Niger Delta women seek America, Britain’s intervention

Woman advocating for the development of Niger Delta, under the aegis of Wailing Women of the Niger Delta (WWND), has written to the American and British embassies in Nigeria, petitioning the Federal Government over its breach of the Act that set up the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

A copy of the letter, which was issued to newsmen in Port Harcourt, and signed by its coordinator, Odighonin Adienbo, Sunday, noted that the group was no longer at ease with the government’s continued silence over the sole administration of the agency, adding that the people of the region had been taken “for granted” for too long.

The women asked the embassies to activate their diplomatic structures to prevail on the government to comply with and enforce the NDDC Act by inaugurating the Board of the NDDC.

The letter reads in part: “The international and diplomatic community owe a great duty to ensure that government agents, who are sabotaging the peace and development of the Niger Delta today and raping the Commission, are brought under necessary consequences for their brazen injustice and malfeasance.

“As women, we are not in doubt that you have made efforts to promote the Niger Delta interest but we believe our region may have been sold out by self-made political merchants who are bent on destroying and embezzling the true essence and proceeds of our age-long struggle for justice, peace, fairness, and development.”

The group threatened to begin a “naked” protest, as they demanded the diplomatic community to take emergency international action and prevail on the Federal Government to enforce the Act establishing the NDDC.

“We shall begin naked women protest to occupy lawfully the various government institutions should you fail to take necessary actions with visible and practical effect to fight for our people at this time so that our people can enjoy the full purpose of its establishment as of right,” they threatened. (The Guardian)