MEND working against Niger Delta’s interest, says group

The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) has been accused of working against the interest of the region and its people.The Foundation for Human Rights and Anti Corruption Crusade (FNRHACC) said the attack on Chief Edwin Clark and other leaders for agreeing to work with the Avengers on the proposed dialogue with the Federal Government was disappointing.

Its national coordinator, Alaowei Cleric, said: “MEND who claimed to be speaking for the region should not constitute itself as enemy of peace in the region. It cannot claim to be representing the interest of the people when it has shown itself to be the clog in the wheel of progress. There is no other better way to express ill feelings towards peace in the region than MEND’s discordant tune against the Niger Delta leaders.

“We disagree with MEND’s umbrage at Pa Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Stakeholders. Good or bad, these people represent the collective interest of the region than any sectional court jesters. With its recent hostility towards the person of Chief Edwin Clark and other Niger Delta leaders for being in the vanguard of restoring peace to the volatile region, we are forced to believe that MEND is now a militia arm of some selfish politicians to foment strife in the region.

“To us, the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups have done nothing wrong to collapse their grievances in the hands of the leaders to engage the Federal Government in dialogue. That is what the Niger Delta people have been yearning for. Now that the militants have tactically surrendered to the Federal Government, we expect nothing less from MEND than to join forces with the stakeholders to get peace back to the region. It looks like the new voice of MEND is just a compilation of political jobbers who want to enrich their pockets with the crisis in the region. We call on President Buhari to ignore the ranting of those self-seeking political buccaneers.”