MEND accuses Jonathan, N’Delta leaders of conspiracy with Avengers

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday accused Former President Goodluck Jonathan and other Niger Delta leaders, of “ungodly conspiracy of silence” over recent wave of attacks on oil facilities in the region by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
Before the Presidential Amnesty in 2008, MEND was the apex body for all militant groups in the Niger Delta agitating for increased control of the proceeds from the country’s oil exploitation.
The Avengers recently started attacks on oil and gas installations in the region, cutting Nigeria’s daily oil production from about 2.2 million to 1.7 million barrels.
The new group has vowed to reduce Nigeria’s oil production to zero until the federal government concedes to its demand of a sovereign Niger Delta state.
In a statement signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, MEND called the attacks “unprovoked”, saying many perpetrators were former MEND commanders who embraced the previous governments’ amnesty programme without knowing why they took up arms in the first place. T
he group noted the sustained neglect of the region by successive administrations in the country since oil was discovered in commercial quantity in 1958, saying “Nigeria has short-changed the Niger Delta region and pillaged the commonwealth generated from the region in association with International Oil Companies who have not done enough to protect and sustain the environment”.
MEND said it is concerned about the situation in the region, “particularly because of the colossal failure of former President Goodluck Jonathan – an indigene of the region, who was at the helm of affair for six years – to address the remediation of our environment.