SAN FRANCISCO, September 05, (THEWILL) – A militant leader in the Niger Delta, ‘General’ Don Waney, on Monday warned members of the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, and other militant groups in the region to steer clear Rivers State, threatening that he would fight any militant group that attempts to make Rivers its target.
Waney, who emerged from the creeks to express readiness to surrender his arms and ammunition and embrace the amnesty offered by the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, advised all militant groups in the Niger Delta to embrace peace and put an end to the destruction of oil facilities.
The militant leader, who is the leader of the Aggrieved Youth Movement said in Aligwu, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area on Monday, observed that the state cannot achieve any form of development without peace.
Claiming that his group was not into kidnapping or any form of violence, the militant leader explained that his group is only agitated as a result of youth unemployment, lack of technical training for manpower development, scholarships, widespread poverty, and lack of basic social infrastructure, among others.
According to him, “On a strong note, we are non-violent and we shall remain so in our collective agitation for a better ONELGA (Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA), Orashi and Rivers State.
“In the light of this, we call on the Niger Delta Avengers group to leave ONELGA and Orashi region out of their targets.
“We are against the bombing and destruction of vital oil and gas installations in our communities. We shall not allow them or any of their type to enter our land.
“We want peace and development and that is what we have signed with our governor, Nyesom Wike. Rivers State is peaceful and we do not want outsiders to cause crisis and general insecurity in our state again.”
While commending the state governor for offering amnesty to repentant militants, Waney expressed the need for other aggrieved groups to surrender their arms and embrace peace in order to ensure the growth of Niger Delta.
His words, “We have, accordingly, accepted amnesty gesture the government has granted us. We salute the governor for his love, for the sanctity of lives of some young people, who may have been deceived in the past.
“We believe that the amnesty will go a long way to transform for good, the lives of these youngsters. We hereby call on other armed groups to embrace the amnesty programme and give up militancy so that together, we can benefit from the development strides of the Rivers State Government.
The militant leader however called on the Federal Government to consider repentant militants in the region and ensure that the post-amnesty programme covered oil and gas producing communities.
