A suspected faction of the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, loyal to Mr. Henry Okah, who was
convicted by a South African Court for the October 1, 2010 bombing in
Abuja, has threatened renewed attacks in the country.
MEND in a statement titled “Conviction
of our leader, Mr. Henry Okah,” signed by one Comrade Azizi, said the
organisation would target multinational oil firms and South African
firms operating in the country.
Azizi in the statement that was published in Sahara Reporters
on Staurday, also threatened that the series of attacks being planned
by MEND would not be restricted to targets in the oil rich Niger Delta
but the entire country.
MEND in the statement also placed a ban
on the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, from
visiting the Niger Delta.
Orubebe did not react to the MEND’s threat.
The minister did not pick the repeated
calls placed to his mobile telephone line on Saturday. Also, a text
message sent to him to get his response on the MEND threat was not
responded to.
The MEND statement also warned
government officials at the federal, states and local government levels,
as permanent secretaries, director generals and others, to stay away
from the Niger Delta or be dealt with.
It threatened to carry out attacks on
government officials who served from 1999 to date and members of their
families as a retaliatory measure against the military invasion of Odi
in November 1999.
The purported MEND spokesman said the
group had become more sophisticated and deadlier with new states and
regional commanders, with a national commander whose identity was not
disclosed in the statement.
Azazi said the incarceration of Okah or his killing would not make a difference in the current state of the organisation.
He said, “We witnessed the conviction of
our dear leader on January 21, 2013 by the South African Supreme Court
on all the 13 counts which as we all know has to do with Aso Rock
politics because he refused to be bought over.
“To the Nigerian military (The Joint
Task Force in the Niger Delta), don’t bother placing officers on the
alert, we will neither bomb nor kill anybody for the time being, as we
had communicated months back that we no long require IED or car bombs as
we’ve gone past that stage.
“Nigerians as a whole will feel our
presence when we finally decide to carry out our targets which will not
be restricted to the Niger Delta Region alone.
“We are not on the same program with
regional agitators in the North or elsewhere. We will not hide our
faces, soon and very soon, Nigerians will get to see the structures
(diaspora and home) as well as our new states, regional commanders and
new national leader. Arresting and killing Henry Okah will change
nothing.
“To the Nigerian government, you have
seen nothing, the disintegration of Nigeria will start through us and by
us. We are well equipped for this task. We have details of all the
family members of the government (1999-2013) and our diaspora command
will take care of that aspect. We will get to them, we will skin them
and post their remains to your door steps as compensation to the Odi
people, except our resources are handed over to us without conditions.
“The Minister of the Niger Delta
Ministry, Mr. Orubebe Peter Godsday, is hereby banished from Delta State
and the region at large.
“All oil companies, (foreign or local)
should start parking up from the region as this might be the last
warning; we really will not want civilians to be caught in between so
please take this warning seriously.
“And finally to the South Africa
companies: we made some promises before and now we are repeating same,
leave Nigeria totally. There will be massive and aggressive campaign on
all companies owned, operated and affiliated to the South African
citizens or their government both in Nigeria, Western and Southern
Africa respectively.”
When one of our correspondents contacted
the Director of Defence Information, Col. Mohammed Yerima, on the
issue, he said he had nothing to say on it.
“I don’t think I have to comment on
this issue. What has this got to do with the defence headquarters? Even
the so called MEND has not carried out any attack anywhere so what are
we commenting on,” he said.
Also, the police said they were monitoring the security situation in the country.
Deputy Force Public Relations Officer,
Frank Mba, said he would not want to comment on the MEND threat, but
added that security agencies would continue to maintain ‘high vigilance’
in the country.
“We have always maintained high
vigilance and we will continue to do so. On the purported threat by
MEND, we are monitoring the situation,” he stated.
The State Security Service declined to comment. Its spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, said she had nothing to say.
Head of Media and Communications of the
Presidential Amnesty Office, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, said security agencies
should ensure that the prevailing peace in the Niger Delta was not
disrupted.
Alabrah who said the amnesty office had
nothing to do with the MEND’s threat noted that security agencies had a
responsibility to prevent anybody from perpetrating acts of violence in
the area.
He said, “It is a security matter, this
has nothing to the amnesty programme. There is no Azizi under our
programme. He is not a beneficiary of the presidential amnesty.
“If any person goes back to the creek,
the security agencies should do their work. It is not the work of the
amnesty office to stop people from getting violent.
“Okah has not been sentenced, he can
explore other options by going on appeal. You would not expect us to run
because MEND has issued a threat. If anybody is issuing a threat to
disrupt the peace in the region, the security agencies should do their
job, it is not our job; it is not our mandate to maintain the peace in
the region; we are not a security agency.”
Efforts to get the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Communications, Dr. Reuben Abati, were not successful.
It was learnt that he had travelled to Ethiopia
Also, the Minister of Information, Mr.
Labaran Maku, did not pick the repeated calls placed to his mobile
telephone neither did he respond to a text message sent to him on the
issue.
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