JTF ATTACK CANT STOP MILITANCY – Mr. Tony Oyatedor

This article was first published in the Daily Sun. Friday, June 26, 2009.

Bayelsan-born United States-based motivational speaker and president, of Newstime International Company, Mr. Tony Oyatedor, has declared that the attack on the militants in the Niger Delta by the Joint Military Task Force, was not capable of stopping militancy in the area.

Rather, he said the only sure way of putting an end to the arms struggle in the area was for the leaders of the area, in collaboration with the Federal Government to quickly embark on a process of reconciliation and rehabilitation, just as Gowon did after the bloody civil war.

Oyatedor, who was in Kaduna, as part of his efforts towards concretizing his plans to host a seminar on ‘Religious Crisis in Nigeria’ in all the 36 states of the federation, with the first leg coming up in Abuja on July 16, also told a select group of journalists that leaders from Niger Delta region should be held responsible for the underdevelopment of the area, saying, in the past, the region was provided with opportunities to develop but the leaders never made good use of those opportunities.

‘Look here, the truth is that JFT attack can’t stop militancy in the area, we are like cockroaches, the more you kill, the more we keep coming out. The solution to Niger Delta lies with the Niger Deltans. . We must stop chasing shadows by blaming successive governments for our woes, the blame is with us the Niger Deltans. We were given opportunities in the past to redeem our image, but we lost them. I saw an MD of a big company in Kaduna within five minutes, but you can’t do that where I come from, you will be subject to all manner of protocols.

It is only in Niger Delta that when you ask for something from your fellow brother, he feels you are bothering him.

In Bayelsa, where I come from other tribes get contracts, but you can’t. NDDC gates are locked up against us, how do you people the economy of a region when you cannot empower the people?

“Those guys you call militants are highly talented and intelligent individuals who have no opportunities to explore their potential, yet all kinds of wealth are flowing to the Yorubas, the Igbos, and the Hausas from the same oil in our backyard. I do not blame the federal government, I blame our leaders, they are the problem.

“I say so because, under Obasanjo, we had a Minister of State for Petroleum, same under Yar’adua, but who have they uplifted from poverty to prosperity to better their lives? In Saudi and Kuwait, those who are indigenes of the area where oil is gotten are multimillionaires. But here they want us to sell recharge cards and pure water. Why should Dangote and Otedola become billionaires and not me?

“After the civil war, Gowon did the 3Rs. The Federal Government and the South-South government must do the same now. Look among the militants if any of them is a sharpshooter, enroll him in the army. Without my oil, there can never be an Abuja, so spread the wealth around and there will be peace, once you empower them, militancy will go by the wayside” he added.

“I say so because, under Obasanjo, we had a Minister of State for Petroleum, same under Yar’adua, but who have they uplifted from poverty to prosperity to better their lives? In Saudi and Kuwait, those who are indigenes of the area where oil is gotten are multimillionaires. But here they want us to sell recharge cards and pure water. Why should Dangote and Otedola become billionaires and not me?

On the forthcoming seminar, which according to him, will put an end to the religious crisis in Nigeria, the former broadcaster with Radio Nigeria 2 said he had a divine call to embark on the venture, adding that he had no choice but to obey God’s will, as he had no control over his life.