A prominent leader of the Niger Delta and businessman, Senior High Chief Bibopere Ajube, has played host to former Niger Delta warlords, also known as the ‘Big 4’, over peace and development in the region.
The meeting was a continuation of an earlier meeting held in Rivers State to discuss salient issues of concern to the Niger Delta and the nation at large.
Addressing journalists on behalf of other leaders at the end of the meeting, Chief Ben Ebikabowei, also known as Boyloaf, affirmed their commitment to peace in the Niger Delta and economic interest of Nigeria at large.
The ex-agitators also said, “the current oil production output of the nation can still be improved upon.
“We understand the present realities facing the country and are, therefore, committed to the peace and progress of the Niger Delta region and the nation at large.”
A member of the meeting, while explaining that the parley was a strategic peace effort, said: “As far as l am concerned, this meeting owes its primary motivation to the need for peace and stability in the Niger Delta.
“It is a meeting of patriots united by a common purpose.
“This is not the first meeting and it probably might not be the last. It is a strategic peace entrenchment process,” an ex-agitator who also attended the meeting said.
He added that, “l strongly believe that the Niger Delta region is one and we belong to one Nigeria.
“What affects one person equally affects the other. This sense of oneness is very important. That is why we must guard against greed, and self-centredness. No sacrifice is too much for the sake of peace.
“We must be genuinely concerned about the development of our region and the country generally, and the kind of development that our people have been craving cannot happen in an atmosphere of chaos.
“That is why this kind of meeting has to be encouraged,” he stated.
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