Group seeks independence of Niger Delta

Following the sack order issued by a coalition of northern youths, a group, Rondel Solidarity Movement (RSM),  has been formed to call for the independence of the Niger Delta people.

The group which described itself as an aggressive but non-violent umbrella body for all intellectuals, groups and associations in the Niger Delta Region, said it had resolved to  evacuate southerners from ‘their Nigeria’ and search for their own country.

In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Efe Edet-Tamuno, the group said:

“We have, after over 6 hours of a well attended meeting held at a secret location in Rivers State, met and made Resolutions which will be remembered as The Rondel Covenant.

“The Resolutions are in response to the threat by lazy and ignorant Arewa Youths to divide and destroy Nigeria (disguising as evicting the Igbos – an injury to any Southerner is an injury to all Southerners – the days of divide and conquer has ended).”

The group said what informed its action was the  alleged obvious foot dragging of the Nigerian government over the issue with no one arrested, tried or jailed “despite the fact that the treasonable felons are well known and they are all not hiding”.

The statement of the group reads in part:

“We hereby make the following declarations and resolve as follows:

“1. That all the intellectuals, groups and associations in the Niger Delta should fuse into Rondel Solidarity Movement and our demands shift from Resource Control to Independence Movement

“2. That in our country, we shall return power to the true owners of the lands, the monarchs, in English-style power sharing between the Royals and the people in a Parliamentary system.

“3. That we demand Independence for Rondel from Nigeria from 2018.

“4. That Rondel comprises all the six states in the present South-South of Nigeria.

“5. That Rondel is an acronym derived from the Region of Niger Delta, later Republic of Niger Delta, if the Arewa groups make good their threats.

“6. That Rondel is our name, Rondish will be our Language and Rondland shall be our capital city. Details of these, including the locations of Rondland, shall be in our October 1 book.

“7. That no inch of Rondel in the six states of Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Edo, and Rivers States shall ever be ceded to any other people or nation for any reason whatsoever and all those people drawing maps up and down are hereby warned to desist forthwith or risk our disproportionate vengeance including present and future social and economic sanctions.

“8. That our motivations for decision to leave Nigeria are first President Buhari’s treatment of our people as 5%, Northerner’s nearly exclusive illegal and immoral occupation of our oil wells destroying our ecosystems and the eviction notice by Arewa Youths with tacit support of government and the Arewa leaders.

“9. That since that treasonable order by Arewa youths, and because no one was arrested, tried and convicted for the high treason, the same matter for which Nnamdi Kalu was imprisoned for about two years, we no longer have faith in one indissoluble Nigeria.

“That we state emphatically and without equivocation, that in the likely event of the disintegration of Nigeria, we have resolved to live together in the ‘Region of Niger Delta’, which we henceforth now wish to call RONDEL.

“That we wish henceforth, as a people, to be known and addressed as Rondelites and our languages to be known as dialects of Rondish, which shall be our Official Language, side by side English.

“That our capital city shall be a portion carved out of an existing area in the Region of Niger Delta and to be renamed Rondland.

“Details, including out national anthem, flag, coat of arms and interim Constitution, will be published in our book, “RONDEL MANIFESTO: The Making of a Nation” to be released on October 1, 2017”.