The group claims that the weapons returned were those bought by government officials for the militants and in effort to show that the group is still armed; they threatened to resume attacks on oil companies after the amnesty is over. Hundreds of militants turned up at the
The spokesperson for MEND, Jomo Gbomo, in a statement released after the event claimed that the event was a sorting process that has “separated those who still have the zeal to fight for our freedom from those who were in it for the money.” “That sorting process was again re-enacted in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state where weapons mostly bought by the government were displayed and the boys were separated from the men in the circus.”
The statement claims that “the charade witnessed in Bayelsa, on Saturday is not an indication of success but that of failure considering that the energy put into that event could have been better used in deliberating on the root issues collated in the Niger Delta Technical Committee report which addressed such germane issues from the Willink’s Commission of 1958 to date.” Hence the group claims that it will be compelled to resume attacks in the oil industry by the end of the ceasefire to prove the prevalence of weapons in the region.
“MEND will be compelled to resume with ferocious attacks on the oil industry at the end of our ceasefire on September 15, 2009 to prove that weapons being displayed are mostly government-owned and those surrendering them have not been part of the previous campaigns like Hurricanes Barbarossa, Piper Alpha and Moses that brought the government to their knees.” The group has also dissociated itself from negotiation talks with the Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta, Timi Alibe.
Source: twitter.com