By Emma Amaize
WARRI — MOVEMENT for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) says it does not require the blessings of militant leaders in the region to constitute a negotiating team to present its demands to the Federal Government.
Spokesman of the group, Jomo Gbomo, in an exclusive e-mail response to Vanguard inquiry said, “we do not need the total blessing and support of everyone to put together the ‘Aaron’ team once this is approved by Henry Okah when he comes out, every other person’s opinion becomes irrelevant”.
A top officer of the group, “General” Boyloaf had in an interview with Vanguard said leaders of militant groups in the region have not mandated anybody to set up a negotiating team with the Presidency on their behalf.
He was reacting to a statement by Jomo Gbomo that the militant group would inaugurate its own team of negotiators to pass its demands and expectations to the President through the new Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe.
But “General” Boyloaf insisted the opinion of principal militant leaders in the zone were not sought before the announcement was made.
According to him, “It will not work. A similar thing was tried in the past and it failed. I am not part of those constituting a team of negotiators to discuss anything. I have also contacted other leaders like Ateke Tom and they are not in support of it.
“If the government does not want to make a costly mistake, they should not accept any negotiating team until they speak with the key leaders to know if they are in support of it”, he said.
Ekiyor, Arerebo laud Alaibe’s appointment
Meanwhile, President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor and a Niger-Delta peace activist, Mr. Cletus Arerebo have applauded the appointment of the former Managing Director of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Timi Alaibe, as the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta.
Dr. Ekiyor in an interview said, “Alaibe is one man President Umaru Yar’Adua can bank on for sincere and pragmatic ideas on how to break the present logjam in the Niger-Delta because people will listen to him”.
Mr Arerebo asserted that bringing Alaibe on board was a deft move that would usher in a better platform for straightforward advice that will result in the resolution of the crisis “because he enjoys the respect of every genuine person involved in the Niger-Delta struggle”.
According to Ekiyor, “As the president of the IYC, I have faced the challenge of working with many Ijaw leaders, both political and traditional, and Timi Alaibe is one of such leaders, I can assure you that Timi has an understanding of the problems of the Niger-Delta and he is the first responder to crisis.
I can tell you that if he was on ground, this crisis that we have now would not have escalated to this point because he would have acted appropriately and insisted on certain things to be done right.”
Arerebo corroborated Ekiyor saying, “Alaibe is somebody the militants themselves will listen to because they know that he knows the issues at stake and wants the matters resolved. My prayer is that the President should listen to his frank advice and not throw them away”.
Delta Waterways’ members want MEND to stop bombing oil facilities
Three members of the Delta Waterways Security Committee (DWSC), Warri in Delta State, the Reverend Duke Akpososo, Mr. Henry Ayanruoh and Ambassador Austin Oniyesan, weekend, called on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta to stop bombing oil pipelines in the state because of its adverse economic effect on the government and the people.
They also urged militants to accept the amnesty proclamation by President Yar’Adua, with Reverend Akpososo saying, “the Amnesty offered by the Federal Government is a great once-in-a-lifetime political and judicial window of opportunity for the militants and our friends in the creeks to lay down their arms and come out of hiding to live a normal life.
“They may never have this kind of opportunity again in their lifetime. They could now pursue their case through a normal internationally-accepted legal means and procedures”, he added, calling on the JTF to halt further military operation in the creeks, it run counter to the amnesty offer.
Mr. Ayanruoh said the peace strategy initiated by Dr. Uduaghan, which was working well in the state before it was interrupted May 13 following a face-off between militants and JTF over the killing of some soldiers “is a winning formula and the governor should consolidate on it despite the hiccup caused by no fault of the state government”.
On his part, Mr. Oniyesan said “there is increasing misery on our people as a result of MEND activities. Our people have been perpetually placed in economic deprivation; we are destroying our homes in the name of Niger-Delta struggle. I, therefore, appeal to MEND to rethink this present scenario”.
Instead of the continued bombing of oil facilities, he said MEND should organise a 5 million–man march in Abuja to further press home the demands of the region.
@Noor, for over thirty years Northerners held the Nigerian state to ransom feeding off the oil of the Niger-Delta and killing anybody that speaks up, and you say the northerners have no hand in this mess.. i think you should have our head examined.
i abhor the killing fellow Nigerians, by both the militants and the Nigerian Army, but i hope all the oil facilities are either shut down or blown up, so that we can go back to the negotiating table to decide how the wealth is shared, as was the case during cocoa and groundnut era.
Well, i dont think the struggle in the niger delta will yield any fruitful results because they are now divided over MONEY. The world should now see the reason why these CRIMINALS (MILITANTS) are making noise. We dont care about what the world says about the NORTH. You say you are fighting for the region because the people there are exposed to environmental disasters but you are blasting oil installations causing more harm to the region than even the oil companies because you are but educated illetrates. Talk to YAr’Adua and not the NORTH because the NORTH has nothing to do with you.
