A new militant group, the Niger Delta Warriors, has issued a 14-day ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
The militant group also called for the removal of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu.
It warned that if the Federal Government failed to sack the duo within the 14 days, youths in the Niger Delta would embark on mass protests in major cities of the country, including Abuja.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Saturday, the spokesperson for the group, General Hart Bradford, said its position was in the light of the fight against corruption by the Federal Government.
Bradford said, “We are giving the President 14 days ultimatum to sack the SGF and the EFCC chairman, otherwise we shall have no option than to carry out mass protest in Abuja and other cities across the country until the SGF and EFCC chairman leave office.”
Bradford also warned the FG to stop denigrating the family of former President Goodluck Jonathan, noting that the probe of Mrs. Jonathan was a direct attack on the entire family.
He cautioned the FG not to be selective in the ongoing fight against corruption, adding that several corrupt personalities were in the President’s cabinet.
He also called for the reinstatement of the sacked six policemen, who were aides to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
“We are in support of the President’s anti-corruption campaign, but the campaign should be carried out without sentiment or witch-hunt against a particular set of people or party, ’’ he added.
Meanwhile, family members of a suspected militant leader, Mr. Felix Miyenminiye, arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Navy have appealed to the Federal Government to release him, adding that he was unlawfully detained.
Felix hails from Ogbudugbudu community, Egbema Kingdom of the Warri-South Local Government Area of Delta State.
He was arrested by men of the Nigerian Navy on August 6, 2016 along Shell Road, Sapele area of the state, for attacks on oil facilities in the region.
The Nigerian Navy also accused him of being a leader of one dreaded militant groups in the region: the Niger Delta Avengers.
In a statement on Saturday by the head of the family, Mr. Morrison Miyenminiye, it explained that the suspect was an ex-Niger Delta agitator who accepted the Presidential Amnesty Programme in 2009 and had since been living a peaceful, private life.
The statement read in part, “The naval officers who arrested him conducted a search immediately in and around his house and found nothing relating to the said frivolous allegation.
“Upon arrest, Miyenminiye was initially taken to Naval Base, Warri, and later transferred to Abuja where he has since been in the custody of the Nigerian Navy. All efforts by the family to reach out to the authorities of the Nigerian Navy to release him has not, in any way, yielded positive result. We therefore appeal to the Delta State Government and the Nigerian Navy authorities to effect the release of Miyenminiye.’’
