ON a day that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND threatened to strike at more states in the region, the Rivers State government and the former Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo were yesterday engaged in a verbal war on the escalation of violence in the state.
In a reaction to Sekibo’s statement On Thursday that Governor Chibuike Ameachi’s two-week ultimatum to the Okrika community to produce the leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement, Tom Ateke was not realistic, the state government accused him of sponsoring violence in Okrika and other communities in the state.
Ameachi had also threatened to arrest parents of suspected militants in the area if they failed to produce them.
Okrika is the stronghold of Ateke and the native home of Sekibo.
On allegations that he sponsors militancy in the region and also a member of some cult groups, Sekibo said: ” I categorically and strongly deny any link with any of the militant and cult groups. I’ve never sponsored violence in the Rivers State either now or in the past. I hold strongly to the Christian ethics and I am a medical doctor who preserves lives and so I cannot destroy life at the same time.”
But the state government insisted that Sekibo is among the key sponsors of violence in the state and his native Okrika community to score political reasons.
Director of Press to the Governor, Mr. Ogbonna Nwuke, who made the allegation, asked Sekibo to seek forgiveness over his role in the crisis that had engulfed Rivers.
Nwuke said Sekibo who had presided over violence against his own people because of his quest for political control in the last eight years cannot claim to be speaking for them.
He said that the people of Rivers State were not in any way deceived by Sekibo’s pretentious attempt to speak for them.
He said that the governor’s visit to Okrika last Wednesday was predicated on the imperative need to maintain peace and security in the town.
Explaining his position on the matter, Sekibo said: “The point I am making is that if the governor wants Ateke Tom, the way to do it is not to go and threaten over a million indigenes of a community. That is not the way to go about it.”
Sekibo said Amaechi’s threat was not only capable of causing internal problems in the Okrika but also disaffection between the Okrika people and the Ikwere community from where the governor hails.
“When you hear some of the things he said as a governor, they were statements that were unbecoming of any governor, which will only inflame sentiments within that community,” he said.
And in case you are a resident or a visitor to Delta and Akwa Ibom states, beware! Your closeness to any military posts or facilities in the two states and other cities in Rivers and Bayesla states could endanger your life.
This is because MEND declared yesterday that it was extending its operations to Uyo in Akwa Ibom State and Asaba, the Delta State capital. Similar attacks would also be carried out in Yenagoa in Bayelsa and Port Harcourt in Rivers states, which are currently under the militants’ siege.
MEND warned residents of the affected cities to avoid milling around military checkpoints and Armoured Personnel Carries (APC).
In a statement posted on the Internet yesterday, “MEND commiserated with the families of the victims of the New Year dawn clash in Port Harcourt between the fighters of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement and the police.”
The group’s spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, blamed the Joint Task Force (JTF) raid on Ateke Tom’s camp in Okrika for the attack. He noted that the burning of Ateke’s property was uncalled for.
Gbomo said in spite of MEND’s differences with Ateke Tom, “we will support him with fighters and heavy weapons including anti- aircraft batteries as he engages the JTF.”
MEND alleged that in spite of the huge budget for the military by the Federal Government, greedy officers in the Joint Task Force (JTF) had continued to hoodwink the governors in the region for money under one excuse or the other.
“We salute our agents inside the armed forces for a job well done! The leakage of classified information meant to annihilate us during a fraudulent peace initiative has prepared us for the bloody fight in 2008. Our goal remains to paralyse 100 per cent of Nigeria’s oil export in one swipe,” he said.