Daily Trust (Abuja)

Nigeria: MEND Threatens Deadly Offensive That Might Bring Down Country

Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, the umbrella body for all militant groups in Nigeria's Niger Delta on Saturday broke its more than a year-long silence with a stern warning to the government in South Africa to stop meddling in Nigeria's internal politics or risk dire consequences.

The group also threatened to attack Nigeria like never before, in a manner that might lead to the disintegration of the country.

In a strong worded statement dated January 23, 2013 and signed by one Comrade Azizi, MEND said last week's conviction of its leader and founder, Henry Okah by the South African Supreme Court on all 13 counts charge of complicity in the 2010 Independence Day bombing in Abuja amounted to a betrayal.

Describing the conviction as part of "Aso Rock politics on a man simply because he refused to be bought over", the militant group said its High Command is compelled to advise South Africans to tell their government to stay away from Nigeria.

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  • ookoroafor
    Jan 28 2013, 05:37

    Let me try to add this together. MEND is angry at the South African government for convicting Henry Okah of terrorism but they are allegedly threatening to destroy Nigeria in response. Either this new group of MEND members are insane or the writer of this article wants to instill fear into Nigerians. Considering the fact that the military and the police have put up checkpoints on major highways in the name of fighting terrorism (a fight that they are not coming close to winning) and harassing innocent civilians, and the fact that Goodluck Jonathan has shown dictatorial tendencies with his policies makes me think that fear needs to be injected into society so Nigerians will tolerate greater losses of freedom.