Okah: MEND vows to resume attacks on Friday

Following the recent conviction of Henry
Okah, the Movement for the Emancipation
of Niger Delta, MEND, yesterday announced
that it would tomorrow, March 5 resume
attacks in the country.
The group in an electronic mail sent to
journalists through its spokesman, Gbomo
Jomo, averred that series of attacks, code-
named; Hurricane Exodus, would begin
Friday midnight.
It said the attacks would be “a direct
reaction to a forged threat letter contrived
by the Nigerian and South African
governments, purporting to have originated
from MEND”.
However, government security agencies on
Wednesday said they were prepared to
checkmate the militant group.
Director of Information at the Defence
Headquarters, Brig Gen. Chris Olukolade,
advised those behind the threat to avoid
any action that could endanger the peace
in the oil rich region.
He said that the DHQ had its operatives on
ground were battle ready at all times to
defend the interest of Nigeria.
Olukolade warned MEND against reversing
the hand of peace in the Niger Delta.
He said, “The DHQ has our outfit on
ground in the Niger Delta. Our structures
are on ground in the area. They should not
reverse the hand of peace; nobody should
threaten the peace in the area.
“The JTF is on ground and is prepared to do
their duties in defence of every interest of
the nation. Anybody trying to threaten the
existing peace in the area is advised against
it.”
Also the police said they would bring to
book anyone who engages in any act that
contravenes the law of the land, stressing
that it would not condone acts of
lawlessness in any part of the country.
Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank
Mba, who said the police would not be
drawn into responding to threats issued by
criminal elements, noted that the Nigeria
Police were ready to deal with any acts of
brigandage.
“The police will not respond to threats by
criminal elements, but suffice it to say, we
are ready to curb any acts of lawlessness
or criminality in the country,” he said.
The statement from MEND reads in part,
“This fake letter was used as evidence
against Henry Okah on whom a 13- year
sentence was passed. To make matters
worse, the prosecution’s second witness,
Mr. Sele Victor-Ben, had exclaimed in court
that the letter was not genuine after failing
to catch the prosecutor’s eye who wanted
him to lie under oath.
“We are now determined to
conjure this imaginary trumped-
up threat into a painful reality.
“The attacks will be sustained until an
unreserved apology is offered to MEND and
the Nigerian government shows its
willingness to dialogue. The same way they
are willing to dialogue with Boko Haram.”
Reacting to the threat on Wedneday, the
Joint Task Force, the military outfit in
charge of security in the region, asked the
persons “parading themselves as MEND” to
embrace the reigning peace in the region.
The JTF, in a statement by its Media
Coordinator, Lt.-Col. Onyema Nwachukwu,
said it would not allow any aggrieved group
to upset the peace in the region, saying it
had positioned its troops in strategic
places and put them on the alert to tackle
possible upheaval.
It said, “Niger Deltans are not in any
bondage and therefore do not require
armed struggle or emancipation as claimed
by this threatening gang.
“What Niger Deltans are in dire need of
now is peace for sustainable development,
having emerged from the dark days of
turbulence in the region.
“Informed by this development, we have
effected some redeployment to tackle any
upheaval. This set of people are advised to
toe the path of law and order in addressing
whatever grievance they have and to desist
from any action that will upset the peace and development of the Niger Delta.
“The good and peace-loving people of the Niger Delta are enjoined to dissociate
themselves, their communities and
leadership from this unwholesome
approach as portrayed by this group.”
It would be recalled that Okah, a former leader of MEND, was on March 26
sentenced to 24 years imprisonment by a
South African court which found him guilty of the October 1, 2010 bombing in Abujaand another one in Warri, Delta State. He was also sentenced for threatening South African government officials after his arrest
in South Africa in 2010.