Many of NL supporters of MEND are quick to invoke the name of the great Wole Soyinka as endorsing MEND and its criminal activities because he is a member of the Aaron team charged with the negotiations with the Federal Government on its demands for peace in the Niger-Delta region.

These NL MEND terrorists have no regrets whatsoever for the terrorist activities of MEND including the cold blooded murder of innocent ND citizens.

Well, members of the Aaron team have started to dissociate themselves from MEND in light of the recent criminal bombing perpetrated by MEND.

I know nothing about MEND’s operation – Akhigbe

LEADER of the Aaron team of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, and former Chief of General Staff, CGS, Vice Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe (rtd) has confessed that he knew nothing about the modus operandi of the militant group.

Speaking to Vanguard, yesterday, on the abortion of its two-day post-amnesty dialogue  in Warri by the militant group, which detonated two bombs, 200 meters away from the Government House Annex, Warri venue of the talks, Vice-Admiral Akhigbe said he has not even been able to contact either Henry Okah or MEND since the incident.

He said Henry Okah is not based in the country, but, in South-Africa and that had made the line of communication between the two of them difficult in the past few days.

In his words,  “My brief with MEND has nothing to do with its operational method; it only has to do with the negotiations with the Federal Government on its demands for peace in the Niger-Delta region”.

The former PDP presidential aspirant was invited for the Vanguard post-amnesty dialogue and was due Warri on Tuesday for the conference, but,  the bombs were detonated on Monday, the first day of the programme.

Henry Okah, who is the assumed leader of MEND, told Vanguard when contacted few minutes after the explosions in Warri that information about the bomb blasts had just reached him. He asked for time to find out what happened.

Spokesman of the militant group who was also contacted by Vanguard  on why it aborted a post-amnesty dialogue by the paper, the media pace-setter on the Niger-Delta struggle, said it had no comments to make and no apology to make to anybody for its actions.

More outrage in N-Delta over bomb blasts
THERE was more outrage in the Niger- Delta yesterday over Monday’s bomb blasts by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, that disrupted two-day post-amnesty dialogue organised by Vanguard Newspapers.

Former national chairman of the Traditional Rulers of  Oil Minerals  Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, His Royal Majesty, Pere Charles Ayemi-Botu said, “I want to condemn in its entirety the bomb blasts in Warri, knowing fully well that the main plank of the two- day talk-shop was to remind both the State and Federal Governments not to consign the post-amnesty programme to the dust bin, but to fast track and pursue it vigorously in order to provide the much needed human capital and infrastructural development in the Niger Delta region.
On its part, the president of the Ijaw Youth Council worldwide, Dr. Chris Ekiyopr condemned bombing the venue of the conference, saying, “The council strongly feels that the action amount to shooting oneself on the foot if the claim by MEND is anything to go by”

“Such conference aimed at forcing the government to action and organised by Vanguard should have been a welcomed event by all as its outcome would throw new challenges for the government.

“Those behind the bombing certainly don’t want the crisis to end, I thought such aggrieved group, whether MEND or any other group, should have seized the opportunity to bring quality debate to the forum that can help drive the process further. It is even more appalling that MEND that enjoys so much media attention via the efforts of Vanguard will make a Vanguard programme its target”.

How does not knowing about the modus operandi of the freedom fighters amount to dissociating?.


You need to go for an evening english class.

how do u expect criminals to reason like sane people

they are nothing but vagabonds (MEND and co)

tkb417:

how do u expect criminals to reason like sane people

they are nothing but vagabonds (MEND and co)

seconded

@Ndukahausa, so too did Saleh Maina dissociate himself from the murders in jos but we know better, don't we ?

edoyad:

so too did Saleh Maina dissociate himself from the murders in jos but we know better, don't we ?

Are you trying to say that Akhigbe's statements are dishonest? Please explain what you mean.

I'm saying this for the uptenth time  - MEND are simply saboteurs with human human face and sympathy colouration.

Why cant they just give the government the benefit of doubt?

Useless MEND!

