Post-Amnesty: Don’t ignore Itsekiri, others, FG told

By Emma Amaize

Warri-NIGER-DELTA activist and Itsekiri youth leader, Comrade Omolubi Newuwumi, has advised that the Itsekiri and other  ethnic nationalities in the Niger-Delta should not be ignored by the Federal Government in the on-going discussions with stakeholders, including ex-militant leaders on the post- amnesty programme and the peace process generally in the region.

Speaking to newsmen in Warri, Delta State, he also said he was not  against the formation of the  Aaron Team , but frowned at a situation where the team was single-handedly nominated by one man from a particular tribe without due consultations with the other ethnic groups that make up the Niger Delta.

He stated that the Niger Delta crisis was a collective problem that affects everybody in the region and not just a particular ethnic group and, therefore, its peaceful  resolution required all the affected and concerned stakeholders to come to a roundtable to find a lasting solution.

Omolubi, who is also the national vice- president of the Itsekiri National Youth Council, faulted the statement of the Movement for  the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) that Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, and others went to discuss true federalism with the Federal Government, saying, “If such issue as fiscal federalism is going to be discussed there as MEND statement suggested, then,  such discussions should include other tribes in the region and not just a person or a group of persons from a particular tribe determining who goes there and who will not go there”.

“For the avoidance of doubt, there are many professors who are equally good and hail from the creeks in the Niger Delta region and are from the various tribes that made up the region and this people even understand the problem more anyone else”, he added.