A coalition of nine militant groups in the Niger Delta has threatened to dump the ceasefire reached with the Federal Government and resume armed agitation over the alleged refusal of the government to stop paying 13 per cent derivation to the governors of the region.
The coalition, under the aegis of Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA), accused Governors of the region of allegedly diverting the money accruing from the 13 per cent derivation to personal pockets without recourse to the infrastructural development of the oil-producing communities.
The RNDA, in an electronic statement on Friday by its Coordinator, self-styled ‘Major General’ Johnmark Ezonebi, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pay the derivation directly to oil producing communities since the governors had allegedly failed the people of the region.
The coalition lamented that despite the series of complaints and petitions against the state governors concerning the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta, the Federal Government had not deemed it necessary to stop paying the derivation to them.
The RNDA threatened that the alleged decision by Buhari to side with the state governors by refusing to the stop the derivation payment to them would not be tolerated any longer and it might lead to resumption of hostilities in the region.
The coalition said: “We frown at the payment of 13 per cent derivation funds to state governors in the Niger Delta despite protests and suggestions that it be paid to the oil-producing communities in the region in order to improve the direct welfare and infrastructural needs of the oil communities.
