The Federal Government has appealed to
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta not to plunge the
region into another round of violence, following the conviction of its
leader, Mr. Henry Okay, for terrorism.
A South African court had last Monday
found Okah guilty of masterminding the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts in
Abuja, among other terrorism charges.
Following the conviction, MEND, in a statement on Saturday, threatened to renew attacks on targets across the country.
It said, “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 alone; MEND has become more
sophisticated than the level of mere IED or car bombs, and reached
capabilities which will take the Nigerian Military another 10 years to
catch.
“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).”
The FG, however, called on the group to give peace a chance and allow the transformation of the region to continue.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran
Maku, who made that call at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, said
it was not right for MEND to truncate the development of the Niger Delta
because of the travails of its leader.
Maku, who responded to questions on the
threat, said it was shocking that a group of Nigerians would issue
threats over Okah’s conviction by South Africa, stressing that acts of
terrorism against the country should be condemned by everyone.
He said, “Henry Okah was tried in South
Africa under due process and found guilty of committing acts of
terrorism; South Africa convicted him. It is very shocking for any
group of Nigerians to issue threats.
What we expect is for all Nigerians to show patriotism and support to the government.”
The minister explained that the peace in
the Niger Delta was the result of the Amnesty programme of the
government, which was instituted to train and empower the youths of the
region at home and abroad.
He, therefore, appealed to all militant
groups to allow the peace in the Niger Delta to endure, stressing that a
return to violence would not augur well for progress of the region.
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I guess we really need God now.
ReplyDeleteMisery of a nation, every criminal threaten the nation when they feel like.
ReplyDeleteWho is MEND to say they can disintegrate the nation,and have reach capabilities which will take Nigerian Military to catch in 10years.
Why did they accept amnesty if they think so highly of their self, FG did not beg them to accept amnesty remember, they were giving 60days to accept amnesty.
What a nation. Where politician and criminals will always threaten to disintegrate us. MISERY UNDER THe government of their own.
Oh Lord, please let this start soon. Amen!
ReplyDeleteDid i really get this straight? Is the Government begging the terrorist not to unleash mehem? Why didnt the Government talk to Bokoharam in that tone rather it melted a strong military attack to crush them all? Perhaps because they are Islamist.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, terrorism is terrorism and should be condemed by all irrespective of the personalities involved. And i think the Government is the threat to Nigeria as it equipped the Niger-Deltans in the guise of amnesty, and still pamper them to wait on stand-by to disintergrate the country. They boast of wepons, where and how did they get them. Yar adua was crushing them and just decided not to destroy Nigerians with Nigerian weponry. But after his demise, what he started was hijacked and converted to a movement to liberalise the south south. It is clear that if Henry was tried in Nigeria, he would have been acquitted. A president from the south south is always a disaster to the entity called Nigeria.
Come to think of it, how many BOKO HARAM members or leaders has been SENTENCED i think MEND should wake up and teach the GOVT what is right since they did not know ......BOKO HARAM and OKAH who killed MORE ????
ReplyDeleteGod please save Nigeria. We want peace to reign
ReplyDelete