N/Delta: Atiku insists on dialogue

Bolaji Ogundele, Port Harcourt - 03.06.2009

FORMER Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has insisted that dialogue remained the best option of addressing the conflict in the Niger Delta region against the backdrop of the continued battle between militants and the federal forces.

The former number two citizen stated this when he addressed an Action Congress (AC) delegation led by Prince Tonye Princewill, at his country home in Yola, Adamawa State at the weekend.

The former vice president, who empathised with the trauma of the Niger Delta people, promised to personally intervene, towards restoring sanity and peace in the region.

On his 2011 ambitions, Atiku stated that only Nigerians and his party would determine his faith, disclosing however, that with the likes of Princewill at the helms of affairs, the failures of his generation would be adequately redressed.

Earlier, Princewill had maintained that his distaste for the military option against the Niger Delta people informed his resignation as the Chairman of the FG Vision 2020 Sub Committee on Niger Delta.

He implored Atiku to be a rallying point of leaders who would bear the burden of responsibility to ensure that peace return to the Niger Delta region.

On the state of AC in Rivers, the Kalabari prince disclosed that 45 registered political parties in the state had harmonised in order to forge a united and vibrant opposition.

“I am here with some of the leaders of the opposition in Rivers State to formally congratulate you and express our heartfelt gratitude for this commendable stride of yours in education that we know without a doubt will bring back the much needed credibility to our educational sector,” he said.