The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has described President Goodluck Jonathan as a liar for alleging that the group had planned to assassinate him.

MEND, in an online statement by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, yesterday insisted that its endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, for the February 14 election, had nothing to do with its leader, Henry Okah, who is serving a jail term in a South African prison.

The group said it was unfortunate that President Jonathan would openly accuse Okah, an indigene of Amassoma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the home town of a former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, of being paid to assassinate him.

The militant group said: “Mr. President, MEND says thank you for vindicating every word in our recent statement on the endorsement of General Muhammadu Buhari, and for also solidifying your status as a clueless, inept and bare-faced liar.

“MEND will like to state it clearly that our endorsement of the APC’s presidential candidate has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Henry Okah. We challenge Mr. President to come out and reveal to the nation, the names of the ‘persons’ he claims paid Mr. Henry Okah to ‘assassinate’ him.

“Goodluck Jonathan should also explain why these ‘persons,’ as he obviously knows who they are, were not arrested, tried and convicted.

“Nigerians may recall that prior to the bomb blasts of October 1, 2010, MEND issued a warning of an impending attack on Eagles Square, Abuja, where we also advised the public to steer clear of any parked vehicles to avert any casualties.

“These warnings were ignored by the Nigerian security agencies, hence the unfortunate and regrettable casualties.

“If, as Goodluck Jonathan claimed, he was a target of an ‘assassination’ attempt, why did we issue a prior warning? Where in this world would an assassin warn their target in advance of an attempt on their life?

“This false allegation by Goodluck Jonathan further confirms our earlier assertion of how he takes Nigerians for stupid, as he seems to have forgotten how he openly came out to absolve MEND of any involvement in the attack.

“Rather than address his administration’s failures, he (President Jonathan) chose to descend so low, by using a very cheap, bare-faced lie to get sympathy. Is this the kind of president the country wants to be stuck with for another four years of misery?”

MEND also stated that President Jonathan had finally resorted to cheap blackmail on the national dialogue report by urging Nigerians to vote for him as a condition for implementing the report in spite of all the billions of naira spent on the “jamboree”.

MEND admonished Nigerians to use the power of their votes in securing the great country back from the claws of President Jonathan’s corrupt and inept government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

•Adapted from THE NATION. Photo shows Jonathan speaking at a campaign rally.

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