Former militant leaders who were also commanders under the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said Monday that their lives were under threat by some persons who masquerade as leaders of MEND.
According to them, tthe fake MEND leaders want to force them to support of the ambition of the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
The former militant leaders, Reuben Wilson, popularly known as General Pastor, and Paul Eris, alias Ogunboss, therefore asked for security protection before, during and after next month’s elections.
For them, support for President Goodluck Jonathan is a fait accompli.
The former militants said that they would not be intimidated into supporting Buhari.
Last week, Jomo Gbomo, known to be the spokesman of MEND, had issued a statement to the media in which he warned Wilson, the president of the forum of all former militant camp leaders in the Niger Delta, called the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative, and Ogunboss to withdraw their avowed support for President Goodluck Jonathan and support Buhari or face unpleasant consequences.
In the statement, Gbomo said Jonathan was a failure and did not do anything for his people in Bayelsa State nor did he also perform as a Nigerian president to deserve the support of the former militant leaders.
Gbomo had warned them to watch their back, reconsider their stance against Buhari and retrace their steps.
But Wilson said on Monday that the former militant leaders would neither dump Jonathan nor support Buhari as the countdown to the presidential election begins.
Wilson said: “My attention has been drawn to the threat to my life and that of Ogunboss, my fellow freedom fighter, by some people who parade as MEND fighters. Their condition is that we must denounce Jonathan and support Buhari whom they claim to be supporting for the 2015 election.
“As much as I laugh over the threat, I am also worried because even though I know that there is nobody bearing the name Jomo Gbomo any longer, after we left the creeks and accepted the amnesty offer of the federal government, the fact that this same group of people have declared support for the APC and Buhari gives us some concern.
“We have always suspected that the so-called MEND’s endorsement of Buhari came from the APC and its agents because the name Jomo Gbomo is a name that anybody could use while we were in the creeks, fighting for the good of this country. We were the MEND commanders and we restate that having left the creeks, Jomo Gbomo also ceased to exist. If anybody is using Jomo Gbomo’s name to declare support for Buhari on behalf of MEND, that person must be an APC and a Buhari supporter.
“We know that the APC is capable of doing anything to be able to win the February 14 election. We suspect that the threat is coming from the APC agents who are worried about our consistency in the support for Jonathan. We wish to inform them that we will not eat our vomit. Our support for Jonathan is constant and final. We cannot support Buhari no matter the threat to our life.
“As we speak, there are speculations that some supporters of Buhari and the APC are planning to use some miscreants and gunmen to attack us on the waterways whenever we are going to campaign or mobilise support for the president, even on the election day. This will not deter us.
“For the avoidance of doubt, if the APC thinks they can rig the election using violence and intimidation in favour of Buhari, they should have a rethink because those of us who are the true sons of the Niger Delta will go back to the creeks to resist an unpopular government and we will make sure that our oil money is only used in the Niger Delta.
“But we are calling on the security agents to increase surveillance on the waterways especially in the Niger Delta during and after this election period. For us, we have made up our mind to go with Jonathan all the way. If the APC likes, let them recruit faceless MEND people to attack us, we are undaunted in this cause and will remain so.”
