MILITANT group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has described new association the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) as a tool designed to destabilise the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Over recent weeks, NDA has brought armed militancy back into the Niger Delta, blowing up oil pipelines and attacking installations. In response, President Buhari has flooded the area with troops and warned that anyone caught will be treated in the same manner as Boko Haram terrorists.
Historically, Mend has been the major militant group in the Niger Delta but it reached a peace deal with the government under which its members were granted an amnesty. They agreed to lay down their arms and underwent training courses both at home and abroad, funded by the government.
Mend spokesman Jomo Gbomo said his organisation is opposed to NDA and restated is opposition to the continued running of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, noting that it was a signature of the corruption of the past administration. He added that the programme was a signature of the corruption of the past administration, which has no intention or capacity to bring a sustainable answer to the recurring Niger Delta question.
Mr Gbomo said: “After a rigorous and robust analysis, debate and review of political events in Nigeria within the past 12 months; particularly as they affect the Niger Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has resolved to continue to respect the unilateral ceasefire of hostilities declared May 30, 2014 against key economic interests of the Nigerian state. The painful but necessary resolution to respect the ceasefire was borne out of Mend’s belief that as President Muhammadu Buhari marks his first year in office, he deserves more time to stabilise the country that was ran aground by the ill-fated, corrupt and visionless immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan which pauperised the Nigerian people to the alarming degree we all experience today.
“Mend wishes to condemn and dissociate itself from the recent activities carried out by a group known as the Niger Delta Avengers. Their sudden emergence has absolutely nothing to do with the Niger Delta struggle but rather a tool by certain elements to destabilise the current government and going by their actions and subsequent statements, it has become very apparent on who the sponsors of these group are."
In addition, Mend also dissociated the Niger Delta region from the secessionist call by the Independent Peoples of Biafra, saying it believed in a unified and truly federated Nigerian state. Mend, which hinged its support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on the need to allow it time stabilise the nation, which it said had suffered continued abuse for years, however said the president should see to the freeing of its incarcerated leader, Henry Okah and his brother, Charles Okah.
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