Nigeria's Rivers State government has urged militants in the state to lay down their arms to ensure peace in the region.
The appeal was made after the Joint Task Force (JTF) arrested a member of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Sunday.
State Commissioner for Information Ogbonna Nwuke said Monday that the state government is committed to its pledge to forgive all those bearing arms who voluntarily surrender their arms and ammunition to the state.
He said the appeal became necessary not to allow such militant suffer the fate that has befallen the wanted leader of the People's Liberation Force (PLF), Soboma Jackrich (also known as Ebri Papa), who was arrested on Sunday by the JTF.
Ebri Papa is suspected of masterminding the abduction of the wife of oil magnate O.B. Lulu-Briggs in April this year.
Nwuke noted that the country is not at war but youths in the Niger Delta are bearing arms to agitate the development of the region.
He admonished the so-called militants who are still at large to surrender their arms and avoid being caught up by the long arm of law.
He denied the allegation that the state government has initiated a peace process which prompted Ebri Papa (PLP) to visit the Amanyanabo of Kalabari's palace where he was arrested.
Ebri Papa's group is alleged to be an affiliate of the MEND. The arrest of the militant has been described as a big blow to the MEND in the Eastern Niger Delta flank, according to the Guardian newspaper report.
JTF spokesperson Sagir Musa said the dreaded militant was arrested at 8.20 p.m. at the King's palace following intelligence report that he was due to visit Buguma in company of the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.
Following the arrest of Ebri Papa, the MEND has warned that the country could be plunged into yet another full-scale oil war.
MEND spokesperson Jomo Gbomo condemned what he described as the betrayal of trust and the disrespect to the palace of the Amanyanabo of Kalabari by the arrest of a militant after honoring an invitation for a peace parley brokered by the elders in Rivers State.
He confirmed that Ebri Papa was a member of MEND but not a high-level one.
In an email-statement, Gbomo said the incident, which looked like a set-up, has confirmed MEND's worst fears that the government is insincere and should not be trusted, adding that is "the continuous show of bad faith in the handling of Henry Okah's matter (Henry Okah, head of the MEND who is now in prison)."
He said "This insult, insincerity brings us closer to an all-out oil war. The MEND is deliberating on its next line of action and the next few weeks will be decisive."
Source: Xinhua
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