Ex-Niger Delta militant petition Tinubu, NSA over exclusion from oil resumption negotiation in Ogoni

Ex-Niger Delta militant from Ogoni ethic nationality in Rivers State have petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, over their alleged exclusion from the negotiation for resumption of oil exploration in their area. The ex-militants led by its Leader, the Pioneer Secretary of First Phase Ex-Agitators, Gen Nature Dumale Kiegha, condemned the development, vowing that the body would resist their non-inclusion. Kiegha said excluding the Ogoni ex-agitators from the technical committee on resumption of oil production could spark crisis. He wondered why someone like him, who hails from Kono, a major oil producing community in Ogoni and leads ex-agitators and other non-violent people from the area, should not be considered on the negotiation table, despite his contributions to preventing violence through peace building, not just in Ogoni but in Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large. Kiegha claimed that persons involved in the interface deliberately kicked the ex-agitators out to create a lacuna for another round of unrest.
He said that any attempt to exclude the ex-militants from the negotiation table would be met with strong resistance, calling on the Federal Government to split Ogoni oil fields into three blocks for economic justice. The ex-agitator said that the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and the peace achieved so far were possible because ex-agitators chose dialogue over violent extremism, adding that ignoring their voices and suggestions was capable of reversing the gains of peace. He said “over 3000 young violent Youths have gone through our process of rehabilitation; they were accommodated for six months; fed for six months and catered for six months. The government and IOCs have not supported this initiative for once. “Many of this youths have been delivered from violent extremism. They have been delivered from drug abuse, cultism, kidnapping and oil theft. Many of them in Ogoniland know the efforts we have made, and yet they don’t want somebody who will bring about positive change and positive transformation in the life of the youths in the land of Ogoni to be part of the ongoing going negotiations. 
“All these responsibilities qualify us to be critical stakeholders not just in Ogoni but in the Niger Delta region. But we have taken time to observe that we have not been given the attention or the respect and honour we deserve as Ogoni sons. We represent a constituency. And that constituency had not been contacted or engaged. The ex-agitators, critical stakeholders that have to do with the youths of Ogoniland are the people who will give the social license to any company coming to do oil exploration in Ogoniland.”