The restiveness in the Niger Delta worsened Wednesday with the emergence of another militant group, Red Egbesu Water Lions, demanding the release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and the former National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.).

The group in a statement by its Coordinator, General Torunanawei Latei, on Wednesday, threatened that if its demands were not met within seven days, it would team up with the Niger Delta Avengers to shut down oil and gas production in the Niger Delta.

It also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to defreeze the bank accounts of ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, and called for the unconditional and immediate payment to victims of the Bonga Oil Spill and Chevron gas explosion in Koluama, Bayelsa State.

While decrying the alleged lawlessness of the Buhari-led federal government, the Ijaw group argued that the government was becoming notorious for deliberate disobedience to court orders.

It said, “It is extremely important to note that the engine room of the national interest is the executive obedience to court orders, protection and preservation of citizens’ constitutional liberties.

“Justification of executive disobedience to court orders as a protection of national interest is abominable.

“This is a deliberate ploy to bend the law and suspend the 1999 Constitution. We ask; does President Muhammadu Buhari have any legal capacity to declare anyone as a criminal? Disobedience to court orders is an act of executive rascality in the country,” the group contended.

•Excerpted from a THISDAY report. Photo shows Tompolo.

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