Strong indications have emerged about how the elders and leaders from the Niger Delta struck a satisfactory deal with the Federal Government (FG) based on which the 90-day ultimatum issued by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) was withdrawn, paving the way for a return to the negotiation table.
The influential body threatened to pull-out of negotiations unless the FG provided evidence of commitment to conditions for peace and stability in the oil-producing region. The group presented the bill of demands to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, during his visit to the area earlier in the year.
Leader of PANDEF and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, recently announced withdrawal of the ultimatum after a three-hour meeting between leaders from the Niger Delta and Prof. Osinbajo at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The action was called following condemnations of the casual response of the Federal Government to conditions for stability in the oil-producing region, which were presented by the group to the Acting President during his fact-finding visit to the Niger-Delta. The PANDEF threatened to abandon negotiations by November 1, 2017, if the Federal Government (FG) persisted in its casual response to concerns from people in the region.
But after a meeting between leaders from the Niger Delta and the Acting President, Chief Clark announced that the 90-day ultimatum was suspended to pave way for the resumption of negotiations necessary for satisfactory resolutions of issues and conditions for stability in the region.
Responding to enquiries by The Next Edition, former Housing and Lands Minister and PANDEF member, Chief Nduese Essien, said that though he did not attend the recent meeting, he was optimistic that negotiations were satisfactory to both parties.
“I was not at the meeting between the Acting President and PANDEF but knowing Chief Clark for who he is, he would not have issued the statement calling off the ultimatum if he did not arrive at a satisfactory agreement with the FG,” he told The Next Edition exclusively.
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Chief Essien told The Next Edition categorically: “I am optimistic that the outcome of the meeting was satisfactory to both parties otherwise the action would not have been called-off.”
PANDEF is a rallying point for leaders, elders and traditional rulers as well as youths from the oil-producing region. And the conditions for stability in the Niger Delta that were presented to the acting-president during his fact-finding visit was product of its intervention in the peace-process in the oil-rich region.
Justifying the action which has been withdrawn, the former Commissioner of Information in the Military Administration of General Yakubu Gowon said the group was under pressure from the people of the region to provide evidence of its intervention in the peace process in the Niger Delta. He said leaders, elders and traditional rulers were under constant pressure, either through phone calls or text messages from youths and other groups in the area to justify its intervention.
The relocation of oil companies to their areas of operation in the Niger Delta and resource control formed part of demands for stability in the region. presented during his visit.
