MEND’s new violence

Tribune

14 March 2012

MEND’s new violence

Written by Gerald Nwankwo

There is no doubt that the rump of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) cannot turn back the hand of the clock in NigerDelta region; not with the out of fashion way militancy operates in the region. It is also clear to the handful of misguided remnants of the organisation, who have been trying their hands at detonating bombs and shooting security personnel who are monitoring peace in the region, that they are swimming against the tide. Unlike before, when youth restiveness and militancy in the region attracted public sympathy, even open support, the present effort of disgruntled elements in the region, particularly in Bayelsa State, to bring back violence in the region, is only earning them public opprobrium. Opprobrium is exactly what comes to those who overdraw from sympathy, as well as people who refuse to quit the stage when the ovation is loudest.

Some MEND remnants have refused to quit the stage, not for anything noble. These leftovers are people, who clearly are criminals- miscreants who infiltrated the ranks of the MEND group, polluting the genuine struggle of the youths and people of the region with insatiable appetite for easy cornering of wealth.