Concerned stakeholders have fingered aides of President Muhammadu Buhari from the Niger Delta region as the persons frustrating the Federal Government’s proposed dialogue with the rampaging Niger Delta Avengers.

The stakeholders comprising prominent elders and traditional rulers in Bayelsa State alleged on Saturday that the Buhari’s aides were engaged in deceit and insincerity and singing discordant tunes on the process for the dialogue.

Although the elders and monarchs lauded the President’s decision to personally lead the proposed jaw-jaw, they claimed the development had created mistrust between the militant youths and the Federal Government.

The position of the concerned elders and monarchs, under the auspices of Bayelsa Elders for Progress, Peace and Good Governance, led by their Coordinator, Chief Ayibatonye Goodnews, and the Secretary, Chief Lucky Ebifaghe, was contained in an open letter to the President.

According to them, the recent activities of key aides from the region such as Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Brig-Gen Paul Boroh (rtd), the Co-ordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, were reportedly hindering the peace efforts of the Federal Government.

They called on Buhari to investigate the genuineness of purported meetings held between Boroh and Kachikwu.

“How can they claim to have met stakeholders and the militant attacks continue? They met some fake militants and stakeholders and wasted scarce resources of the Federal Government on jamboree.

“The amnesty boss, who claimed to have relocated to the creeks of the region, was only sighted in a certain community holding clandestine meetings without solution to the continued bombing of the oil and gas facilities.

“Buhari should investigate the money expended on the jamboree without result. We insist that the Presidential Amnesty Office should be probed following the alleged meeting with fake Avengers,” they stated.

They posited that the lack of knowledge of the fundamental issues of the region and wrong signals sent to the militants in the creeks were destabilising the needed peace process.

The elders and traditional rulers alleged that many of the purported stakeholders had made money from the self-created bazaar in the region.

They insisted that the genuine Niger Delta stakeholders should be consulted for sustainable peace in the region. (Independent)

•Photo shows President Buhari.

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