The Niger Delta Avengers have released a strong statement in response to Buhari threatening to deal with them the way he dealt with Boko Haram.
They said he might win the battle, but certainly not the war. In a statement by spokesperson of the militant group, self-styled Brig Gen Mudoch Agbinibo, the NDA said that Buhari should stop bowing to the imperialists when he spoke outside the country and that the break in hostilities by the Avengers should be taken as an opportunity to dialogue with them.
The statement said, “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to put away the garb of a stooge to the imperialists whenever he speaks outside Nigeria. We have listened carefully and halted hostilities in the Niger Delta; we expect a genuine and positive attitude to restructuring and self-determination for every component unit of Nigeria.”
“Dear president, what makes those countries (Japan, Germany, France, USA, Britain etc.) great is the ability of their governments to accommodate internal protestations and conflicts for the greater good of their nations over the years. Please stop presenting your government as pawn to the web of military industrialists’ complex, whenever you leave the shores of Nigeria,”
“Nigeria is not a one-man personal property; we must have these talks every time if this union must continue to work as one. The people of the Niger -Delta have been living here from time immemorial, so we have the secret of the terrain and survival of amphibious operations.”
The Avengers continued, “No amount of troop surge and simulation exercises will make you win the oil war, you can only win battles. You cannot apply the might of the state to restore the people’s confidence in your leadership when you cannot differentiate between genuine demands and being mismanaged by disorganized characters and tribal lords around you in your government that are playing the court jesters role, as well as counting the days that is left in your four years term.
“You can deceive the whole world, but we cannot be deceived by the so glamorized ongoing military operations in the creeks of Ijaw communities in the Delta coded “Operation Crocodile Smiles,
“The world should know that with your pronouncement in Kenya and your attitude to the military buildup in the Niger Delta, it is crystal clear that the military has nothing less than a pre-determined genocide in Niger-Delta and burn more already scared national resources to the pockets of those that have failed to locate the missing Chibok School girls.”
They added, “Conclusively, dear President Muhammadu Buhari, please also tell those foreign nations that you are always at ease talking to, while refusing to listen to Nigerians that your troops are about to carrying out extra judicial killings in the Niger-Delta in violation of article four of the Geneva Convention with “Operation Crocodile Smiles.
“All sane minds know the meaning of crocodile tears, so by code-naming your military operation Crocodile Smiles’ only betrays your motives and attitude to the whole world about the Niger Delta question. The whole world will surely applaud you in The Hague when you leave office! This is not the Nigeria and the world of the 1980s and 1990s under General Sani Abacha and your watch,” the group concluded