Only if govt in all part of Nigeria can be wiser now . Only some same boys are holding the nation to rasom what if the yoruba, igbo and some minority Hausa starts their own kind in a different way,
SAME SAME SAME MR I GET POWER OBAM SAID IT ALL PUT IN PLACE INSTITUTIONAL FRAME THAT WILL WORK FOR EVER NOT SOME BLOODY OBASANJO THE I GET POWER KIND NA ME IFF NO BE NIGERIAR FOR DON GO. GHANA IS CATCHING IT FASTER THEN MY COUNTRY AND WE CAN ALL SEE WHERE IS THE MUMU GIANT OF AFRICA HIM DAY WATCH BIG BROTHER ABI?
The Niger delta struggle should be seen by all right thinking persons in Nigeria as a struggle to liberate that geographical expression from a cabal that has held it hostage since the 1960’s. Those masqurading as taliking for the North should tell the world what they have done for the ordinary men and women in the North. Nothern Nigeria, from the records published by UNICEF recently, is among the most educationally backwards people in the world and is home to the poorest peoples in the world. The so called northern elites and cabals are nothing but corrupt and selfish fat cows who are only interested in milking the Niger Delta dry. MEND must continue bombing every installation possible untill all those thieves awakes from their lethal slumber and return Nigeria to true federalism and allow all nations in Nigeria to control their own resources and pay tax to the central govermnent. Only the criminals in the Niger Delta struggle will accept the useless amnesty and share from the evil 50 billion which is nothing but a bribe. MEND must not fail this time!
They are willing to sacrifice our freedom fighters because they are broke. Mend will do well now to start killing these people because they have sold out. MEND must be careful of fifth columnist
I dont know how these group are organised but the fact remains that Nigerians have heard their voice and the world also, however blowing up pipe lines will not solve the issue rather ensuring that government does its own part and the oil company too. there are other harzards that follow blown up pipe one of them is damage to the water and farming land and i dont see any relationships in blowing up a pipe line that may cause environmental problem which they are fighting for . so indirectly they are cause and increasing the problem, .
Resource control is not the monopoly of Niger Delta , what happens if the northerners decide to ask for resource control for all the food stuff the send to the south, have we ever think of that.
I unarguebly belief that a great injustice have been done to the people of Niger Deltan but that injustice does not happen without their colloboration, in the past it use to be the chiefs and the amayanbos’ and the government officials that takes the proceed from the oil company and when some people protested they were kill (ogoni seven) because the companies and chiefs have a hand in it, now that the company have agreed to settle , i want the government of Nigeria to mandate company to do something to the communities by direct community involvement and not seletive settlement as was the rumour in the past.
Secondily this movement started with the politicians and now it is hurting them most , until we stop hiring boys /men to rig election arms to this proportion will not dissappear in our backyard, just look at it the agreements politicains entered just to fufill their desire always backfire.
Amaize is wrong, false, Incorrect! MEND is not divided. MEND has a better strategy than the politcians. MEND, take ur time, don’t rush in coming up with ur list of negotiating team members. Oct 4th does not apply to MEND. Also, We don’t want oil companies/NNDC/ND Ministry to direct our businessmen and women (ND natives/contractors) togo to Abuja Northerners for paper in order to obtain a contract from NDDC/ND Military/oil and gas industry in ND region. All requirements must local in ND. Besides, PHC Int’l Airport is a vilage train station. We deserve a better international Airports and seaports in ND.
It baffles me how some people like Pere and Samson sia sia who think they know so much about the ND struggle decide to label Boyloaf as “So-called”.At this stage I think it is reasonable to ask this question, “Who is MEND” cos after the arrest of Henry Okah, “General Boyloaf” as we all know was said to be his second in command, so why all these public disagreement between Boyloaf and faceless Jomo Gbomo?
My brothers let us not be decieved,these guys are just using a genuine cause to make their own personal money. The love of money is beginning to tell on all of them.
We are all NDs let give peace a chance and create room for negotiations so that our country can move forward.
Pere you are absolutely right. I wish I had your email to rub minds with like minds. The DWSC is made up od a bunch of politicians/business men under Uduaghan. They are a failure today because of their short sightedness. Also I am noticing that the so-called General Boyloaf has always been countering MEND lately for selfish reasons. He planned to benefit from the N50b largess but seems like MEND is changing the course for all of them. We are watching to see how things play out, but we must not let such sell-outs bother us because MEND is on course. What a stupid suggestion to stop the bombings. HOw else did they think brought the government to its knees?