The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Wednesday, said President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate and full implementation of peace measures agreed upon during recent consultations with stakeholders in Ogoniland, Rivers State.
Ribadu, who disclosed this while addressing State House Correspondents after presenting the report of the consultations to the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the directive was aimed at restoring peace and rewriting over three decades of troubled history in the oil-rich region.
According to him, the President mandated the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and all relevant government agencies to carry out the resolutions reached during the engagement with Ogoni leaders and communities.
“In all aspects of our national life, Ogoni is one,” Ribadu said. “Thirty-something years of very unfortunate history is being rewritten now. We carried out dialogue, community engagement, talking with the people, and getting to understand the issues in order to move forward. It has succeeded, like what you have seen today.
“He gave directives to all government agencies and institutions and also directly to our office that we must implement everything that has been agreed, and we have taken it.”
The NSA assured that his office, working with other institutions, was committed to ensuring lasting peace in Ogoniland, adding that the positive results will soon be evident not just in Ogoni, but across the Niger Delta and the country at large.
“We will make sure that we follow strictly his own directives and his instructions. We are going to make sure that peace is restored — already it is — and hopefully you will see the benefit of it not just in Ogoniland but the entire Niger Delta and by extension Nigeria,” he said.
Ribadu commended the President for adopting a leadership style rooted in popular participation, noting that dialogue and inclusiveness are central to correcting past mistakes and charting a new path for Ogoniland.
“It shows the leadership we have today in Nigeria, through engagement, popular participation, and giving everybody the chance to get involved. Out of it, we get solutions, rewrite the entire history, and correct the mistakes of the past,” he added.
The NSA also expressed gratitude to Tinubu for his commitment to the peace process, stressing that the renewed efforts reaffirmed the need to persist and advance the work ahead.
