MEND Expresses Readiness to Safeguard Oil Installations in Rivers

By Bon Peters

The founding member and spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Mr Jomo Gbomo, has expressed the readiness of the group to support security operatives in safeguarding crude oil installations from attacks.

Mr Gbomo in a statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, condemned the threat of crude oil facilities in Niger Delta by some ex-militants and agitators in the region.

This decision by (MEND) is coming days after a new militant group, the Niger Delta Development Force, has threatened to bomb Oil installations over an alleged plot to use a federal high court in Abuja to deny the Rivers State local government allocations.

The association in a statement on Sunday by its spokesman, Mr Justin Alabraba, has vowed that any judgment that denies local government areas in Rivers state their monthly statutory allocations would be met with heavy disruption of oil installations in the region.

However, MEND said it would not support violence associated with political disputes between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nysom Wike; and his estranged political son and Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara.

“The threat to the economy of the country over a political dispute between two politicians who were allies is unfortunate, more so, both politicians are sons of the Niger Delta.

“We cannot in the present circumstance be tricked into carrying arms against the Nigerian state on behalf of any of them, not even for any price.

“As an Ijaw son, I know the gains of having an Ijaw man as governor in Rivers, an achievement which would not have been possible but for the collaboration of other ethnic groups.

“This healthy collaboration from the various ethnic groups which produced an Ijaw son as governor was spearheaded by the FCT Minister.

“On that note, we shall, therefore, offer full cooperation to the security operatives so as to ensure that individuals or groups constituting threats to smooth crude oil exploration, alongside their sponsors, are brought to book.

“If you are going for revenge, you better dig two graves, one for yourself and one for your enemy, a word is enough for the wise,” Mr Gbomo warned.

He, however, urged the elders and traditional institutions in the region to intervene in the lingering political crises while also urging affected parties to seek judicial redress if peaceful dialogue fails.