MEND Backs Buhari, Says No Second Term For Jonathan

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, Nigeria 2015 Election Tuesday, January 6th, 2015

Ayodele Afolabi, Abuja – The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND has endorsed and fully support the Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress ( APC ), General Mohammadu Buhari.

MEND in a statement signed by its spokesperson Jomo Gbomo on Tuesday said its decision stems from the pathetic state in which the country has been put by the government of Goodluck Jonathan its strong believe in General Mohammadu Buhari as the man and change the country needs.

The controversial Niger Delta based organisation said that Jonathan does not deserve a second more term in the Presidency adding that as soon as his tenure expires he should leave.

“He has continuously and blatantly disregarded the very people who voted him into office.

“A President that told Nigerian to their faces that he does not “give a damn” when asked to declare his assets. A requirement that is constitutional on assuming the office of the President.

“President Jonathan, since assuming his office, has setup countless number of “Committees”, none of which their reports has ever been implemented. From the Nuhu Ribadu report to the KPMG and Fuel Subsidy reports, just to mention a few”, said MEND.

Continuing, MEND wondered how Nigerians expect a highly corrupt person like Goodluck Jonathan to fight corruption when he believes that “stealing is not corruption”, as he shamelessly told the Nation.”

On the office of the first lady, MEND commends General Buhari for his plans, when elected as President, to scrap the so-called “Office of the First Lady”.

“This is obviously an irrelevant, fraudulent and unconstitutional office, whose only purpose is to further plunder the resources of the country.

“Nigerians and the EFCC appear to have forgotten that this “First Lady” Mrs Patience Jonathan was in the process of being charged with attempts to launder stolen money to the United Kingdom, barely a few months after President Jonathan was sworn in as President. The same offence former Governor James Ibori was charged with”.

On the Niger Delta region, MEND said that since President Jonathan assumed office, the Niger Delta region has experienced excruciating poverty faced by the people, worse pollution and environmental degradation and not once has he ever come out to openly condemn the destruction of the environment by the activities of irresponsible oil companies.

“Recent reports confirm the country is losing billions of Dollars in oil revenue due to oil theft. This theft has been aided by the pot-bellied Nigerian Army generals, in connivance with corrupt Nigerian government officials, the Joint Task Force and the Nigerian Navy.

“It is no wonder the once respected Nigerian Military has been reduced to a ragtag Army by the Boko Haram Terrorists. It can only take a bold and courageous man like General Mohammadu Buhari to tackle the insecurity and oil theft plaguing the nation.

“The Niger Delta region has the Ministry of the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Presidential Amnesty Programme ( PAP ) and the largest percentage in oil revenue allocation, yet the region has nothing to show for all these due to a very corrupt government and system in place.

“We are confident that a General Mohammadu Buhari presidency would probe these agencies and divert all stolen revenue back to the development of the region and Nigeria as a whole”, said MEND.

MEND condemned other militant groups: “Regrettably, our so-called “Freedom Fighters”, “Niger Delta Activists”, “elders”, Royal Fathers and politicised groups such as the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDESS) and several other castrated and myopic groups from the region have lost focus.

“Rather than speaking out against corruption, impunity, under development, degradation of our environment, unemployment and the impoverished living of the ordinary Niger Deltan, prefer to turn themselves into political praise singers of the government to enrich themselves while the region is still licking the wounds of marginalization.

“We say you are all cowards and shame unto you all! You now feast on the sweat and blood of great Niger Delta leaders like Isaac Adaka Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa while the region remains impoverished, underdeveloped and polluted”.