The Isourhobo Bombers, a group of Niger Delta militants led by General Titus Deadman, have suspended their planned action, which was to begin on Sunday, in what they described as a spirit of respect and honour for the personalities who weighed in after his group issued a seven-day ultimatum.
The ‘General’ Deadman-led group had threatened to blow up oil and gas pipelines in Urhobo and Isoko lands if the Federal Government “chooses the path of defiance,” promising to shock the nation when the ultimatum expired.
The planned strike, however, has been called off, according to a press statement issued early Friday morning in Ughelli, Delta State, South-South Nigeria, and personally signed by General Deadman.
The critical stakeholders, according to Deadman, were the Interim Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP General Barry Ndiomu (Rtd. ), the Riverine Peace Initiative in the Niger Delta, RPIND, and the Urhobo Progressive Union, UPU, who persuaded the group to suspend its strike in order for the Federal Government to right the wrongs done in the security contract award process.
The Federal Government awarded the pipeline security surveillance contracts of OML 30 and OML34 to Zane Energy, which is owned by Jimmy Omo-Agege, the younger brother of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of Delta Central Senatorial District, a development that ex-militants of Urhobo and Isoko land vehemently opposed. They contended that the ex-militants in that corridor, led by Urhoboland Mayor Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a. Akpodoro, were entitled to the contract rather than a non-agitator.
“We have agreed to call off the ultimatum, we have agreed to return to the round table for negotiation and for peace to reign,” Deadman said.
“The Amnesty boss spoke to us through our trusted mediator His Excellency Akpodoro, Mayor of Urhoboland, at a breath-taken nocturnal meeting with our representative as against the demagoguery posture of the FG to immediately reverse itself and re-award the surveillance contract to us.
“Yes, the UPU, led by Barrister Ese Gam, is one of the bodies we have chosen to trust in this negotiation, and we have chosen to suspend the strike based on their peace efforts; similarly, Comrade Toluwa Mulade’s RPIND. We have listened to you all, and based on the trust and confidence you have placed in the above-mentioned individuals, as well as extensive consultation, the 7-day ultimatum is hereby suspended,” the statement reads in part.
The statement also thanked General Ndiomu (rtd. ), who it said “spoke truth to power in the matter.”
“The Isourhobo group does not pander to threats, profiteering, or racketeering. Their attempt to shortchange us was a far-fetched joke with far too many errors. “We await the outcome of the ongoing peace efforts to see if the MD/GMD duo will allow for peace,” Deadman said, adding that “the act establishing the Amnesty is clear on the award of security surveillance contracts.”
The Isourhobo group is a coalition of ex-militants from the Urhobo and Isoko extractions who are protesting what they call a lopsided pipeline security surveillance contract awarded to some individuals, including a notable politician who is also a Delta State gubernatorial aspirant.
Furthermore, in their suspended ultimatum, the group demanded that FG end its “lip service to stop gas flaring in the Niger Delta region.”
