President Buhari Begs Niger Delta Avengers To Halt Attacks

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with Niger Delta militants in the name of God to have a change of heart and down their weapons and embrace dialogue with the government as a means of resolving the region's socio- economic woes.

Over recent months, Niger Delta militants have taken up arms again, blowing up oil pipelines and installations, cutting the nation's crude oil output to 1.4m barrels a day from 2.2m barrels. Initially, the government tried to use force to suppress the uprising but when that failed, it agreed to enter into dialogue and set up a committee to initiate talks.

Several of the militants groups like the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), however, have shunned the government's peace talks, saying they will not participate in them.

Yesterday, President Buhari went spiritual, pleading with them in God’s name to have a change of heart over their destruction of oil and gas installations in the region.

Yesterday, President Buhari, who stated that there were many factions of the Niger Delta militants, also said that the groups were armed with sophisticated weapons and that the economy was on its knees following the bombing of gas pipelines.

He also pleaded with friends and associates of the militants to reach out to them for, stressing that Nigerians do not have any other country to call their own other than Nigeria.

 President Buhari added: “I honestly don’t know how many factions of the militants there are in the Niger Delta compared to the north east where you have only the Boko Haram The technology being deployed by the militants to destroy oil installations is high tech, as the way they can go on high seas and international waters and target oil installations is a national problem, which is affecting development.

“No insurance company will want to insure installations that will end up being blown up and no banks will want to finance such installations. Those of you who have friends among the leadership or even the militants themselves should plead with them in the name of God Almighty to take it easy.

" He acknowledged the need to create employment and stabilise the economy among other things. According to President Buhari, Nigeria is in a very difficult time, so the country has to organise