Niger Delta Avengers express readiness to dialogue with FG, gives peace conditions

The Niger Delta Avengers, the group responsible for renewed insurgency in Nigeria’s oil rich region, has expressed readiness for a peace deal with the federal government.

The group, in a statement posted on its website late Saturday, said its disposition to dialogue and peace deal with government was conditional. Among its condition was multi-side engagement of relevant actors, restructuring Nigeria, and a cessation of military offensive in the region.

“We are going to support any collective/negotiation team emerging from the Chief (Dr.) Papa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark Niger Delta elders and genuine stakeholders conference to engage with the federal government of Nigeria, representatives from the home countries of all multinational Oil Corporations and neutral international mediators,” the group said.

Such negotiation should be “focused on achieving the short, medium and long term frameworks and objectives to de-escalating conflicts in the Niger Delta,” the group said in the statement by its spokesperson, Mudoch Agbinibo.

The Avengers has carried out attacks on oil and gas installations, devastating Nigeria’s output and revenue.

The group emerged months after former President Goodluck Jonathan lost last year’s re-election bid, prompting allegations the group has his support.

It has demanded a sovereign Niger Delta. On Thursday, it reaffirmed its vow to declare independence from Nigeria on October 1, a threat observers believe was not practicable.

In Saturday’s statement, the militant group suggested the proposed dialogue had an easy task as previous conferences and reports enunciated how to restructure Nigeria.