According to Punch Newspaper, some community and militant groups in Delta State have warned that they will not accept the exclusion of the Niger Delta people in the allocation of oil blocks in Nigeria. Sunday Punch reported that a source close to one of the interest groups stated that they are working on taking a stand on how the people of the region will want the oil blocks allocated following President Goodluck Jonathan’s loss of the March 28 presidential election.
Several meetings have reportedly been held and more meetings would still hold to arrive at a common position, as renewal of the oil block licences will be due soon.
He said, “You can see how they voted during the election. Every ethnic group voted for their own. But they want to come back to the Niger Delta to take away our resources without even recognising that we should be involved in the allocations.
“Let them come. We are waiting for them,” the source said.
The report further stated that the recent destruction of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta area was just a warning signal to the authorities that the people would not be ready to take things lightly anymore.
“You can see that most of the oil block licences come from the North and other parts of the country. But when it came to voting, they mobilised their people against our son,” he added.
