Nigeria: Militants Blame Ex-Gov. For Insecurity

CIRCUMSTANCES surrounding the unabating spate of violence in the Niger Delta area, Nigeria's main oil and gas region, have started to creep into the open, with a faction of the armed youths pointing accusing finger at the direction of the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili.

This unfolding claim might assist the security forces to get to the bottom of the worsening unease in the oil region. A faction of the Movement for the Emmancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that labels itself ''MEND Authentic'' said in a wired statement to Scoop on Friday, that Odili allegedly oiled the activities of the sorawling militia cells in the oil and gas region.

Spokesman for the MEND slinter group, Akpos Nabena, said Odili’s eight years as the governor of Rivers State was riddled with ''violence, destruction,and killings'', adding that when they were about to heave a sigh of relief that Odili was on his way out with all his disturbances and vices, ''we have come to realize that Odili is not in a hurry to leave us alone''.

According to them, ''on the eve of Odili’s departure on the 28th of May 2007, there was a curious security report circulating in the state that one cult and gang leader Prince Igodo of Tombia and others were about to disrupt the inauguration of Sir., Celestine Omehia as the new Governor of Rivers, the next day being 29th May 2007. In the light of this,Odilli’s security chief, called a meeting of Henry Okah, Gbomo Jomo Master’s MEND at Government House. At the meeting, large sums of money were disbursed to Henry Okah to finish Prince Igodo and his men at Tombia. Consequently in the early hours of May 29th 2007, an amanda of boats attacked Tombia led by Soboma George and Farah. At the end of the battle, there were casualties on both sides, and Prince Igodo was fatally injured and died later among his men''.

The group allegedly later proceeded to attack Obuama where they burnt down the house Mr. Tonye Harry, the new Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, the house of Chief O.C Harry, Paramount Chief of Obuama and the Ultra Modern Obuama town hall.
Thereafter, they proceeded to attack Serma, Otroama, Buguma, Ido, Bukuma, old Bakana and Bakana, leaving behind trails of destruction and truamatised town folks.

''The question we want to ask Henry Okah Gbomo Jomo is, do these attacks represent the struggle for the emancipation of our people? How does the attack benefit our people and the struggle? As the saying goes, you can deceive some of the people all the time, you can deceive all of the people some of the time but you can’t deceive all the people all of the time. Henry Okah, Gbomo Jomo Master, represents a dark side of our struggle. He is a darkness trying to envelope the bright light lit by Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa and others. We must not allow him to extinguish this bright and brilliant light as he leads our youths into bank robbery, hostage taking, and attack on politicians so as to blackmail and intimidate them to pay him protection money. This does not represent our struggle''.

For the new governor,Omehia,who is still battling for legitimacy with the immediate past Speaker of the state legislature, Rotimi Amaechi, the militants said, ''we are very sorry that he is starting on a very wrong footing and if he does not retrace his footsteps to a position that is befitting the status of a governor, his problems would be far more than that encountered by his godfather, Odili''.

''In as much as we are not in support of the criminal activities of Prince Igodo, including the kidnapping of Omehia’s mother, we do not believe that executing him in an extra judicial manner is the answer. We will advice Celestine Omehia to chart a new course for himself,far away from the destructive, deceitful and divide and rule path of Odili''.

Continuing, they said the people of rRivers and the entire Niger Delta want peace, adding, there will be no peace if one group of criminals are paid to chase another group of criminals because the criminal elements are insatiable.

''Omehia should have learnt a lesson from the Odili, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom episode when Odili set up Ateke against Dokubo-Asari and failed and later Ateke became a sworn and harsh enemy of Odili until he left office preferring instead to back Dokubo-Asari against the government'', they said.

ENDS

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