Some delegates from the Niger-Delta at the ongoing National Conference in Abuja are threatening war should the conference refuses to grant them 100 per cent control of the mineral resources in the area.
They have declared that they would be heading back to the creeks to continue with the struggle towards the actualization of their demands.
The development came on the heels of the rejection of a minority report by Ms Annkio Briggs, arising from the submission of the report of the Conference Committee on Devolution of power.
Briggs, who was a member of the committee, had disagreed on the status quo of 13 per cent derivation currently enjoyed by the Niger Delta states and subsequently drafted a minority report.
However, voting during the submission of the document, the conference rejected the report. The status quo position had forced the Niger Delta people to renew the agitation for resource control.
In their latest position, they asked to be given 100 per cent control of the resources to, in turn, pay tax of not more than 50 per cent to the Federal Government.
Briggs, who who addressed newsmen in Abuja, insisted that she was never part of the unanimous decision taken by the committee to stay status quo on derivation, stated that her people would in due time react to the decision.
She said: “The content of the minority report is once again re-emphasising issues, if you like, the position of the Niger Delta that are producing the wealth of this nation and the two other oil producing states in the South-East, and of course, Ondo State.
“The position has always been that we are here to ask for 50 per cent derivation or we have 100 per cent resource control and pay not more than 50 per cent to Federal Government. Whichever way, you look at it, we will be satisfied, I mean the people of Niger Delta that have paid such a huge price for over 50 years in environmental devastation, lack of development and all of that.
“We think it is time that if we looked back to the 1963 Constitution, where other people had 50 per cent of what they were producing.
“And if we say we are here to see how Nigeria is going to move forward on the basis of justice and equity, then I think that we should start with the 50 per cent derivation. Anything short of that, I think, will mean deceiving ourselves.”
“It was just put on the table and suggestion was made that status quo should be allowed, that is 13 percent should be maintained. The issue of whether it should go up or come down was never discussed and so, I am amazed to hear there is a claim that it was unanimous.
“Well, it was, you can take it that the majority had agreed and I am the lone voice. You can read like that. Bearing that in mind, I think I reserve the right on behalf of my people to state clearly that that was the case.”
She also stated that she was not in any way perturbed by the rejection of the report.
“Well, that is democracy. I have exercise my democratic right by standing up for what I believe in on behalf of my people and my region. And the chairman of the conference seem to have done so too. But let us not in any shape or form think that this is the end of the matter. First of all, the Niger-Delta people will have to have their own reaction on this.
“The floor will also discuss the content of the report of the Devolution of Power and the issue of 13 percent status quo remaining. So, I am not in any way moved by it. But it shows clearly that in many cases the majority do actually oppress the minority,” she said.
Also speaking, Dr. Isaac Osuka, Civil Society Delegate from the south south geopolitical zone faulted the report of Devolution of power committee, saying that there was an inherent lie in the report.
He warned that the conference would be setting a dangerous precedent by not accepting the minority report.
Osuka added that the scores would be settled at the creeks of the Niger-delta.
He said: “We are setting a very dangerous precedent. This is not the first confab or conference that we have had in this country and at every case in the past, we have always had minority. In fact, the land use act that is a subject of discussion today is a product of minority report in previous conferences.
“But we have a situation where those representing the interest of major ethnic groups here including the chairman of the conference who have a vested northern agenda have decided that they have to shoot down the minority report.
“Look, the way things have been going on the conference, anything there is contentious issue, the chairman will always say, let’s hold on a minute. Let’s go back, there is a group of elders that I will refer to to address this matter. We will come back to plenary to make sure that everything is acceptable to us. In this case, for the first time, the chairman was in a hurry to shoot down this matter showing that he came with clear instruction from whosoever he is taking instructions from; from his ethnic nationality to shoot down this ethnic minority report.
“And we have to make it clear that we cannot make progress in this country if we continue that way. The idea that majority groups can shoot down views of the minority cannot continue to hold. This is not 50 years ago.
“ This is not 30 years ago. This is a new era. And let us be very clear that if this conference does not understand the need to address the fundamental issues, we will take this battle to the creeks. We will take this battle to wherever we come from and address it at that level”, he stated.
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