The Itsekiri Leaders of Thought (ILT) has dissociated itself from an alleged plan by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) to endorse the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the sole candidate for the Niger Delta. He disclosed that the Itsekiri nation would not be part of the “self-styled” regional and ethnic leaders parading themselves as Southern, Northern and Middle Belt Leaders of which PANDEF is also a member. The Itsekiri group, therefore, dissociated itself and the Itsekiri nation from the scheduled forum “under various aegis of which the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) is one. “PANDEF, which arrogates to itself to be a Pan Niger Delta body, does not and cannot represent and speak for the Itsekiri people. PANDEF, it will be recalled, sprang up in 2016, in the heat of the Niger Delta Avengers’ crisis.

Source: Nigerian Tribune February 01, 2019 12:22 UTC