Date Published: 05/20/09

MEND faults defence headquaters, JTF on Niger Delta Crisis

MOVEMENT for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the insurgent network locked in a bloody confrontation in Warri, the commercial nerve centre of Delta State, has faulted both the Defence Headquarters and the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the cause of the current bloodletting in the volatile oil and gas region.

MEND Spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, in an on-line statement yesterday said the Director of Defense Information (DDI), Col Chris Jemitota and the Spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col Rabe Abubakar, seem to have contradict themselves on the events leading to the ''indiscriminate bombardment, wanton destruction of property and killing of defenseless women, children and the elderly by the  armed forces of Nigeria''.

The DDI however, claimed that a rescue team that was sent to rescue  the seized vessel MV Spirit and its crew members were ambushed. The JTF on its part said earlier that their men were ambushed during an escort of a supply vessel belonging to Chevron, an American oil and gas major.

But the insurgent network is claiming that the Nigerian military does not have the capacity to conduct a successful hostage rescue.

According to them, ''the DDI said the crew were captured, tortured, killed and contents of the vessel stolen. While the fact remains that the vessel was only hijacked after the skirmish with the JTF to be used as leverage. The petroleum product contents of the vessel is such that can not be stolen and there was no need to torture or kill the crew. The two sailors killed were from the indiscriminate aerial attack''.

It seems while the JTF maintained that only two soldiers were injured, the DDI is admitting a higher casualty figures.

The Defence spokesman also claimed that villages with civilian inhabitants were not used as target practice by the Air Force jets. This, too, is being refuted by MEND. ''We challenge the military to allow local and international journalists access to the villages to see the shame of an ill-trained military'', Gbomo said.

Continuing, they added, ''it was obvious from DDI statement that the illegal commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Nigeria does not even have control over these vagabonds in uniform. For the record, we wish to state that only five militants have been killed in the aerial bombardment and the land battles''.

According to the insurgents, ''aside from Camp 5 where we made a tactical retreat, Camp Iroko remains intact contrary to the propaganda from the army that it has been taken. Soldiers have been harassing doctors in hospitals to search if there are injured men of fighting age with shrapnel or gun shot injuries''.  ENDS