponsors. Moreso,
for the avoidance of doubt, we want the world to know that although we
do not know who the NDA are, we are confident that they are not Ijaw
people and do not speak for the Ijaw or the Niger Delta region.”
Meanwhile, the embattled President, IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, has
distanced himself from an allegation that he was a member and
spokesperson for the NDA.
Eradiri said as a leader of the influential Ijaw socio-cultural
group, he had on many occasions spoken against a violent approach to
achieving the Niger Delta struggle.
He insisted that he would continue to speak against the militant
group with a firm belief that only dialogue, with genuine leaders, would
resolve the problems in the region.
A NDA splinter group, the RNDA, had in a statement claimed that
Eradiri was speaking for the group using the pseudonym
‘Brigadier-General’ Murdoch Agbinibo.
However, Eradiri, who spoke in Yenagoa, on Sunday, said he was not
surprised that his name was being dragged in the mire because of his
unwavering position on the region’s crisis and the way forward.
The IYC boss accused the promoters of the Movement for Emancipation
of Niger Delta of deliberate efforts to blackmail him for opposing their
“Aaron team.”
Eradiri said, “I have no business whatsoever with the Niger Delta
Avengers. I am the President of the Ijaw Youth Council, the largest
youth organisation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and not
spokesman for NDA.
“Since the splinter group of the Niger Delta Avengers said they have
broken away and repented from their old ways, I call on them to come out
in the open and identify themselves openly instead of still using
pseudonym such as Cynthia Whyte to issue press statements.
“Any discerning mind will know that the said statement purportedly
naming sponsors of Avengers was issued by the promoters of the Aaron II
MEND negotiation with the Federal Government.
“Their grouse against me is because I said in my recent interviews
that MEND Aaron II team does have the mandate of the Ijaw and other
Niger Delta people to negotiate with the Federal Government. They are
desperate because of the lack of credibility in what they are doing.”
Source: Punch Newspapers
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