An ex-militant, Israel Akpodoro, last week alleged that former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is the backer of the Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group that has claimed responsibility for the bombings of pipeline and oil installations in the Niger Delta.
The allegation which the former Nigerian President is yet to respond to, was met with a rebuttal by the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide. According to the youth body, the accuser, Mr. Apkodoro is unknown to them and has no pedigree in the Niger Delta.
“The initial reaction of the IYC was to ignore the said statement considering the fact that the said Akpodoro is unknown and has no pedigree in the Niger Delta region. However, we have consistently been inundated with calls and messages by concerned Nigerians all over the world as to the true position as far as the allegations are concern. This response is to set the record straight for the benefit of the reading public.
The accuser alleged that the former President formed the group in January 2015, in a meeting shortly before the 2015 general elections which the IYC also addressed in the statement;
“The allegation that the NDA was formed by Jonathan in a meeting he attended in January 2015, preparatory to the 2015 general elections to make the country ungovernable for his successor, is absolutely untrue. It is nonsensical to imagine that former President Jonathan, who conceded defeat and congratulated his opponent, current President Muhammadu Buhari, even before the final result was announced, would make such a plan.
In the first place, the January 2015 meeting of ex-agitators and stakeholders in the region was not attended by Jonathan and the meeting never resolved to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Buhari. The IYC leadership also attended the meeting and the President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, was one of the speakers at that meeting.
The meeting was called to calm down the youths of the Niger Delta, who were aggrieved with the attack on former President Jonathan in some northern states during the campaign for the 2015 presidential election.”
The post Is GEJ backing Niger Delta Avengers? Ijaw Youths explain the so-called ‘meeting’ appeared first on The Whistle.
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