Nigeria: Coma, Militant Group Announces Cease-Fire

THE Coalition for Militant Action (COMA), one of the plural militia cells that are locked in armed struggle to free the peoples of the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil and gas basin, has annouced that its fighters will no longer rock the boat till further notice.

Spokesman of the militant group, Alaye Teme, said their decision to lay down theor arms was in appreciation of the gesture from the President Umar Yar'Adua administration in freeing the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, from an underground detention chamber on health ground.

''We wish to commend the current leadership of the Nigerian state for the conditional release from solitary confinement of the leader of the NDPVF and the Chairman of the Niger Delta People's Salvation Front (NDPSF), Mujahid Dokubo-Asari after a full one year and nine months in a 'persecutive' exercise executively directed by former maximum ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd)'', they said.

Adding, they said, ''following his release, we will therefore, like to announce that we have ceased all hostilities against the Nigerian state for the time being. We will work closely with Dokubo-Asari to ensure that the government of Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan will be provided productive direction in the sustainable resolution of the Niger Delta question''.

According to them in a wire statement on Thursday, ''the release of Dokubo-Asari has glorified the victory of good over evil. We thank all those who worked tirelessly to make this possible''.

ENDS

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