Sunday, April 14, 2013

MEND Threatens to Bomb Mosques, Hajj Camps, Clerics in Nigeria

MEND threatens to bomb mosques, hajj camps, clerics

MEND threatens to bomb mosques, hajj camps, clerics

Posted by: Shola O’Neil, Warri and Bisi Olaniyi, Yenagoa on April 15, 2013
Nigerian Nation

BARELY a week after it claimed responsibility for the killing of 12 policemen in Bayelsa State, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has served another threat notice.

It plans to launch a bombing campaign against mosques and Islamic institutions in what it tagged “Operation Barbarossa”.

“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade,” its spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mailed statement.

According to the statement, Operation Barbarossa will be launched on May 31.

MEND, however, gave a condition for a ceasefire – intervention of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Catholic Church and Henry Okah, who is in a South African prison.

The militant group at the weekend stepped up its promised attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta region through its “Hurricane Exodus”.

It claimed to have destroyed the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited’s (SPDC’s) Well 62 at Ewellesuo comminity in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Jomo Gbomo said his group was proposing Operation Babarossa to save Christianity from extinction in the country.

The latest threat by the militant group followed last Thursday’s rejection by Boko Haram of the proposed amnesty being considered by the Federal Government.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau insisted that the fundamentalist sect had not done anything wrong to warrant amnesty from the government.

MEND’s latest attack on Shell’s facility and threat to counter Boko Haram’s insurgency came barely one week after its fighters claimed responsibility for the death of 12 policemen on the waterways of Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The MEND’s statement reads: “On behalf of the hapless Christian population in Nigeria, MEND will from Friday, May 31, 2013, embark on a crusade to save Christianity in Nigeria from annihilation.

“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate will form the core mission of this crusade, codenamed Operation Barbarossa.

“This campaign will not in any way interfere with the ongoing ‘Hurricane Exodus’ – which on Saturday, April 13, 2013, at about 01:00 Hrs, swept through the Ewellesuo comminity, Nembe, Bayelsa State, leaving the destruction of Well 62, belonging to Shell Petroleum in its wake.

“We may only consider a ceasefire of Operation Barbarossa if the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Catholic Church and Henry Okah, one of the few leaders in the Niger Delta region we respect for his integrity, intervene.

“Also, the assurance for a cessation of hostilities targeted at Christians in their places of worship, made privately or publicly by the real Boko Haram leadership will make us call off this crusade.

“We have no problems with their (Boko Haram sect’s) attacks on security agencies, including the prisons, for their role in extra-judicial killings, torture, deceit and corruption.”

A notable Muslim cleric and President of Delta Muslim Council, Alhaji Mumakai Unagha, yesterday cautioned MEND against carrying out its threat to attack mosques and Muslims in the region.

Unagha, who was reacting to the threat by MEND to unleash mayhem on mosques and Islamic institutions in the Niger Delta to counter the onslaught of Boko Haram in the North, described Boko Haram as not a Muslim group.

He cautioned the group on the call for the assassination of Muslim clerics, warning that such action could promote religious war.

Unagha said: “MEND’s is myopic and a deviation from their struggle. They were complaining of marginalisation and the President today is a Niger Deltan. They should focus their anger on the right channel.”

Besides, Unagha noted that attacks by Muslims have felt the pangs of Boko Haram’s onslaught, stressing that even the Emir of Kano, a staunch Muslim was attacked by the group, while scores of Muslims were also killed in the Kano bus attack.

“I am a Muslim, Asari Dokubor is also a Muslim and we have large Muslim communities in the Niger Delta and the West.

This is not a communal clash. If they go ahead with their threat, they would have killed the essence of the struggle.

“Was it Muslims that jailed Henry Okah or the other agitators?”

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