Buhari and Niger Delta: Futility of turnaround motion

The continued inanity of the people of Niger Delta has to be radically addressed quickly because they are becoming irreparably disfigured in their mindsets as expressed in some of the imprudent ways they keep portraying themselves.
Is it not laughable that we are falling on each other scrambling for whether or not to participate at the federal government’s proposed regional summit, dialogue or whatever to discuss the issues at the crux of the agitation in the region?
Shamelessly, those that call themselves leaders of the Niger Delta are even amenable to what they described as a “credible dialogue process between the Federal Government, the oil companies and the accredited and authorised representatives of the region.”
Let us ask: Is President Muhammadu Buhari even ready for sincere talk/dialogue on this matter? His body language and expressed mindset show the contrary. Recall that he reportedly said during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 71st edition of the UN General Assembly, in New York that: “We are making definite progress on how many factions of the militant groups exist, their leadership and operational basis.
In his Independence speech, Buhari deliberately described the Niger Delta militants as “thugs.” Is that the type of language you use on  peace missions?
Buhari may be a good man but the problem is that his presidency is too militarised. Almost everybody advising him on key national challenges is either retired soldier or retired secret service personnel or myopic clannish warlords. Callous comments by the president’s men including the speech writer(s) keep reinforcing the public perception that this government is just a modified “command and control” one.
Does anybody in the Niger Delta still doubt that the federal government is only interested in continued access to oil flow from the region? It’s only someone who is brain-dead that does not know that the issues confronting the Niger Delta and at the core of the agitation do not require any more sterile academic exercise in the name of summit or dialogue with a self-serving cliques.
Why is it that no government had ever bothered to implement the recommendations on the Niger Delta? President Yar’adua’s remarkable efforts at granting amnesty only ended up creating more powerful and better-informed agitators.
When Buhari’s crocodile started smiling in the Niger Delta, that would have been the best time for the Julius Berger caterpillars to have rolled- in massively into different sections of the region doing roads, bridges, water scheme, rural electrification etc. At least the “smiling crocodile” would have provided cover for any militant who may want to disrupt work on site. However, this did not happen. Now the crocodiles are no longer smiling rather they are now in “tears,” another repeat of same old mistakes of past administrations.
There is a way you insistently ask somebody to go to hell that he actually decides to embark on the trip. That is the present situation between the Presidency and the people of Niger Delta.
Mr President, do not even bother meeting/dialoguing or negotiating with anybody whether militants, council of elders or self-appointed representatives because all that would be a waste of time and energy. This is what you should do to get the desired results: Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is an annex of the Presidency and this extended office of the president embarked on what could fairly be described as a sincere and comprehensive facts finding mission that ultimately culminated in the development of a document called “Niger Delta Development Master Plan.” Where is this all –important document?
There is nothing anybody is going to discuss or suggest in any meeting that was not in this document.
Buhari may also need to be reminded that the federal government under the Umaru Yar’adua set up a 45-man Presidential Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, under the chairmanship of Ledum Mitee, to collate and align all the various Reports on the Niger Delta and proffer a permanent solution to the lingering Niger Delta crisis.
The report of the technical committee did well to review all previous reports on the Niger Delta, including the Niger Delta Master Plan, Willinks Reports (1958), Belgore (1992), Etiebet (1994), Vision 2020 (1996), United Nations (1997), Popoola (1998) Ogomudia (2001), Presidential Panel on National Security (2003), Niki Tobi (2005) and
that of the Coastal States of the Niger Delta .
What stops the Mitee-led Presidential Technical Committee Report from being endorsed by way of a Government White Paper?
So, what other talks are we clamouring? The fact remains that the region has been criminally oppressed, exploited and neglected for over five decades and no amount of blaming Jonathan’s government is going to change the perception of the people that they have been grossly maltreated. We voted for change and change we must have by the grace of the Almighty God.