Melinda’s Press Release:
In the past months, we have watched with great interest, the plot by political stakeholders to wrest political power by any means possible from Dr Goodluck Jonathan. We have seen an alliance of very strange bedfellows including sons of the Niger Delta and people who have been strong beneficiaries of the agitation of the Niger Delta.
We have seen the resources of Rivers State deployed to undermine a Presidency led by Dr Jonathan, a son of the Niger Delta. We have also seen the corrupt earnings of a former Governor of Bayelsa State being used to oil the violent political machinery of General Muhammadu Buhari. We have seen all that.
On January 21, 2015, the presidential convoy of Dr Goodluck Jonathan GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was attacked by politically sponsored thugs of the APC presidential candidate. Thankfully, the President escaped unhurt.
It is unfortunate that President Jonathan does not appear to understand what is at stake in the game of political leadership over the Nigerian state. It is time for him so see that peaceful rhetorics like “my ambition is not the blood of any Nigerian’ does not matter to some especially for those who have enjoyed a military background that includes coup d’etats, defence sabotage and political vandalism.
We declare and warn in very strong terms, that any further attack on the President in any Northern state will lead to violence, bloodshed and destruction like never before witnessed in the history of Black Africa.
It is important to note that even as we have our grudges with President Jonathan, it is sacrilegious to attack an illustrious son of the Niger Delta. We will neither forgive nor forget.
For too long now, the people of the Niger Delta have been raped and overly wronged by the so-call Northern hegemony who have today found an alliance with a power hungry bloc from the South West region in their rabid quest to wrest power from a son of the Niger Delta who continues to refuse to accept the real issues at stake and still believes that humility and meekness is a virtue in 21st Century Nigeria.
In the next few weeks, in line with emerging and evolving realities, we will begin to do what we think is right. Anyone who is part of the plot to undermine Dr Jonathan will be punished in what will be tagged “Operation Locust Feast”.
At the moment, we urge all combatants in the Niger Delta to continue to exercise restraint in the face of the continued provocative persecution on Dr Jonathan. Those who think that we have lost our capacity for nauseous nuisance value must be made to see that the chicken has come to roost and that push has indeed come to shove.
The Nigerian state might just never be the same again. The time has come!
Joshua Gowa
Spokesperson, Movement for the Liberation of the Niger Delta [MELINDA]
(Credit: Elombah)