N’Deltans shun protest as catholic bishops sue for caution

The people of the Niger Delta have disassociated themselves from the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest across the country. Following a recent stakeholders’ meeting of representatives of Niger Delta ethnic groups, women and youths organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt, they resolved that the Niger Deltans would not participate in the protest.

In a statement issued by Prof. Godini Gabriel Dara, the decision was based on the fact that none of the 10 demands put forward by the protesters covers substantial interests of the Niger Delta region.

Secondly, he said, all the self-determination struggles that the Niger Delta has waged in 20 years did not receive support from other regions.  He said: “It is also reasoned by the Niger Delta that the Bola Tinubu government, regardless of its wrong-headed and poverty-inducing policies, is likely to favour the region more than those of previous administrations.”

MEANWHILE, the Catholic Bishops of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, comprising the Archdiocese of Onitsha, dioceses of Enugu, Abakaliki, Awka, Nsukka, Awgu, Ekwulobia and Aguleri have sued for caution to prevent unmanageable chaos that could arise from such protest.

Though they agreed that they had the right to protest, given the prevailing difficult situation in the country, the bishops said that protesters should do it without hurting other Nigerians or destroying valuable things.