Mbang, who is also a former prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, made this known while speaking with journalists in his residence in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, at the weekend, during the celebration of his 80th birthday.
He wondered why the launching of military exercise code named, 'Operation Crocodile Smile', even as the militants have finally embraced peace to engage the Federal Government in dialogue.
“The truth is that you cannot use force and dialogue at the same time. I would have preferred dialogue. But when you are talking of peace, and then you bring in the military, you defeat the purpose of dialogue. Have they tried dialogue to its end before the resort to military?
“I was pretty disappointed when I saw the operation crocodile nonsense. I was disappointed. I must be sincere because the trouble in the Niger Delta is not today’s trouble; is a trouble that has gone on for very long time, and I am sure people know the solution to them, but they decided to be dancing around what they know. Whether they believe me or not, they are working for people.
Citing America as example when trying to use force to restore calm in Afghanistan and Iran, he said such force will always backfire and create more tension.
“There are certain things in the Niger Delta that should be dealt with, and for justice sake, let government deal with those things through dialogue. Niger Delta people cannot get everything they want at once, but they should get something. I am sure by then they will have peace; but if they think they can use force, is not going to work. It has not worked anywhere. You see, America wanted to use force in Afghanistan, Iraq and others, it did not solve the problems. In fact, it’s creating more problem for them. If they try to use force in the area, it will create more problem for Nigeria.
The former CAN president, who believes that certain factors have triggered the current restiveness in the region, said that until those issues are addressed, peace would certainly not be restored.
“They, Niger Delta people, have a case. People from outside have come to look at this case, they should sit down and deal with it the way they want to deal with it, force will not solve it. They have told me that the oil bloc is one of the main problems, that no Niger Delta man has one oil bloc in their area. I really want to see them dealing with it.
“If there are oil blocs given to others, why don’t they give to people from the area, so that whenever anybody wants to talk about it, they will say this man has it,” he said.
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