A group, Niger Delta Development Force (NDDF), has warned that any attempt to stop revenue allocations of the 23 local government councils in Rivers State through a Federal High Court in Abuja, would be resisted.
The group, which claimed to be ‘freedom fighters and ambassadors’ of the region, warned the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government not to yield to the pressure to escalate the crisis in Rivers through such purported court order.
They alleged that Nyesom Wike, the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), planned to use Abuja courts to seize allocations meant for the 23 LGAs in Rivers State, to satisfy his ambition.
Justin Alabraba, spokesperson of the group, told journalists in Port Harcourt, that they would not hesitate to shut down all oil facilities in the region if the attempt proceeded.
They further threatened to bomb oil facilities and installations in the region should any judge, anywhere in the country, particularly Abuja, use the court system to stop revenue allocations to the 23 LGAs with democratically-elected officials in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court in the land.
They also warned the government not to resurrect the restiveness, agitations and militancy former Presidents Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan fought so hard to end through the amnesty programme.
Alabraba said any planned judgment from any court in Abuja that denied LGAs in Rivers their statutory allocations would be met with heavy and devastating destruction of strategic oil installations across the region.
“Let them try it and see what will happen. We will shut down major oil pipelines and production installations, and it will be the beginning of the worst to come. Nyesom Wike cannot be using Tinubu’s powers to cause problems in Rivers State without any consequences.”
Alabraba said that “leaders of the region have been raising the alarm and cautioning Wike’s enablers to rein him in and halt the assault on the state and the government of Siminalayi Fubara,” warning that those counsels appear to be falling on deaf ears.
Alabraba reminded President Tinubu that any attempt to destabilise Rivers State will spiral into serious destabilisation of the entire Niger Delta, saying that Rivers State is the headquarters of the region.
The group warned that crude oil and gas production in the region will suffer unprecedented suffocation if any untoward judgment is delivered against Rivers or any part thereof, and cautioned judges to be mindful of the consequences of their actions.
