SAN FRANCISCO, January 02, (THEWILL) – After backing Muhammadu Buhari against former president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has passed a vote of no confidence in President Buhari over his handling of the Niger Delta crisis.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, MEND accused the present government of insincerity and “grand deception” with regards to pledged commitment to the politics and economy of the Niger Delta.
While listing four reasons for the vote of no confidence on Buhari, the group regretted that since Buhari’s meeting with Niger Delta stakeholders under the auspices of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, the president “has been carrying on arrogantly and making controversial, prejudicial, conflicting and contradictory statements about the politics and economy of the oil-rich region.”
It declared that Buhari on assumption of office has demonstrated that he holds the people of Niger Delta region in contempt and has been blackmailing its leadership for not showing commitment to dialogue whereas, it is the Federal Government that has refused to name its negotiating team.
The group said Buhari should stop what it called, “cunning, crafty and unstatesmanlike rhetoric”about the Niger Delta region, adding that they have only served the purpose of jeopardising the fragile peace in the region.
The Niger Delta region has remained largely impoverished, despite decades of oil production that has provided much of the cash Nigeria uses. Trillions of naira in federal allocations to the region have not changed much.
Before the commencement of the amnesty programme by the federal government under late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010, MEND had spent years in violent protest of the environmental degradation and socio-economic underdevelopment of the region. It demanded greater share of the proceeds of the oil wealth to improve the region and lives of its people.
This brought about the global attention received by the group, having waged a devastating war on Nigeria’s oil industry, which cut oil production. MEND was also notorious for abducting expatriates for ransom.
According to Gbomo, steps already taken by Buhari including reneging on several concessions agreed upon during MEND/Federal Government meeting and writing a damaging letter to South African government to sabotage legal options open to MEND leader, Henry Okah.
MEND advised Buhari to urgently set in motion the process of dialogue with Niger Delta stakeholders and also demanded that all Niger Delta militants in custody of security agencies be allowed access in line with international best practises.
MEND added that the Buhari government wanted to “truncate the on-going peace process in Nigeria, sabotage the legal options open to Henry Okah and simultaneously influence the on-going trial of Charles Okah and others, at the federal high court in Abuja, in favour of the federal government.”
The group went on to demand that, “all Niger Delta Militant commanders and/or individuals who were tracked and arrested while observing a ceasefire ahead of talks with the FG should be treated well.
“They should be allowed access to their lawyers, the International Red Cross and a delegation from PANDEF so as to ascertain their well-being and ensure they have not been tortured or killed, extra judicially.”
