MEND described members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) as criminals, who had been holding the Federal Government to ransom and forcing concessions.
The NDA members, according to MEND, also engage in militancy for their own personal aggrandizement.
The militant group (MEND) stated these yesterday in an online statement by its Spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo.
It expressed displeasure that successive governments and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the crude oil and gas-rich Niger Delta had repeatedly reneged on agreements entered into with the people of the region and also owing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) billions of naira in withheld funds.
MEND said: “Government is at liberty to negotiate with arm-twisting unions and criminal groups like the NDA, so long as such negotiations are done in the national interest.
“MEND is not opposed to government’s plan to negotiate with the recalcitrant NDA through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). Government must, however, not delude itself into thinking that negotiation with the NDA was tied to the resolution of the Niger Delta question.
“Negotiation with NDA is merely a temporary respite, as another opportunistic group is lurking in the shadows, but dialogue and resolution of the Niger Delta question will be a sustainable solution for all stakeholders.”
It added that, “MEND had repeatedly reiterated that the Niger Delta struggle was beyond attacks on oil installations. In fact, destruction of oil and gas pipelines is an elementary course in guerilla warfare, which can be carried out by any militant group.”
The group also stated that it (MEND) stopped attacks on oil installations more than two years ago, when the group unilaterally declared a ceasefire of hostilities on May 30, 2014 against Nigeria’s key economic and strategic interests.
It noted that since it declared ceasefire, it had relentlessly sought to engage the Federal Government in a sincere dialogue on the release of those it described as “Prisoners of Conscience,” including Henry and Charles Okah, as well as addressing the root issues bedeviling the Niger Delta, without success.
MEND stated that on January 6, 2015, when it realised that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, an indigene of Otuoke in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State, was not interested in dialogue on the Niger Delta question, the group endorsed Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate in the 2015 presidential election; in the belief that President Buhari would sincerely welcome dialogue.
