The Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, RNDA, has remained unrelenting in its claim that former President Goodluck Jonathan is the masked man behind the rampaging Niger Delta Avengers, NDA.
The group, in a statement released on Wednesday and signed by its spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte, also threatened to release more sordid details if the president continues to deny his relationship with the Avengers.
According to the statement, Jonathan formed the deadly group in 2014 in the build up to the 2015 presidential election.
The group, which claimed to be a splinter group of the NDA, also alleged that the name ‘Avengers’ was first mentioned by Jonathan, adding that it was formed to be a counter force to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), but failed to achieve that objective.
“Like every sponsor, sympathizer and operative earlier mentioned who has equally denied links with the Avengers, we can understand the wisdom behind their decision; as their participation was always meant to be covert,” the RNDA said.
The group alleged that following a clandestine meeting in Otuoke, Bayelsa State in 2014 between the Grand Patron and several unidentified persons ahead of the Presidential election campaign of 2015, it was agreed that the Okah brothers should be contacted to reach out to MEND to endorse Mr. Jonathan and to work with the group of persons to ensure victory for the PDP and President Jonathan. MEND was the suggested tool at the time because the NDA as a body was not yet formed.
The group alleged, that “Mr. Kingsley Kuku and Mr. Gordon Obuah, [Special Adviser] on Niger Delta and Chief Security Officer to President Jonathan, respectively were selected to visit Charles Okah in Kuje prison.
“Mr. Daniel Alabrah was given the assignment to draft an endorsement statement for Charles Okah to go through and pass on to MEND.”
Kuku and Obuah, the statement said visited Okah in Kuje prison at night with the promise of his release along with others should he cooperate to get MEND to endorse Jonathan.
“It therefore came as a shock when MEND did the opposite and endorsed Buhari. Mr. Jonathan was livid with anger and swore that the Okahs would rot in prison.”
Continuing, the group said it was agreed that a show of force be put up in Yenagoa, where ex-militants led by Government Ekpemupolo and Kingsley Kuku would threaten war should the electorate vote in Buhari’s favour.
“It was around that period the idea of forming the Niger Delta Avengers was conceived. In fact the name “Avengers” came from the lips of Goodluck Jonathan.
“As election day approached, certain stakeholders were mobilized to form a force to standby and ensure total anarchy in the South-South and South-East within 24 hours if the election results were not favourable to Jonathan. It took everyone by surprise to learn that Mr. Jonathan had conceded defeat even before the final results were released. The standby force who were to attack specific targets were told to stand down. They were all compensated in US dollars cash.”
The statement further alleged that the Niger Delta Avengers was born from the failure at the polls and would now be used as an organ to make the country ungovernable for Buhari, bring economic hardship and cause hatred for the administration towards failure at the 2019 general elections.
“MEND was aware of this plot through a spy that could not be identified, and the group began its campaign to counter every effort of the NDA and the Biafra agitators to this day.
“If former President Jonathan provokes us further with denials of this revelation, we will reveal more sordid details. The prison authorities in Kuje who witnessed the closed door meeting from the outside can attest to that night visit of November 2014.”
By Timothy Enietan-Matthews
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