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The dreaded outlawed Niger Delta militia group known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has provoked a security scare with the issuance of a warning over its decision to resume violent attacks on some unidentified locations in the region over alleged existence of a fake letter used to indict Henry Okah at the South African Court.
According to MEND, theFake letter was allegedly forged by the Nigerian and South African Governments and claimed to have originated from the group ahead of the bomb attack on the Independent Day.
The statement of MEND signed by Jomo Gbomo stated that after a careful deliberation and other considerations of the facts of the case, they have resolved to launch a sustained attack on the region and code named Hurricane Exodus.
According the MEND, "wiith effect from 00:00Hrs, Friday 05, April 2013, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (M.E.N.D), will commence with a plague of sustained attacks codenamed “Hurricane Exodus”.Hurricane Exodus is a direct repercussion of a forged threat letter contrived by the Nigerian and South African governments purporting to have originated from MEND. This fake letter was used as evidence against Henry Okah for which a thirteen (13) years sentence was passed."
The group accused one of the prosecution’s second witnesses and a member of the Amnesty Implementation Committee of exclaiming in court over the purported lack of genuiness of the letter,"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 their willingness to dialogue. The same way they are willing to dialogue with Boko Haram."
Reacting to the development,the authorities of the Joint Military Task Force code named Operation Pulo Shield said though they are aware of the statement made by those they described as "some persons parading themselves as MEND", "the people of the region 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 a 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 tow 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."