The Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta, MEND, on Tuesday threw
its weight behind the presidential
candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, at
the same time, launching a scorching
attack on President Goodluck Jonathan.
In a three-page statement signed by a
spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, MEND said
it endorsed and fully support Mr.
Buhari, after careful consideration of the
state of the nation.
The group said the decision to support
the APC presidential candidate stems
from the pathetic level the Jonathan
administration has brought the country.
The group said the president does not
deserve to be given a second at the Aso
Villa immediately his tenure expires
because of his continuous and blatant
disregard for the people who voted him
into office.
“This is a president that told Nigerians to
their faces that he does not ‘give a damn’
when asked to declare his assets. A
requirement that is constitutional on
assuming the office of the President,”
wrote Mr. Gbomo.
“President Jonathan, since assuming
office, has setup countless committees
but none of the reports has ever been
implemented. From the Nuhu Ribadu
report to the KPMG and Fuel Subsidy
reports, just to mention a few.
“How can Nigerians expect a highly
corrupt person like Goodluck Jonathan to
fight corruption when he believes that
stealing is not corruption, as he
shamelessly told the Nation?
“He has proven beyond all reasonable
doubt, his inability to tackle corruption
or prosecute a single government official
in his six (6) years in office.”
According to him, MEND finds Mr.
Jonathan’s recent plan to fight
corruption “laughable”, saying it not
only smacked of ignorance but also
shows how stupid the president thinks
Nigerians are.
“A president that had six years to tackle
corruption but choose to shield corrupt
government officials and also partake in
looting the nation’s resources, MEND
argued, lacks the temerity to say his has
a plan to fight corruption,” the group
said.
“We re-state our disregard and lack of
confidence in President Goodluck
Jonathan. Rather than address the
perennial issues in the country
responsible for his administrations
failures, he is concentrating government
funds in a campaign of misinformation
intended to hoodwink Nigerians who,
unfortunately for him, are now wiser
and smarter than he is.
“Goodluck Jonathan’s actions, utterances
and arrogance prove that he is totally
disconnected with the situation facing
the ordinary Nigerian and completely
out of touch with reality,” MEND
indicated.
MEND, with roots in the oil-rich Niger
Delta, stood as the face of a militant
struggle against the Nigerian government
for years, launching attacks on oil
installations, and confronting
government forces.
The violence largely ended after the
government offered amnesty to fighters
in the region who said they were
pushing for greater share of oil and gas
resources in the region, although the
government said the claim was a mere
cover for criminality.
To date, MEND has not formally accepted
the amnesty offer.
The group blames Mr. Jonathan for the
arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of
its leader, Henry Okar, by the South
African government. Mr. Okar is serving
a 24-year term in South Africa.
The militant group commended Mr.
Buhari for planning to scrap the office of
the First Lady if elected president, saying
that apart from serving as the conduit
for plunder, the office is irrelevant,
fraudulent and unconstitutional.
Mr. Gbomo noted how Mrs. Jonathan
narrowly escaped being charged to court
for attempting to launder stolen money
to the United Kingdom, barely a few
months after the husband was sworn in
as president.
He said a former Governor of Delta
State, James Ibori, failed to escape the
long hands of the law and was arrested,
prosecuted and jailed in the UK for the
same offence Mrs. Jonathan got a
reprieve.
Mr. Gbomo lampooned Mrs. Jonathan
for her initial criticism of the
BringBackOurGirls campaigners and
accused both the president and the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for
continuously exploiting national
tragedies for political gains.
He said the party and the government
twisted the Boko Haram insurgency for
political gains while also exploiting
regional and religious sentiments as
strategy to cover up their failure to rein
in the bloody group.
MEND said the Niger Delta region has
experienced excruciating poverty since
Mr. Jonathan, an indigene of the area,
became Nigeria’s president.
While multinational oil firms have
continuously exposed the region to worst
levels of pollution and environmental
degradation, MEND said the president
has failed to openly condemn such
criminal acts or sanction irresponsible
oil firms.
It accused corrupt government officials
and those it described as “pot-bellied
generals” as well as the military Joint
Task Force and the Nigerian Navy for
aiding the multi-billion dollar oil theft in
the Niger Delta region.
The group said the once respected
Nigerian Army has been reduced to a
ragtag army by the Boko Haram
insurgents, stating “It can only take a
bold and courageous man like General
Muhammadu Buhari to tackle the
insecurity and oil theft plaguing the
nation.”
“The Niger Delta region has the Ministry
of the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC, the
Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP
and the largest percentage in oil revenue
allocation, yet the region has nothing to
show for all these due to a very corrupt
government and systems in place.
“We are confident that a General
Mohammadu Buhari presidency would
probe these agencies and divert all stolen
revenue back to the development of the
region and Nigeria as a whole,” Mr.
Gbomo stated.


Source: Premium Times

I will assume i did'nt read this news

#TeamGEJmustGO
vote GMB Osinbajo 4 a better Nigeria!

Edited

Y won't they pretend 2 support GMB wen they know d ship of PDP is already sinking

Me no knw much abt politic buh am liking this buhari

Oya Op giv me sauce if u know get stew

PDP oyah ask for source

There are things we read via the internet and tend to ignore and they are things like this.

MEND will say GEJ has failed them and not Nigerians because they are far too little to speak for the generality of a country of over 170million people.

I would still call this another political propaganda!

It has finish just like Jesus said @ the end of his mission.

Oluwatosean:
Me no knw much abt politic buh am liking this buhari

I biliv u made this statement because u want d best for this country.........May d good lord bless u and your family as well

#teamGMB

MEND is dead. These ones are pirates and pipeline vandals whose operations has been hampered by NIMASA and JTF.
Buhari is getting endorsement from criminals parading themselves as MEND.

This na yawa for Jonathan o!

Basildvalour:
There are things we read via the internet and tend to ignore and they are things like this.

MEND will say GEJ has failed them and not Nigerians because they are far too little to speak for the generality of a country of over 170million people.

I would still call this another political propaganda!

Very few Nigerians would be surprised of MEND's stance if the story is true. We all know that birds of identical plummage most of the time flock together. Was Buhari not nominated by Boko Haram as a negotiator with the Federal Govt? Boko Haram and MEND are look-alike twins.

Rexsul:
Oya Op giv me sauce if u know get stew

Its there already ! what are you taking it with. lol

Rexsul:
I will assume i did'nt read this news

#TeamGEJmustGO
vote GMB Osinbajo 4 a better Nigeria!

Edited

Y won't they pretend 2 support GMB wen they know d ship of PDP is already sinking

Even if GEJ is related to Adolph Hitler, MEND will still back him.