Dialogue: NDA Disowns Soyinka, Says ‘Clark Remains Our Man’
The High Command of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has denied naming Prof Wole Soyinka and others to advise and lead any negotiation with the Nigerian government.
The group again expressed concern with what it called the insensitivity to the genuine plight of the Niger Delta agitation by every successive government of Nigeria and the current APC-led federal government.
“We are amazed that Prof. Wole Soyinka has been taken on the jugulars by enemies of the Niger Delta because of his belief that the government of the day should understand the need to restructure and listen to the Niger Delta agitation positively.
“That if, we the NDA have named Prof Wole Soyinka and some incredible names to advise and lead any group is the lie of the century!
“They say, when an handshake goes beyond the elbow it has turned to another thing; amazingly, the handwriting is so clear that our Nobel laureate’s name is going the infamous way, as he is being named along as an adviser with some unscrupulous characters as Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) dialogue team with the government of Nigeria”, Spokesperson of the militant group Brig-Gen Mudoch Agbinibo said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Agbinibo further explained that the names being paraded as factions of the Niger Delta Avengers are just the figment of some persons protecting their jobs and hell bent on derailing the wheel of progress in the history of Nigeria and the Niger Delta agitation.
He added that the group’s strike teams and command structures have not at anytime contacted Soyinka and others at any time to advice or lead any contact with the government of Muhammadu Buhari on the Niger Delta agitation. “We have shown our respect and restraints to personalities that have been too fixated to impress Abuja in the name of the Niger Delta struggle since the beginning of “Operation Red Economy” ignorantly or willingly.
“The NDA cannot be teleguided by Mr Charles Okah and Henry Okah from their respective prison cells using disorganised characters of the All Progressive Congress (APC), from the Niger Delta to impress Abuja.
“We are not unaware of the creations of the Nigerian Intelligentsia community and security apparatus to sustain the Niger Delta struggle to bloat their pocket and credibility”, Agbinibo said.
The group restated it’s support to Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark of the Niger Delta Elders and Stakeholders conference committee to lead the Pan Niger Delta negotiations and dialogue team.
