TREAT AVENGERS AS TERRORIST - PROF. ANGO TELLS BUHARI

The spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, yesterday said no responsible government would dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), as the group has clearly identified itself as a terrorist organization.

Professor Ango made the statement on Sunday in an interview with Daily Trust Newspaper in Zaria, saying that the ‘Avengers militants’ were out to make governance difficult or impossible for President Muhammadu Buhari as a revenge for their “son’s lost of power in 2015.”

Professor Ango urged the Federal Government and other Nigerians to take what he called decisive action against the NDA. He said the word decisive should be applied to the NDA.

Read His Statement In Part:

“Their name, Avengers, is an English word, and my understanding of the group is that they have something to avenge against some people or organizations.

“When you are avenging, it means that somebody has offended you and you want to take revenge. They can as well call themselves, Niger Delta Revengers.

“From what they are saying, something has happened before that they like and something is happening now that they don’t like. Therefore, they are avenging this position which is not in their favour. One can safely say that the North has been accused of creating Boko Haram to destabilize the government of Jonathan; to make governance very difficult or impossible.

“We have been trying to disabuse their minds at the level of the Northern Elders Forum, because this claim that the Boko Haram was a Northern creation was purely political.

“It is on that basis these Avengers are saying, ‘since we have lost power to the North, we are taking a position to make governance difficult or impossible to a Northerner that have taken power from our son.’

“This interpretation can be supported with the fact that their target is Northerners and people from the South-West. They are saying that Northerners and people from the South-West with oil businesses should park out from Niger Delta. You can see that they are becoming more specific now,” he said.

“The government should confront this terrorist group and decisively deal with them… The government should decisively use all means at its disposal to deal with identified terrorists who are terrorizing the economy of the country not only by destroying oil business, but also by targeting oil businesses that belong to Northerners and people from the South-West.

“If they bomb pipelines, it affects the economy of the country, which has been in bad shape since the days of their son in power. Now, they are terrorizing the economy and trying to put the economy in a more difficult condition.

“No responsible government would contemplate dialoguing with economic saboteurs.

“What kind of diplomacy? I don’t believe we are at the position of dialogue. What does dialogue mean? These people have come out to say they are terrorists; that they are going to terrorize the economy of the country. Therefore, no responsible government should dialogue with them. To dialogue for what?”