The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has accused the Federal Government of not showing any interest in peace talks that, it believes, will address the root causes of the violence in the oil-rich region.
MEND’s spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, in an email interview with NEXT, said, as the deadline for militants to accept the government’s amnesty offer expired yesterday, “...anything can happen. We cannot speculate at this time what will happen”.
Mr. Gbomo said: “The government, through its Minister for Defence, does not seem interested in dialogue that is not induced by violence from the comments coming out of his mouth. Godwin Abbe has shown disrespect for the eminent Nigerians that offered their time to mediate on our behalf by his sarcastic utterances. He has shown that regardless of what we do, the government is avoiding direct talks on the root issues.”
Mr. Gbomo, however, said the group is still open to dialogue and that the onus now rests with the government to reach out to its intermediaries.
“What happens next depends on how soon the government begins to dialogue with our mediators on what MEND is fighting for, which happens to be the root issues that sparked the unrest in the first place... immediately they are invited by government, I am sure they will respond.”
Senior MEND commanders, Farah Dagogo, Boyloaf, Ateke Tom, and Government Tompolo, have all accepted the government’s amnesty offer. These commanders have been at the fore of MEND’s struggle, and with their having accepted the amnesty, security officials are of the view that MEND might have been weakened; hence it cannot carry out or sustain any further attacks even if it attempts to.
But Mr. Gbomo said: “In the first place, the commanders are dispensable and attacks have never centred on any one person. The group was built in a manner that nobody is indispensable and as such the exit of any pillar does not have any effect on the entire structure. All commanders have been replaced by unknown commanders and the next phase of our campaign will commence soon.”
Time for intellectuals
He added that the militant group is geared towards allowing intellectuals to dictate the next phase of their struggle.
“Our focus is on giving the intellectual component a chance and if they do not get that opportunity, we will see about the next logical step.”
He said the MEND disarmament process will only come after the root causes of militancy and agitation in the Niger Delta have been addressed by the Federal Government.