The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has condemned Ijaw National leader, Chief Edwin Clark and other leaders for being silent over a series of attacks on oil installations by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
MEND specifically questioned Chief Clark over his position on the restructuring and ongoing militancy, saying that the elder statesman lacks the moral authority to be championing for restructuring of the country.
In a statement by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, MEND said that Chief Clark and other leaders of the region kept quiet during the six-year administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan even as it called on the federal government to ignore the resolution reached at Friday’s Niger Delta stakeholders consultative meeting held at the PTI Conference Centre Effurun, Delta State.
The statement accused the leaders of the region for failing to categorically condemn the criminal and treasonable activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) which has claimed responsibility for series of attacks on oil facilities in the region.
MEND reiterated its support for the use of military against the militants in the region, even as it said that those who attended the meeting lacked the capacity to persuade the people of the Niger Delta to support the current efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to bring peace and development to the region. [myad]
