Samuel Oyadongha
30 August, 2011, Sweetcrude, Yenagoa – Ex-militants and youth activists in the Niger Delta region have described as a “miscarriage of justice” the refusal of the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute members of the Boko Haram sect in the wake of the spate of bomb attacks in Abuja and other parts of the North.
Specifically, they declared that such weakness by the Federal Government should immediately lead to the unconditional release of the detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta Region (MEND), Henry Okah.
The group of ex-militants and youth activists, under the aegis of the Network of Freedom Fighters in Niger Delta (NIDDEMCOW) led by a former President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Comrade Nengi James, said the rising wave of bomb attacks and the killings by Boko Haram has vindicated the MEND leader, Henry Okah as a man unjustly persecuted by the Federal Government.
The Network of Freedom Fighters in Niger Delta (NIDDEMCOW), in a statement issued in Yenagoa by its National Coordinator, Comrade Nengi James, declared that the failure of the Federal Government to commence criminal proceedings against the Boko Harm sect and its members amounts to double standard and such demand for the release of the MEND leader, Henry Okah from South African jail.
The group stated that “the NIDDEMCOW is condemning the bombing of the United Nation building in Abuja and the killing of innocent nationals. The bombing of the United Nation building is grave and bloody attack on the people of Nigeria. It has equally vindicated Henry Okah.
“We are therefore calling on the Federal Government to release the MEND leader from jail if the Boko Haram members are to be release un-prosecuted.”
“We express worry over the non-prosecution of the Boko Haram sect members after several bloody attacks and bombing in the country. While we believe on fair trial, it should be known to all and the Federal Government that Justice delayed is Justice denied. It is our stand that the Federal Government should take a concrete step to resolve the pending issues and the demand of the various ethnic group for the convocation of a Sovereign Conference for the people of Nigeria to decide how to be governed.”
