N’Delta crisis: Soyinka opens up about leading Avengers dialogue team

– Wole Soyinka said he has has been responding to overtures from militant groups

– The Nobel laureate advised the federal government to genuinely listen to the Niger Delta agitators

– He said the militants feel President Buhari is giving them any serious response

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said some Niger Delta militant groups had reached out to him in their efforts dialogue with the federal government on the ongoing militancy in the region.

He said he has been responding personally to some of the militant groups, while pleading with the government to genuinely listen to the agitators, Vanguard reports.

Wole Soyinka with President Buhari

Speaking at a news conference by the Wole Soyinka Foundation on Thursday, August 25, the Nobel laureate denied being part of any international coalition on the Niger Delta crisis.

READ ALSO: Buhari, Alaafin of Oyo meet over Avengers, B’Haram

He also debunked reports where he was quoted as saying an international interventionist group had agreed to meet President Muhammadu Buhari on the crisis.

Soyinka said: “I wish to make an appeal to the government to respond positively to the outreach from the militant groups. That is the request which has been made by some of the groups.

“At the moment, they feel that the government of President Buhari is not seriously responding to them. And I will make a personal appeal to the government to respond positively and let us see where it ends.

“But I am not part of any international group, I was approached personally and I have been responding personally to some of these groups just as I did when President Jonathan was in power and MEND was the umbrella group of the insurgents.”

READ ALSO: Niger Delta: Soyinka asks Buhari to change his government’s style

According to him, he had passed on the message of what was happening in the Niger Delta region to some international figures in London.

He emphasized that no international interventionist group had been formed on the matter.

This came as some monarchs from the Niger Delta region had a meeting with the federal government at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Abuja.

The traditional rulers listed six things for the federal government to do in order to build confidence and stop the destruction of the country’s oil assets by militants in the region.

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