The group says it helped in the release of the kidnapped
Dutch nationals.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND,
has condemned the abduction of 276 schoolgirls by the Boko Haram from Chibok,
Borno State, with a stinging denunciation of the Nigerian military’s handling
of the crisis.
The group urged the National Assembly to investigate
military spending against increased budget and apparent poor performance.
In a statement Sunday, MEND said the report by the global
rights group, Amnesty International, that the military had advanced warning but
failed to foil the April 14 attack on Chibok secondary school, was a “a clear
indication of the incompetence, corruption and systematic failure that has also
plagued the Nigerian military.”
“Rather than investigating these callous act and show of
shame by the Nigerian military, the government of Goodluck Jonathan and the
Army are busy denying the report by Amnesty International,” the group said.
“The Nigerian government have been slow in accepting help
from the United States and other Western countries due to their attempt to
cover up their ill-equipped and corrupt military, incapable of matching the
firepower of the Boko Haram group.”
MEND led years of insurgency in the oil-rich Niger Delta for
years, a campaign the group said was for greater rights of the people of the region
over oil and gas.
The group admitted responsibility for the 2010 Independence
Day bombing in Abuja which killed more than a dozen people. The group’s leader,
Henry Okar is serving a jail term in South Africa for his role in the attack.
In its statement Sunday, the group sternly criticised the
Jonathan’s administration’s handling of the kidnapping, and also spoke about
the kidnapping of three Dutch nationals in Niger Delta.
Read full text of the Press Release below:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
condemns in the strongest terms the abduction of over 200 school girls by the
Boko Haram group.
We join all well-meaning Nigerians and the International
Community in demanding for their immediate and safe release.
Rather than investigating these callous act and show of
shame by the Nigerian military, the government of Goodluck Jonathan and the
Army are busy denying the report by Amnesty International.
The Nigerian government have been slow in accepting help
from the United States and other Western countries due to their attempt to
cover up their ill-equipped and corrupt military, incapable of matching the
firepower of the Boko Haram group.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND,
once again uses this medium to call on the National Assembly to rise up to
their responsibilities to the nation and launch a probe into the Defence budget
and make Nigerians understand how the military can justify their lack of
military resources against the huge Defence budget allocated to the Defence
Ministry each year.
With the denial by the Nigerian military, the world should
ask, is this the same military that earlier lied to the world that they had
rescued the abducted girls?
We have constantly warned Nigerians about Goodluck Jonathan
and his train of sycophants running the country. Events of the last few weeks
have vindicated our position on the inability of this man to lead Nigeria
anywhere but downwards.
Rather than address serious issues facing the nation and its
citizens, Goodluck Jonathan, bereft of ideas and encouraging mass division in
the country, is busy squandering public funds and throwing money at every
visible problem with no clear long term vision towards a sustainable polity,
while his train of sycophants continue to use their “anti-Jonathan” rhetoric in
their defence. Furthermore, every level of his government appears to be
engineered towards his re-election in 2015 as was seen by the world barely 48
hours after the recent bomb blast in Nyanya, Abuja.
With each passing day, the inept, corrupt and incompetent
Goodluck Jonathan sadly confirms the bitter truth that a man that was not even
capable of leading a State is obviously not Presidential material, will never
be and thus hardening the determination on the part of decent Nigerian society
to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Goodluck Jonathan is disgustingly
corrupt, has always been one and his association and shielding of corrupt
government officials, coupled with his ungodly desperation and
criminal-cum-undemocratic tendencies has made him a primary enemy of Nigeria
and Nigerians today.
Kidnaped and Freed Dutch Nationals
The same group that was involved in the kidnap of President
Jonathan’s adopted father was responsible for the recent abduction of the three
(3) Dutch nationals.
We welcome their decision to finally release their hostages
as advised by MEND as they had nothing to do with or connections with any of
the multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region.
This group advised that although their primary motivation
was for ransom, they also wanted to use the kidnap to highlight the insecurity
which still exists in the Niger Delta region and also their disgust, like MEND,
with the fraudulent Niger Delta Amnesty Programme which has only made billionaires
of a few thugs, at the detriment of millions of impoverished indigenes and the
peace and security in the region.
In the words of Professor Wole Soyinka, “This is a
government that is not only in denial mentally, but in denial about certain
steps to take” and “All the pretence, indifference and denial have ended”.
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