Cynthia Whyte, the spokesperson of the Joint Revolutionary Council, JRC, a defunct Niger Delta militant group has written to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari explaining to him why his “pursuit of peace” in the Niger Delta has failed, thus far.
In an e-mail to The Trent on Monday, December 26, 2016, Ms. Whyte observed that the Buhari administration has “shown a preference to dialogue with conmen, conflict entrepreneurs, drivers of extortionist enterprises and wholesale blackmailers”.
She also suggested that a round-table wasn’t always necessary for peace and two chairs sometimes works.
The former militant also said insisted that MEND, was dead, an assertion that she made in an exclusive interview with The Trent earlier this year. “There is nothing like MEND. MEND is dead. MEND promoters accepted amnesty and gave up violence,” she told our newspaper in August, 2016.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta was the leading militant group that operated in the troubled oil-rich region in the first decade of the 21st century,
Read the entire open letter below:
Dear Mr President,
We receive your message of a willingness to talk to agitating units within the Niger Delta struggle with good faith. However, we are burdened by the fact that in the past few month, or years of your administration, certain agents within your administration have shown a preference to dialogue with conmen, conflict entrepreneurs, drivers of extortionist enterprises and wholesale blackmailers. It is for this reason that your pursuit of peace has failed.
If you truly seek peace with the Niger Delta, then peace shall come.
This is the official email address of the Joint Revolutionary Council. This is the same email address we have used since 2005. We do not speak for the Avengers. We do not speak for MEND. MEND is dead.
We are just a few people who speak for ourselves but you may come to see that our word may just be our bond. We do not need a roundtable. Sometimes, just two chairs are enough.
Peace is possible even though negotiable. The end of the end might just be about to begin.
Cynthia Whyte.
Joint Revolutionary Council
