Okah’s Conviction: MEND Threatens To Renew Attacks
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has responded to the conviction in South Africa of Henry Okah, its former leader. The group warned that that the development could start of the disintegration of Nigeria.
In a statement dated January 23, 2013 and signed by “Comrade Azizi,” which SaharaReporters published yesterday, MEND 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 region alone.
The statement said as a group, it had become more sophisticated than the level of mere Improvised Explosive Device (IED) or car bombs, and reached “capabilities which will take the Nigerian military another 10 years to catch.”
MEND said “we are not on the same programme 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.”
The statement continued: “To the Nigerian government, you have seen nothing yet, 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.”
MEND warned federal government officials to stay away from the Niger Delta, with particular attention to one current official: “The minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Mr.Orubebe Peter Godsday is hereby banished from Delta State and the region at large pending when he returns the money he stole which was meant for the Niger Delta Development Councils” and in various public offices since 1991.
