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* Obasanjo invites Ijaw leader, Clark to Abuja

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WARRI- THE Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) rejected, yesterday, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s latest initiative on the  development of the region. However, in a surprise move, President Obasanjo, yesterday, invited Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to Abuja on matters believed not to  be unconnected with the strong position of the Ijaw.

The president, Tuesday,  unveiled a multi-billion naira initiative to create jobs and build infrastructures in the region in a bid to sterm violence.

But reacting yesterday, MEND dismissed the plan and threatened a rapid return to violence. “We wish to restate our warnings to oil companies still operating in the  Niger Delta, and more especially workers for such companies, to leave while they can,” the group said in an e-mail statement.

“Our halt in attacks was more of a tactical suspension which has come to its end. At a time of our choosing we will resume attacks with greater devastation and no  compassion on those who choose to disregard our warnings,” it said.

On Tuesday, Obasanjo met politicians, business leaders and traditional rulers from the region and vowed to create almost 20,000 government jobs, drill hundreds of  wells and build a 1.75-billion-dollar highway.

The militants, in a typically toughly-worded statement, predicted that the promised development projects would serve only to enrich the elite and repeated their  demand for local control of all oil revenues.

“We do not need any further mismanagement of the fast diminishing resources of our land by the award of bogus contracts intended to channel the wealth of the Niger  Delta back to the hands of those who have looted ... all these years,” it further said.

MEND’s warning will increase pressure on international oil prices which have hit record highs, in excess of $70 per barrel, in recent days amid fears of US action  against Iran and further disruption to Nigerian exports.

Obasanjo invites Clark

A source told Vanguard that a chartered plane was dispatched to bring Chief Clark to Abuja but the information was very sketchy as all efforts to contact the Ijaw  leader on his cell phone proved abortive. A top security source in Delta State confirmed to Vanguard, last night, that Chief Clark was invited by President Obasanjo.

Contacted yesterday, the president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof. Kimse Okoko, said he was not aware of the invitation if indeed he was invited.  He,  however, said if the invitation was to soften the Ijaw stance, it would be a misadventure, as Chief Clark alone could not alter the position of the Ijaw people.

However, a source close to the Ijaw leader said: “President Obasanjo sent for our leader today (yesterday) and they brought a chartered flight to take him to Abuja.  We are not afraid that he will tell him the truth,” he said.

Chief Clark has maintained that the Council of Socio-Economic Development of the Coastal States of Niger-Delta put in place by President Obasanjo would not  work as long as the Ijaw people were not consulted.

NLC welcomes new initiatives

The Federal Government’s new initiative on the Niger Delta question was yesterday welcomed by the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Adams  Oshiomhole. Mr Oshiomhole who spoke with newsmen in Benin shortly after attending the launch of a Non-Governmental Organisation, “Osazee Omonuwa Life  Support Foundation,” aimed at saving the lives of armed robbery victims said: “You need a compendium of measures, political and economic solutions but let us hope  that what was inaugurated yesterday constitutes a  sustainable foundation to address the problems on a sustainable basis.”The NCL president who was reacting to  Tuesday’s inauguration of a 50-man Council on Social andEconomic Development of Coastal States (Niger Delta) under the headship of President Obasanjo, said  the new initiative as enunciated by the president was a very bold step and urged the government to go beyond the rituals of committee study.”What we already know  (about the Niger Delta) is that the people were abandoned and that the region accounts for 80 per cent of our national income, and that no reason can justify the  extent of their deprivation and marginalisation,” he said.