Militancy only feeds few elements in N’Delta – Sunny Ofehe

A renowned Netherland based environmental rights activist, Mr Sunny Ofehe, on Thursday, said there was no time militancy benefited or better the lots of the oil-rich Niger Delta people, saying that only a few elements use such means to enrich themselves at the detriment of the entire region.

Ofehe, in a statement mailed to our correspondent from his base, noted that the renewed militancy in the region was unnecessary as the resultant effect through environmental degradation would hurt even unborn children.

The activist, who was kidnapped along five other Dutch nationals including this reporter in 2013 along Dodo Rivers in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, posited that dialogue was the only means to bring lasting peace and development to the region.

According to him, militancy has always represented the interest of a few element in the region who he said seek government recognition through militancy to the detriment of the core problems of the region.
He opined that aggrieved persons from the region rise to prominence by cradling on the age-long under development of the region with feeling for the ordinary suffering people of the region who die in abject poverty.

The statement read, “This act of militancy represents the interest of a very few elements whose identities are still unknown. All that the people of the region want is a government that can deliver on policies that will eradicate poverty and provide daily necessities for everyone.

“What I am skeptic about is that the programme will not last forever as you know, what happens if the program ends and the stipend to the youths is stopped?”

Ofehe, who hails from Delta State, stressed that the utmost need of the region was massive infrastructural development and policies that would create jobs for the youths.
He added that resorting to violent agitation was unnecessary as event of the past only brought more sorrow, pains and tribulation to already sufferings of the people.

Ofehe urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to put machinery in place to fast-track the development of the region, but pointed out that “we lost a great opportunity to address the problems that plagued the Niger Delta region” under former President Goodluck Jonathan.