Apex Niger-Delta Group Banks On Attah-led Committee For Peace In Rivers

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) is optimistic its Peace and Reconciliation Committee headed by former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Obong Victor Attah, will resolve the political crisis rocking Rivers State and other parts of the South-South geo-political region.

PANDEF however urged government at all levels, individuals and organisations to work in unison with it to achieve the target of bringing lasting peace in the region.

The apex regional body had at its special general assembly in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on October 24, 2024, constituted a high level Peace and Reconciliation Committee headed by Attah, who is also co-chairman of PANDEF Board of Trustees (BoT).

Rivers State has been engulfed in a political crisis following the battle between Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, over control of state’s political structure under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, national spokesman of PANDEF, Chief Dr. Obiuwevbi Christopher Ominimini, yesterday assured that the reconciliation committee will mediate and resolve all political crises in the region.

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Ominimini in a statement said PANDEF, under the national chairmanship of diplomat and scholar, Amb. Dr. Godknows Igali, is “promising that the committee will meditate on and resolve all lingering political crises in various states of the South-South geopolitical zone.”

Other members of the High level Peace and  Reconciliation Committee are  Senator Emmanuel Ibok-Essien (Akwa-Ibom and immediate past national chairman, PANDEF); former Senate Whip, Senator Rowland Owie;  Senator Stella Omu (Delta); former Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral G. John-Jonah; former military Governor of Kwara State, H. E. Pam Ogar (Cross-River); and Rt. Hon. Dr. Stella Dorgu (Bayelsa).

Ominimini added, “We call on the government at all levels, individuals and organizations to work in unison with PANDEF with a view to achieving the target of bringing lasting peace to the Niger Delta as no stone will be left unturned, especially as all will be given full listening ears to underpin the remote and immediate causes of the crisis and at the end of the assignment, we shall all sing “Niger Delta Region, we hail thee, our own dear native land”, though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood, we stand.

“The leadership of PANDEF has assured the South-South geo-political zone and all Nigerians in general that, at the end of the assignment of the High Level Peace and Reconciliation Committee that has been set up to mediate and resolve the lingering crisis in the area, all vexing issues would be nipped in the bud,” Ominimini said.