Written by: Our Reporter
In expressing their grievance over the recent Petroleum Industry Act, Forum for Ethnic Nationalities of Niger Delta has said it has begun legal process for the actualisation of self-determination, claiming that the law by which the Niger Delta region was conscripted into a forced contraption in Nigeria had long expired.
Reason, according to the group, is not unconnected to the proposed 3% earmarked in the Petroleum Industry Act for oil and gas host communities, which the group described as an act of internal colonisation against the Niger Delta region.
Speaking on behalf of the forum, the Convener, Kester Tawari said apart from the 3% allocated to host communities from the operating cost of the oil companies in the PIA, grazing reserves and Water Resources Bill, were other acts of internal colonisation against the region.
Explaining the origin and objectives of the forum, Twari said it was a coalition of ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta bonded by common interest against all forms of injustice, oppression, internal colonisation and hegemonic tendencies of the Nigerian state.
He added that the Forum has begun rallying round the Niger Delta region to set up a directorate of legal services to review all existing laws and set up pushback action for the actualisation of the region’s self-determination.
“We are pleased to announce the successful hosting of our second summit, which was held on Saturday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where far-reaching decisions were taken on PIA, grazing reserves, the obnoxious national water resources bill, among others”, Twari said.
While stressing that he forum will resist usurpation of the region’s unique identities and conscription of its territory into any forced union by neighbours, he added that one of the key resolutions at the summit was to undertake pushback action against oppressive laws by the Nigerian state.
“We are not begging and have never begged, neither were we consulted to be part of Nigeria. If at all, the document by which we were conscripted into this forced contraption has long lapsed.
“After due consultation, we have no option but to seek our own destiny through non-violent and legal means. To that effect, we hereby, with immediate effect, activate the legal process for self-reliance, self-determination,” he added further.
