Updates on Niger Delta

Niger Delta: MEND sings new song

Donald Ojogo, Bureau Chief, South-South - 20.07.2009

ONE week after reciprocating the release of Henry Okah with a 60-day ceasefire, main militant group in the Niger Delta, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), says the release of its leader, Okah, and the N50 billion amnesty package, are not indicators of a peaceful Niger Delta in the future.

MEND had declared a ceasefire for 60 days following Okah’s release and the discontinuation of his trial by the Federal Government; a development which came after a devastating attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos, 20 hours before Okah’s release.

MEND said it carried out the attack, which led to the death of about seven persons, in two speed boats and by 18 well armed fighters. MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, in an exclusive online response to an enquiry from our correspondent, however, asserted that only “justice“ will put an end to the crisis in the region.