Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe, said on Saturday that Friday's bloody blasts in Abuja could only be the handiwork of one man masquerading as the Niger Delta armed group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

He said the Niger Delta peace process, anchored on an amnesty programme by the federal government, was still on course with the core of the former fighters on board.

He disclosed that security agencies had intelligence on the attack and had removed and detonated explosives in vehicles at major locations like the State House car park and Transcorp Hilton motor park, saying the bombers managed to plant their devices in vehicles parked away from the anniversary venue.

But Alaibe told THISDAY that all the leaders of MEND, except Mr. Henry Okah, had accepted the federal government amnesty programme for repentant militants and were cooperating with the government.

The amnesty was designed for those who had borne arms in the Niger Delta and were ready to turn their backs on armed struggle.

Alaibe said the men who were the faces of MEND, namely, Mr Victor Ben Ebikabowei (alias General Boyloaf), Government Ekpumopolo, and Farah Dagogo, had surrendered their arms and were working closely with the federal government in the implementation of the amnesty package.

The rest of the story on the next post , to avoid spam bot confusion.

"Everyone in the structure knows Jomo Gbomo is Henry Okah. There is no MEND sitting anywhere in any camp. It's all Henry Okah, through and through," Alaibe said.

He said the bombing "has nothing to do with the amnesty, but it has everything to do with politics. The bombers are not the boys we are dealing with."

The presidential aide called Okah a "gun runner" who specialised in procuring operatives for terrorist acts.

"Somebody is carrying out a terrorist act. It is no agitation. It is outside agitation completely. It is pure terrorism," Alaibe said, explaining, "Our effort to resolve the Niger Delta crisis is impacting on the region because since we started, we have seen the crisis really abate."

Alleging that Okah's MEND had lost public goodwill, Alaibe recalled Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka's deadline to MEND to go straight on the Niger Delta peace efforts or he would resign his nomination by the group as a member of the negotiating team between MEND and the federal government.

However, sources in the Niger Delta say the federal government is dragging its feet on promises to repentant militants and unconsciously creating incentive for the people to go back to old acts like the one in Abuja on Friday.

"While we strongly condemn Henry Okah and his so-called MEND, we exercise some reservation over how the federal government has responded to the understandings reached with those who have surrendered arms in line with the amnesty initiative," a man, who preferred anonymity for fear of repercussions from the militants and the government, told THISDAY in Port Harcourt.


Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201010030026.html

Looks like they are trying to isolate Henry Orkah and blame  all terrorist acts by MEND on Okah's faction. Let's hope gej and his cohorts understand that Nigerians are no fools, when it comes to matters like this.

ndu_chucks:

Looks like they are trying to isolate Henry Orkah and blame all terrorist acts by MEND on Okah's faction. Let's hope gej and his cohorts understand that Nigerians are no fools, when it comes to matters like this.

Every reputable news agency on the Globe is reporting Okah as the ex-leader of MEND. So its almost a given that he has no connection with MEND anymore, especially since he relocated to SA.

This should be of greater concern to you;

[size=14pt]2011: Militants hold secret meetings with IBB, Buhari[/size]
•Ex-military president given conditions
By Tribune 05/09/2010 17:00:00
Written by Idowu Samuel and Emmanuel Adeniyi Monday, 06 September 2010

THERE are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to strike a deal with leaders of key militant groups in the Niger Delta to strengthen his chances of winning the South-South zone if he decides to run in the 2011 presidential election.
Indications to this effect emerged in the light of efforts by leaders of the militants, who had given up on the government amnesty initiative to engage presidential aspirants from the North in exploratory talks on how to fit into their presidential programmes.

Two leaders of militant groups which surrendered arms in the wake of the Federal Government’s amnesty had arrived in Abuja last week to hold talks with northern presidential aspirants, including General Ibrahim Babangida and General Muhammadu Buhari.

[size=14pt]Nigerian Tribune learnt through aides of the aspirants that the militants complained that they were not being consulted by President Jonathan.[/size]

The militant heads were said to have canvassed a view that their full participation in the ongoing political process would enhance their resolve to finally discard the toga of militancy, just as they reportedly expressed dismay that their efforts to dissolve into the campaign programme of President Jonathan were not being appreciated.

It is not certain which specific roles the militants desired to play in the presidential campaigns of the aspirants, whom they reportedly met. [size=14pt]However, it was disclosed that tentative agreements were reached by the campaign team of General Buhari that they should make a bold appearance during his inaugural campaign summit scheduled to take place in Abuja any moment from now.

Checks within the IBB campaign organisation revealed that none of the militant leaders was able to meet the Minna general in person, but reportedly met his aides in Abuja and told them about their desire to feature in his campaign programmes.[/size]

When the militants met with the representatives of the ex-president recently, Nigerian Tribune gathered that they vowed to support him if he agreed to a one-term tenure and hand over power to a candidate from the South-South geopolitical zone in 2015.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Babangida was told to rescind his decision of handing over to a candidate from the South-East, choose a vice-president from South-South, implement the white paper of the Ledun Mittee committee and create additional states in the South-South geopolitical zone.

Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the militants were working with notable South-South governors, who were said to be working underground for different northern presidential aspirants following their irreconcilable differences with President Jonathan.

http://news.nigeriadailynews.com/news/4943-2011_militants_hold_secret_meetings.html