Ayiri, a former chairman of Delta Waterways Security Committee, also condemned NDA’s bombing of oil installations in the region.

“Why should they negotiate with criminals, if they are talking about neglect in the Niger Delta, all the ethnic groups are neglected and they have issues,” he told Vanguard.

“So, if the government wants to dialogue, it should not be with criminals who are bombing pipelines, it should be on the basis of underdevelopment affecting the respective areas.

“We, the Itsekiri ethnic group, have our own problems, but that has not made us to go and bomb pipelines. For instance, the Export Processing Zone, EPZ, is there and nothing is going on, we are neglected, there is no development. So I am against dialogue with criminals,” he added.

The group has also been denounced by former militant, Government “Tompolo” Ekpemupolo.