A civil society organisation has advised the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, to stop the military offensive against members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), urging him to retrace his action and, as a father, embrace the option of dialogue.

Recall that the NDA has, of recent, been engaged in bombing of oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region of the country, as a way to show their grievances over the marginalisation of the region, including neglect of oil-bearing communities and total allocation of oil blocks to people from other geopolitical zones without any considering for Niger Delta indigenes.

The group, Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ, however, described President Buhari as a coward who is not fit to govern the nation for shelving his visit to Ogoni land on the memorable clean-up exercise, transferring the responsibility to his deputy, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who eventually led the Federal Government delegation to the launching of the clean-up programme on Thursday.

Reviewing recent developments in the region in a statement signed by the CHRSJ’s Executive Chairman, Comrade Alimi Sulaiman Adeniyi, on Thursdayand made available to News Express, he noted that brute force would complicate rather than solve the lingering problem. He advised the President Buhari-led Federal Government to embrace the option of dialogue like his predecessors, in solving such a national crisis “which is seriously affecting our economy.”

The rights activist strongly condemned Buhari for directing Nigeria’s security forces to wage a brutal war against the Niger Delta militants while he failed to wage war against the Fulani herdsmen, which hid under the guise of cattle-rearing to attack and kill innocent Nigerians. He accused Buhari of ethnic and religious bigotry.

Comrade Adeniyi has also thrown his weight behind the call for restructuring of the country, in order to solve the problems arising from the forced Amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914, by Sir Lord Luggard, saying: “Only true federalism where there would be promotion of devolution of power among the central and federating units, could bring relative peace and tranquility in the land.”

The Comrade, who doubles as Chairman, Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), advised Buhari to implement the 2014 Confab report. He noted that crisis would continue to engulf the country if we continue with the present structure. The activist advised Buhari “to summon uncommon courage by using his position as President of the nation and father of all to restructure the country without any violence, so as to reduce the perceived

inequality and injustice among the ethnic nationalities in the country to the barest minimum.”

He then lauded former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for being bold enough to re-awake the agitation for true restructuring of the country at this material time for even growth and development of the land.

•Photo shows Comrade Adeniyi.

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