A Niger Delta activist and the national convener of the Niger Delta Self-Determination Movement (NDSDM), Ms. Annkio Briggs, has vowed that whether President Goodluck Jonathan get re-elected or not, the people of the Niger Delta have resolved to embark on agitation for the ownership of oil resources this year.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Briggs revealed that the country will definitely see agitation from the South-South region very soon.
“I want Nigerians to understand that the Niger Delta people have decided that whether Jonathan is the president or not the president in 2015 is no longer an issue for us because we have to support him. Now whether he is the president or not the president, come 2015 Niger Delta will start agitating for the ownership of the oil even if everybody does not do it, some of us are going to do it and we are going to do it until we get what we want. Other countries are practicing ownership, we must practice ownership.
“The land Niger Delta belongs to me and not you. You come from a particular region and I cannot claim North-East. Why is everybody else claiming Niger Delta? Let us be realistic, I come from Niger Delta, it is my place, therefore what is there is mine. But the Constitution of the 1999 says it is not, fine, I don’t have to accept it, we don’t have to accept it,” she said.
Speaking further on agitation of ownership, Ms. Briggs explained that: “We will see agitation from the Niger Delta. I am speaking to you as the national convener of the Niger Delta Self-Determination Movement, our project as we see it today is that we are going to use every legal means available both within and outside.
“We considered the oil companies and the Federal Government of Nigeria that are operating in the Niger Delta as people that are operating without our bonafide consent. It doesn’t mean that by the constitution they don’t have right to operate, they do but we are saying that we do not accept that they have such right. So we will pursue the legal angle. We want the Constitution to be interpreted and when it is interpreted, we want to see whether that Constitution is in our favour or not, if it is not in our favour we want to change it in our favour,” she added.
