http://www.channelstv.com/global/news_details.php?cat=Local&nid=23098


He said that the release attributing the attack to lack of attention to the Niger Delta cause was not acceptable, admissible and tenable and that the terrorists merely hid under the cloak of MEND to commit the heinous crime.

The President said that government KNOWS the perpetrators of the act and will do everything possible to apprehend them. He stated that government would re-examine the security situation in the country to face modern day challenges.

It would be recalled that in a release, MEND claimed responsibility for the attacks. But the president said that is not acceptable.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/jonathan-why-i-absolved-mend-over-oct-1-bombings/76863/

“After the incident, I spoke the following day when the ECOWAS parliament had a programme and when I visited the hospital where I said it was not MEND that committed the crime. That is the sin I have committed.

“And I always explain to people these car bombs first of all happened in Benin, Edo State, somebody even died and another in Bayelsa State, nobody made an investigation but they said it was Niger Delta crisis. It was buried under MEND, under Niger Delta crisis. Again, another one in Port Harcourt, luckily nobody died in that incident but it was buried. Not too long ago, Vanguard Newspaper was organising a programme in Warri, another one happened when governors and senior citizens of this country were meeting, nobody ordered an investigation and it was also buried, nobody was arrested. Then now in Abuja on October 1, they said MEND again, and I said no, we cannot continue to bury this under Niger Delta crisis or MEND. That is the sin I have committed.

“I believe as a nation, whether you are a member of MEND or not is not the issue. What I am saying is that don’t cover it up by using the name of Niger Delta or MEND. That is what I said. As at that time, they had arrested some people, some from Niger Delta some not from there. If we continue to do that, it will get to a time when it will travel far. From Benin to Port Harcourt and now to Abuja, it will also go to Maiduguri the next day. I believe that we must unearth those who are involved.”

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2010/10/02/mend-not-responsible-for-bomb-blasts-jonathan/

“What happened yesterday was a terrorist act and MEND was just used as a straw; MEND is not a terrorist group,” the President said.
He added that the people of the Niger Delta are aware of the efforts of the present administration to address the deprivation of the past and will not do anything to jeopardise the opportunity.

“It is erroneous to think that my people who have been agitating for good living will deliberately blow up the opportunity they have now,” Jonathan said. The President who prayed for the repose of the soul of those who lost their lives to the blast however promised that the nation’s security agencies will be restructured to be able to tackle such attacks in the future.