The Nigerian Police has warned the Niger Delta Avengers against going ahead with the threat of declaring secession.
Force Public Relations Officer, Donald Awunah, gave the warning on Friday, pointing out to the militant group that to declare a republic was a treasonable offence.
Awunah reiterated that security agencies would not allow any action that might lead to a breakdown of law and order in any part of the country, describing the threat by the militants as provocative.
The police spokesman advised the militant group to channel its grievances through the legal procedure as the police and other security agencies would not condone any act of lawlessness in the region or in any other part of the country.
Awunah said, “I believe they (militants) know that it is a treasonable felony to declare a republic.
“The police and other security agencies will not allow any treasonable action to be perpetrated in any part of the country.
“They have been warned.”
The Niger Delta Avengers militant group had threatened that it will declare a Niger Delta Republic onOctober 1, if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to restructure the country.
An online statement by the group’s spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, said the NDA was praying for the Buhari-led Federal Government to discover oil in commercial quantity in the northern part of the country so as to free the people of the Niger Delta from her oppressive tendency.
It believes that if oil was discovered in commercial quantity in the North, the people in that region would appreciate what the people of the Niger Delta have been experiencing in the hands of the Nigerian government.
The statement read: “Our prayer for Buhari and the Northern hypocrites (the Northern governors) is that oil should be found in commercial quantity in the North so that they can let the Niger Delta go.
“The Buhari-led government has failed Nigerians with its misdirected policies that have divided the country. As such, nobody wants to be part of that failed state; not even the Niger Delta.”
The statement added further, “The October 1 declaration of independence is still sacrosanct, if the Nigerian government fails to retrace its step by restructuring this country.