SHE came to Nigeria about 45 years ago when many of today’s Niger Delta militants were yet unborn or still toddlers. Former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, was about three years at the time and since militancy manifested in the region, she has been actively involved in the process of resolving the conflict, interfacing with both government and militants.

Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele is Head and Spiritual Leader of Inri Spiritual and Evangelical Church, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos. Sunday Vanguard was with him recently during which his past prophecies were reviewed. He said God is angry with Nigeria, explaining that it is the reason things were not going on well with the country. He, however, in fulfilment of his promise to, as directed by the Lord, gather prophets across Nigeria to pray for the country as President Muhammadu Buhari alone could not do it, said he and some other prophets had started praying for Nigeria.

H ON Evance Ivwurie, the lawmaker representing Ethiope Constituency, Delta State, knew that that the mission he chose to prosecute was a deadly one, yet he decided to forge ahead.

There was no fear of witch-hunt. In fact, it was a problem if you could not reason and you could not speak, and you could not defend your point of view. That was a problem. So, some of us, because of that kind of background, had problems much later on in our career, but it was a fantastic civil service. For instance, I got whispers about the possibility of my becoming permanent secretary when I was attending a board meeting of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), because you never knew things like that would happen, but somehow, somebody heard of it and called me out of the meeting to inform me. Just to give you the idea that at that time, the golden days of the civil service where merit was everything, lobbying and corruption were absent. You dared not buy a car that was out of sync with your economic possibilities. It was not done. They would ask you.

A community leader at Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, Apostle (Dr) Clement Tonfawei, popularly known as the Nabodi 1 of the Universe, has said that if given the chance, the locals could rally round government to trail the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA. Apostle Tonfawei, who was among the Niger Delta stakeholders who met with a Federal Government team led by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and National Security Adviser, NSA, May 25, in Abuja, said the militants were human beings living in the various communities in the region and the basic thing required to track them was intelligence.