The umbrella body of the Youths in the Niger Delta region, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide has described as desperation by some politicians to rope in former President Jonathan into the formation of the Niger Delta Avengers. The IYC noted that they were appalled by the lead story published by some national newspapers especially The Nation Newspaper to the effect that intelligence reports indicate that Jonathan is one of the persons behind the formation of the Niger Delta Avengers.
Eric Omare, Spokesman for IYC in a statement said "the characters behind this desperate plan are the politicians of Niger Delta extraction who are in the present government and do not want a peaceful resolution of the renewed militancy in the region. They prefer a military option that would result in the killing of innocent Niger Deltans."
"The genesis of these frivolous accusations against former President Jonathan started after he visited President Buhari a few weeks ago and after the meeting while speaking with the media he said that everybody desires peace and that the leaders of the Ijaw nation are working hard to achieve peace in the Niger Delta region including himself."
"This did not go down well with these party chieftains and political office holders in the federal government from the Niger Delta region because they do not want a peaceful resolution of the crisis and secondly, they don’t also want Jonathan’s intervention to resolve the crisis for obvious political reasons. So this is the reason why they have orchestrated all sorts of lies to drag former President Jonathan into the formation of NDA. It is deliberate and we are sure the top hierarchy of government knows this fact.”
"We also strongly condemn the irresponsible journalism by some media houses for relying on concocted facts to write stories instead of hard facts. Former President Jonathan is advised to explore legal options to bring such irresponsible journalism to a stop.”
