The Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders have said that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is no longer relevant in the current agitation spear-headed by the Niger Delta Avengers.
The group in a statement said, “Let us placed on record the role of former militant leaders such Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, ex-MEND leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, Farah Dagogo and others, but queried the authority of MEND to speak for Niger Delta militants. “We want to ask, which MEND is speaking for the people of Niger Delta, is it the one that accepted amnesty or the one with a divided house that its leader, Henry Okah and brother, Charles Okah, in jail or the one John Togo was part and parcel of?
“Is it the one that set up Aaron team 1 that consisted of distinguished personalities like the Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, but was turned down by Boy-loaf and his mentor, which MEND”? Spokesperson of the group WOI Izon- Ebi queried.
The group said further: “Nigerians and the Niger Deltans know that they have been long settled by the Amnesty and pipeline surveillance so they should stop distracting Mr. President from dialoguing with the Niger Delta aggrieved militants. Nobody is taking them seriously because their time is long gone as the Niger Deltans are wiser now.
“We are proudly in support of the Niger Delta Avengers and in solidarity, and we will continue to wage the war against injustice. We want to state it categorically clear to every Nigerian that we respect Alhaji Asari Dokubo because he is a vocal man and he stands for the truth. We urge him to continue to speak and stand for the truth. We want to use this medium to tell the world how we appreciate Government Epkomupolo (Tompolo) because he is a blessing to the Niger Delta and the Ijaw nation in particular. He is a man of peace and he represents the symbol of the Ijaw nation (peace).
