Posted by By FEMI FOLARANMI, Yenagoa on
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has slammed the administration of President Umar Musa Yar' Adua, declaring that after one year in office, the government has failed.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has slammed the administration of President Umar Musa Yar' Adua, declaring that after one year in office, the government has failed.
The group, in a statement by Jomo Gbomo, claimed responsibility for attack on a major pipeline at Awoba Flow station in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers in the early hours of Monday.
According to the group, the attack on the facility owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was dedicated to the Presidency for its failure in its first one year to return peace to the Niger Delta region.
The statement reads in part: 'On Monday, May 26, 2008 at 0100 Hrs, backed by heavily armed fighters, detonation engineers from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) successfully sabotaged another major trunk pipeline at Awoba Flow Station in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company.
'Minutes after the sabotage, our fighters encountered a military gunboat, which opened fire blindly on the advance guard. We flanked them in a counter-attack and killed, in close combat, all the drunken soldiers numbering 11, collecting their weapons, ammunition and bullet-proof vests before using dynamite to sink the gunboat with its dead occupants.
'The two traumatized adolescent girls found in the company of the soldiers were hurt, not from the skirmish, but from gang rape by the soldiers of the Nigerian Army. They were dropped off in the neighboring village by our men who have since returned safely to camp.
'Today's attack is dedicated to the administration of Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan who have failed, after one year in office, to ensure peace, security and reconciliation in the Niger Delta region."
However, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Rivers State denied the attack on the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) pipeline at Awoba flow station.
The Public Relations Officer of JTF in Rivers State, Capt Sagir Musa, in a telephone interview said though miscreants could have blown up a riser close to the facility, there were no soldiers guarding the facility that would have warranted them being attacked by MEND.
According, to him there is no iota of truth in the claims by MEND that it carried out the attack and killed soldiers.
Musa explained that MEND's purported attack is to mislead the public and further cause tension in the region.