Warnings from the United States and Britain was responsible for President
Mohammadu Buhari’s cancellation of his well-publicized trip to Ogoni land,
Rivers State, State Department sources confirmed to Pointblanknews.com.
Buhari’s visit to Ogoni was aimed at launching the commencement of the
clean-up of Ogoni land, devastated by over 50 years of oil exploration.
Pointblanknews.com sources confirmed that following threat assessment and
analysis conducted, the U.S and British Government immediately sent out an
intelligence to the Nigerian Government, requesting that the President shelve his
visit to the volatile Niger Delta region, citing possible danger.
It was learnt that soon as the foreign intelligence was passed on to President
Buhari, he immediately canceled the Ogoni trip and asked Vice President
Oshinbajo to represent him instead.
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that Buhari is considered an “enemy of the
Delta region.”
Since after winning the Presidential elections, foreign think-thank
organizations such as Council for Foreign Relations, CFR, Institute
Francais de Relations Internationales, IFRI, based in Paris have expressed
worries over possible regrouping of the Niger Delta Militants who believe
the emergence of President Buhari denied a son of the region the
opportunity to win a second term elections.
A member of the new militant group had told IBTimes UK that President
Buhari would be signing his death warrant if he stepped into Ogoniland.
Presidential handlers, Pointblanknews.com gathered, are taking the threat
to the life of the president seriously. The initial plan was to leak the
information that the vice president would go in Buhari’s place as a decoy
to disarm the vigilance of the militants while the president actually goes
to conduct a quick launch of the oil spill clean-up exercise and swiftly
return to Abuja.
“Buhari is trying to visit Ogoniland, but he should sign his death warrant
before coming to Port Harcourt or try to visit any state of the Niger
Delta community, Biafra land,” the suspected NDA member said during the
phone call.
“We are starting a dance he cannot finish. We shall dance like vultures.
He [Buhari] has dared to wake a sleeping lion, but I promise him this time
around if he tries to step his foot in any community of the Niger Delta,
in Biafraland, he will not go back alive. Any Niger Deltan who will try to
walk with Buhari shall also go to his grave that day. This is our
assurance.”
Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, Nigeria’s director of Defence
Information, had boasted to IBTimes UK the government does not perceive
NDA as a threat. “Niger Delta is part of Nigeria and will remain part of
Nigeria for life. Buhari is the president, he is number one, he can go
anywhere he
wants,” he said.
“[The] NDA are just criminals and we are treating them as criminals. We
are not being intimidated, we remain focused to ensure security in the
country and that Nigeria remains one. Nobody is above the interest of the
country,” he continued.
“No nation can tolerate an individual group causing havoc and advocating
for separation. There are measures in our constitution to ensure this will
not happen. We cannot and will not tolerate what these people are doing.
In the long run, they will surely pay for they have done.”