“Those behind the bombing certainly don’t want the crisis to end, I thought such aggrieved group, whether MEND or any other group, should have seized the opportunity to bring quality debate to the forum that can help drive the process further. It is even more appalling that MEND that enjoys so much media attention via the efforts of Vanguard will make a Vanguard programme its target”.

i was wondering about this too.

perhaps vanguard are also govt stooges

ndu_chucks - e be like say you catch ground with your headline. On a serious note even if he did know, would you expect him to admit it?

chosen04:

How does not knowing about the modus operandi of the freedom fighters amount to dissociating?.


You need to go for an evening english class.

You dey mind am?

Someone who associated himself after the Lagos blast will now dissociate himself after the comparatively mundane Warri blast?

Aaron team should press full on ahead with their negotiations independently. Aaron Team is to MEND what Sinn Fein is to IRA. Nobody has to question Aaron team because they are not involved in operations. Their only brief is to discuss politics.

SapeleGuy:

ndu_chucks - e be like say you catch ground with your headline. On a serious note even if he did know, would you expect him to admit it?

I respect the man enough to believe that he was not lying when he said he was not aware of the plan to set off the bombs.  You have to admit that MEND shot itself on the foot on this one.

Ibime:

You dey mind am?

Someone who associated himself after the Lagos blast will now dissociate himself after the comparatively mundane Warri blast?

Aaron team should press full on ahead with their negotiations independently. Aaron Team is to MEND what Sinn Fein is to IRA. Nobody has to question Aaron team because they are not involved in operations. Their only brief is to discuss politics.

Don't attempt to tarnish Akhigbe's image, you people have done enough to squander the goodwill you've been enjoying - MEND is a certified terrorist organization, the recent bombing is just another manifestation of this fact.

@chosen04 - na Ijaw I for go learn for evening class, olodo babe (prolly fine who knows).

@edoDEADyad, if you got any evidence against SALEH MAINA then you go to court, and if you dont have you should keep your fu-cking burkutu smelling gut-ter mouth shut, you DEAD piglet.

@ndu_chuks
Your style is not new. You try to tear down and sow discord from the inside but it is no more working. I wonder why you should prefer a name that sound Igbo on nairaland, or even okeymadu. It says a lot about how your mind works. MEND does not necessarily need Akighibe right now, you know why? Their bros is incharge. So deal with it. No matter how hard you try to divide MEND into 2 on nairaland, they keep doing their thing and command a lot of sympathy in the creeks. Ok, let me make it easier for you- the kind of sympathy YOU have for CRIMINAL Iranian dictatorship. Clearer now?

Frank-C:

@ndu_chuks
Your style is not new. You try to tear down and sow discord from the inside but it is no more working. I wonder why you should prefer a name that sound Igbo on nairaland, or even okeymadu. It says a lot about how your mind works. MEND does not necessarily need Akighibe right now, you know why? Their bros is incharge. So deal with it. No matter how hard you try to divide MEND into 2 on nairaland, they keep doing their thing and command a lot of sympathy in the creeks. Ok, let me make it easier for you- the kind of sympathy YOU have for CRIMINAL Iranian dictatorship. Clearer now?

Why don't you address any particular issue I've raised instead of your attention seeking attack on personalities? Do you support the recent killing of innocent ND civilians by MEND? Do you agree that the said innocent killings constitute acts of terrorism?

My userid is irrelevant to these issues. Wouldn't it be insane to assume that you are a white man because your userid is Frank? olodo

The political solution of which Akhigbe is a part, is separate from 'black operations' which are conducted on a need to know basis.

A new political movement that Nigerians can believe in is coming. Phee Dee Phee is terminally ill.

SapeleGuy:

The political solution of which Akhigbe is a part, is separate from 'black operations' which are conducted on a need to know basis.

A new political movement that Nigerians can believe in is coming. Phee Dee Phee is terminally ill.

There is no millitary solution for the ND problem, the political solution which people like Akhibe are working on is the only viable one. MEND is not doing any ND citizen a favor by disrupting this political process with terrorist activities.