Two former leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and Henry Okah have allayed fears of the possible resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta.<\/p>\n
Their assurance came on the heels of Wednesday\u2019s threat by MEND\u2019s Jomo Gbomo to resume violence through \u201cHurricane Exodus\u201d from today (Friday) at 00:00 hrs over the March 26 sentencing of Mr. Henry Okah in South Africa to 24 years jail term for the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts in Abuja.<\/p>\n
But despite the assurance, tension pervaded the creeks of the oil-rich region last night.<\/p>\n
Residents of riverine communities in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states told our reporter they noticed movement of a large number of security operatives, particularly men of the Nigerian Army and Navy at the waterways.<\/p>\n
Spokesperson for the Joint Task Force (JTF) Lt. Colonel Onyeama Nwachukwu, confirmed that troops were indeed deployed.<\/p>\n
He said the move was to warn trouble makers of the JTF readiness to tackle any threat to peace.
\nTompolo and Okah attributed the fresh threat to impersonators.<\/p>\n
Okah blamed the threat on \u201ca group of people in Northern part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tompolo told The Nation in a telephone chat yesterday that the author of the threat was an impostor and a criminal using the name of the group without permission.<\/p>\n
Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, who spoke for him said: \u201cThe MEND founded by Tompolo has been disbanded; whoever is making this fresh threat must be a criminal aiming to use the name of the group for selfish purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did not receive the backing of High Chief Ekpemupolo before the issuing that statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
He advised security agents to be on the alert for criminals who have hijacked the group and are now using its name to foment trouble.<\/p>\n
Another statement signed by Commander Azizi, who claimed to be speaking for the Henry Okah-led MEND, said the embattled warlord was not in any way connected with the threat.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI have been mandated by Mr. Henry Okah to issue a statement condemning the alleged publication credited to MEND, which is not from us (MEND-Okah).<\/p>\n
\u201cJomo Gbomo is no longer in existence as he was part of the old breed command; all authentic statements from MEND are issued through our spokesperson Comrade Azizi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Azizi said that despite his situation, \u201cOkah is not associated with the publication, adding that \u201cneither did he in anyway issue such directives to anybody to kill or destroy infrastructures in the Niger Delta region or any part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okah, according to him, warned that plots to bomb locations in the Niger Delta region would be resisted.
\n\u201cWe (MEND-Okah) are strongly warning any group or persons by any name from the North that any attempt to bomb our region will not be tolerated which may automatically result to war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: The Nation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two former leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and Henry Okah have allayed fears of the possible resurgence of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n