[center][size=14pt]No Apologies! Im part of MEND - Tony Uranta[/size][/center]


He has an indomitable spirit. Despite being afflicted by an ailment that has kept him almost bedridden in the last few months, for Mr Tony Uranta it is never say never. The fight for justice, for equity in the Niger Delta and for an egalitarian society is, indeed, a fight for life.

Perhaps, inspired by his mentor, Prof Wole Soyinka, whose large framed portrait hung conspicuously on the wall of his modestly furnished living room, the Secretary-General of the United Niger Delta Economic Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS) may not have had the path of activism paved for him. But, somehow, providence played a role.

He says: “I honestly don’t know how I became an activist. All I know was that I was reading Economics. But even then I was writing for the nation’s premiere magazine, Newbreed Magazine (now defunct). I ended up becoming the editor. General Obasanjo detained me along with the publisher when I wrote about the utility value of the National Security Organisation (NSO).

“I also with time became Umaru Dikko’s assistant, even though I was never a card-carrying member of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). I became the campaign secretary for Cross River and River states. With time, I ended up with NADECO (National Democratic Coalition). But before I did so, I was under the tutelage for a short while of Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose office was just a stone throw from where I was staying. I loved his writing and person and I ended up loving his ideals. So, NADECO was a natural thing. Wole Soyinka mentored me a long time before all these and I ended up admiring MEND’s radical ideas, not radical as violent but radical as different. People dare to be different because it is such people that move society.”


Relationship with Okah and MEND

I am as much part of MEND’s think-tank as Prof Soyinka is part of the MEND think-tank or as Senator Fengle of the United States Senate is part of the MEND think-tank. We believe in fighting for justice and we believe in supporting anything that is right. We don’t believe in any form of injustice. The fact is that everything that happens everywhere affects all of us and we have to become more aware of that in these days when we live in a global village.

I assiduously fought for Okah’s release but not less than I fought for the release of Asari-Dokubo when he was held. I did not fight for Okah’s release less assiduously than I fought for Gani Adams or Dr Fredrick Fasehun or Ralph Uwazuruike when they were being held. I fought for the release of all these people the same way I fought for the release of (Olusegun) Obasanjo when General Sani Abacha wrongly held him.

I will not be party or sit down quietly and see injustice being perpetrated by anybody, including the injustice perpetrated sometimes in the Niger Delta by the Niger Deltans. I was always against the so-called militant struggle that took on a criminal toga and I will always oppose them. In fact, some so-called militants that we have embraced today as part of the struggle, as far as I am concerned were criminals through and through. But then people change and relationships change, and that is why somebody like Jacob Zuma, who was regarded as a terrorist, is today the president of South Africa. Even the most respected man living today, Nelson Mandela, was leader of a militant group, a terrorist group. But today, he is the most highly revered human being living. So, I go by what Rousseau said: “There is no permanent friend or enemy but permanent interest.”


Why I support MEND

I support MEND in so far as its fight is for justice. I will not support MEND or any other group when it begins to fight for injustice just as I have come out at different stages to oppose certain Niger Delta leaders because their leadership style was not in the common interest of the people. That is the same way I am ready to accept everybody across the board. For President Yar’Adua to say there are certain cabals or cartels living on bunkering, I will support the fight he is saying we should fight. But I will always remember that by 1998 when the major list of bunkerers was published by the Alliance for Democracy, Yar’Adua’s family led the primary cartel. So, I then asked, who in the family was involved? And they said Shehu Yar’Adua formed the cartel. Atiku Abubakar was also said to be in the cartel. Yar”Adua’s brothers, and I suppose that will include the major brother, Umaru, were all involved in the cartel. These are the facts of the situation. I am not cooking up anything; I am merely repeating what was said. It is up to you people (journalists) to go and find out how true or untrue the story is. It was published and if you want, I will send it to your e-mail address. It was published by the AD in trying to fight against the Peoples Democratic Party when it (PDP) put up Atiku as vice presidential candidate at that time.

who cares?.

babapupa:

who cares?.

Who cares if you care or not?

Wole Soyinka will soon come out the closet too. 

Soyinka is solidly behind MEND.

God bless men like Uranta and Soyinka. They are more than adequate to fill Gani's shoes (God rest his soul).

God bless MEND.

I wonder about that oil bunkering list. Could it be true? Maybe a whole new chapter is being opened with this.