MEND Names 7 member Team to Dialogue with FG

According to a statement released online on Monday, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on Monday, announced a seven-member team, led by Odein Ajumogobia, a former Minister of Petroleum, to dialogue with the President Buhari-led federal government.

In a statement released by Jomo Gbomo, MEND’s spokesman, the name given to the seven-member team is tagged, “Aaron Team 2”.

Other members of the group are;

1. Bismark Rewane (Delta)

2. Florence Ita-Giwa (Cross River)

3. Timipa Jenkins Okponipere (Bayelsa)

4. Ledum Mitee (Rivers)

5. Lawson Omokhodion (Edo)

6. Ibanga Isine (Akwa Ibom), who is a Premium Times reporter.

MEND’s spokesman, Gbomo said other members of the team would be made public in due course after consultations with relevant stakeholders, adding that the team was made up of patriotic and selfless men and women with good track records and character drawn from different parts of the Niger Delta region.

MEND spokesman also said the team would dialogue with the Federal Government on the immediate, medium and long-term future of the Niger Delta region, adding that members had already agreed to serve on behalf of the Niger Delta Region.

Recalled that MEND on May 30, 2014, declared a ceasefire on attacks against the nation’s key economic and strategic interests, the group took the decision in response to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Democracy Day speech.

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According to MEND on May 30, 2014 “Our message to the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) is simple: The Niger Delta struggle is beyond attacks on oil installations. “If indeed your cause is to avenge the injustice done to the Niger Delta region; then, we urge you to ceasefire and join us to the table of negotiation with the Federal Government. “Otherwise, the Niger Delta struggle shall be hijacked, once again by selfish interests for their own personal aggrandizement ”

Gbomo said the problems and challenges facing the region after attacks on key installations were environmental pollution and political corruption.