
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.
►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.
MEND endorses Buhari, accuses President Jonathan of failing Nigeria
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Oleh
healthandwealth