Written by Gbola Subair, Abuja
A group of Niger Delta militants, on Monday, threatened retaliation against the Boko Haram sect if it refused to stop its violent activities within 14 days.
The Ohanaeze Indigbo has also told the Boko Haram sect to stop all its violent activities, saying enough is enough.
The Ijaw militants, under the aegis of a little known Ijaw Joint Revolutionary Council, in a statement posted on the internet on Monday and signed by four of its leaders, warned that the effects of the violent activities of Boko Haram would not "skip the homes and interests of their promoters, active and passive."
The statement was signed by "General" Okin Sele (Bazoka Boys of Niger Delta), "General" Elvis Tenten (Water-force of Izon land), "General" Kurumah (The Strike Force of Izon land), and "General" Abu Mic (Barkoromo Ogbo of Niger Delta).
The statement decried what it called deliberate acts of violence targeted at discrediting President Goodluck Jonathan, but added that the nation stood to gain a lot if peace was allowed to reign.
It noted what it described as "the present Boko Haram merciless bombing in the country without verifiable developmental agitation," and demanded that the continuous killings in the North "should stop forthwith." They stressed that it was not possible "to run Nigeria by sectarian dictation."
"In the event of a failed state," the statement warned, "all those Nigerians pretending to possess two heads, and currently cruising around in limousines and jetting about the globe will be grounded. Why can't we live in peace?"
The group added that if peace was rejected as a basis for national cohesion, "why can't we go our separate ways by amicable agreement? Boko Haram may have its origins from wherever it likes. Its wild excesses are essentially a reaction to the presidential ascendancy of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. It has its sponsors and financiers. If we are actually one Nigeria, why won't we allow other geopolitical zones to rule the country?
"Saudi Arabia is the centre of the Islamic faith, yet, there was not even a single killing of Christian faithful in that country. Why all these killings of National Youth Service Corps members and other innocent citizens in reaction to Goodluck Jonathan's presidential victory?," the statement queried.
The group warned that "if (there are)further killings by Boko Haram as a result of Goodluck Jonathan's presidency in the country within 14 days of this statement," they would not hesitate to take very drastic action from the Niger Delta against the interests of backers of Boko Haram. "If they don't want peace we will meet them wherever they are. This is our message," they said.
"The emergence of the notorious Boko Haram was premeditated and designed to blackmail and undermine the authority of President Jonathan. The sect is suspected to be affiliated with the Yemeni version of al-Qaeda. We urge the president to invoke his powers as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and give his security chiefs an ultimatum within which to use every strategy to dislodge the notorious Boko Haram and other perpetrators of attack on the Nigerian people.
"The truth is that no dispensation will ever be good in Nigeria except from Muslim North. The release of Boko Haram co-founder, Alhaji Ali Tishau, by the police on request by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and later vanished from detention is a clear demonstration that the North is out to fight the president with the Islamic sect. Enough is enough with this sect to worry Mr. President," the group declared.
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has urged members of the Boko Haram sect to sheathe their swords and table whatever grievances they might have at the appropriate quarters.
Chairman of Ohanaeze, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, Mr Nwabueze Obi, made the call in Abuja, on Monday, at a press conference held to commemorate the 2011 Igbo Day.
Obi, who said hunger and social injustice were some of the factors that might make people to take arms against their country, stressed that these gross injustices were a time bomb that could lead to an explosive situation.
The Ohanaeze chairman lamented that instead of people making sacrifice for one another for the progress of the nation, the poor were being impoverished further by the affluent.
While alleging gross marginalisation of the Indigbo, the Ohanaeze chairman said 41years after the Nigerian civil war, the people were not occupying their rightful positions in the scheme of things in the country.
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