Mr President Sir, l did promise last week when this subject was discussed to present “to you a simple but workable formula for the solution to this Niger Delta challenge”, with a caveat: ”if you are genuinely willing to make enduring history in Nigeria.” For now, l can only assume that you read part one of this open letter, and that is assuming that you are better than Olusegun Obasanjo, who admitted publicly, when he was President, that he never read Nigerian newspapers.

Standing on the assumption that you read the one of last week, let me continue by diving into the very crucial areas of how to go about reaching those that will help you to achieve results. I must advise most respectfully, at this point, that what you are about to read is not from a fictional mind. No Sir. It is from someone who is a major stakeholder in the Niger Delta area. It is  someone who does talk, occasionally though, with mentors of some of the personae dramatis in the creeks.

Let me start by saying that l never knew that there would be emergence of a “born again” Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in the name of “Reformed Niger Delta Avengers”, RNDA, when l started this write-up two weeks ago. Nor did l anticipate that in the “true spirit of these born-again reformers”, they would come out with names of “Creators and Sponsors” of the NDA. The “revelation” of the RNDA made my assignment easier, not by agreeing with the names they “revealed” but by warning about the danger of assimilating their “revelation” sink and hook.

It is not my responsibility defending any of those mentioned by the RNDA as their sponsors. How on earth do l defend Papa EK Clark, Raymond Dokpesi, Nyesom Wike, Government Ekpemupolo [alias Tompolo], Paul Bebenimibo, Patrick Akpobolokemi, Annkio Briggs, or former President Goodluck Jonathan, among many other big names? Merely understanding those that are members of the RNDA makes exercise of defending any of the “revealed culprits” a non-encouraging venture. I will come to this later as we need to know quickly those that you must talk with Sir, for the purpose of arriving at the arena of solution in the Niger Delta matter.

Sir, what we have in the Niger Delta region, ditto every other region where there is militant agitation, is “coming together of different interest groups, sharing same or similar concerns on any given challenge”. These interest groups are usually headed by different champions, that somewhere along the line of the struggle, you will understand the need for them to reach a balance of strength and agreement. It is called “coming together of camps”. Behind each camp’s champion however is always “an authentic power broker”, in most cases not more than three to seven people.

These are the powers behind the façade because there are sacrosanct functions like “administering of oath of allegiance to the gods”, “initiating and thorough naked bathing [washing] in the shrines” and similar functions; these people take for the survival of the Champions, Camps and the totality of the Movement. These “special people” are never the political gladiators that represent the “initiated militants”. These people know everything about the source of funding in prosecuting the assignment at hand at all times. These are the same people that the “anointed Champions” [not every member of the militants] pay homage to from time to time. The modus operandi of inter-relationship between the “anointed Champions” and these “Power Brokers” is governed by rules of darkness. Hence, these power-brokers are sometimes called “principalities and powers of darkness” in the “encircled arenas” of our world.

My dear President Buhari, these are the people you should be seeking to meet with, if there would be any meaningful resolution of the Niger Delta issues. How can you know and identify them is a much larger question. Since it will be unethical and ungodly for me to give you names [l may not even have the names] what l will advise you at this point is to work towards getting the answer from the question. You need to turn the events upside down by working from top to bottom to get the answer – which is the names.

I would submit that you turn the “revelation of the born-again” Reformed Niger Delta Avengers upside-down and you will get to meet those “power brokers” within 30 days at maximum and in another 60 days an everlasting truce can be reached. The RNDA is the same as MEND and if the truth must be told Sir, MEND, which is the same as Henry Okah and Associate, is no more relevant to the Niger Delta struggle. Its place in the struggle is long dead and buried. It means that the so-called “revelation of sponsors” is a futile last effort of trying to stay alive by an endangered species, in collaboration with a disjointed report of a lost security agency that must please its spymaster by all means.

All you need to achieve any enduring result in this matter is to get not more than 12 people [all must be power brokers] from across the states of  Delta [four], Bayelsa [three] Rivers [two] Akwa Ibom [one] and Ondo [two]. Other states like Cross-rivers and Edo are deliberately omitted from this presentation because they have other roles to play later after the formation of these 12 power brokers. If these 12 are picked and agreement is struck with them, then a platform of bringing the knotty issues to the table with the “anointed Champions” would be easily attainable.

It is important to make it very clear at this point that the selection of the Twelve Pillars [Power Brokers] cannot and must not be for public consumption. I had said it earlier somewhere in this proposal that the modus operandi for this enterprise is strictly “rules of darkness”. Go outside your present security oracles to some common people [not the loquacious and politically enshrined ones] in the Niger Delta to get the names Sir.

Thanks for reading my letter Sir.

Mr  Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.