By Patrick Andrew
Abuja
A Non Governmental Organisation- the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ) has cautioned the federal government against further heating up the Niger Delta by imposing provocative political decisions on the region.
The National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, said yesterday that the recent decision to impose Python Dance 2 and Crocodile Smile 2 were meant to provoke the already tensed up region stressing that the resort to military show of raw power was political rather than the needed security approach to assuage the increasing agitation in the South South and South East regions.
According to the group, “the primary purpose of government shall be the security and welfare of the people as enshrined in section 14 (2) (b) of the Nigerian constitution. Therefore, it is imperative that government pursues this responsibility to the citizenry by reversing any trend that seems to negate our constitution”, he said stressing that using on the military to handle a civil problem was an abuse of the constitution.
Mulade noted that deliberately playing dirty politics by attempting to suppress people’s constitutional right to express themselves could further create unnecessary tension in the region adding that studies have shown that increased insecurity in the Niger Delta often arose from induced communal tensions, violence, and military action on hapless persons.
“There was rise in conflict risk and violence in the first quarter of 2017 as against the downward trend in quarter 3 and 4 of 2016”, he said adding that the growing tension that necessitated agitation for restructuring was largely due to growing incidences of underdevelopment and environmental degradation.
“The recent uprising of political issues including calls for restructuring and referendum by the Indigenous People of Biafra by led by Nnamdi Kanu, the subsequent military show of power through operation Python Dance 2 and Crocodile Smile 2, the menace of insurgency by Boko Haram, to the resource-based development issues in the Niger Delta and civil unrests in some African states should give all of us cause for concern”, he said noting that the federal government may have unwittingly created a fertile ground for conflict.
The group appealed to the people to be patient even as it cautioned regional and other agitators to adopt non-violent approaches to actualise their demands.
He also used the occasion to announce the 8th edition of the annual 2-day conference tagged Edo 2017 with the theme; Sustainable Security and Environment in the Niger Delta: A key to Nigeria Development” scheduled for Benin City from November 7.
