Bomb Blasts near Nigerian Government House leaves 8 Dead, 6 Injured

By: Victor Ulasi, Nigeria

Two car bombs were detonated yesterday by militants outside the Delta State Government House of Nigeria during the Post Amnesty Dialogue. The explosion left eight people dead, and six others injured.

The explosions were targeted at a convoy of dignitaries. The dignitary’s vehicles were shielded by other vehicles along the route. No members of the gathering were injured. The blasts missed their intended targets.

Militants in the Niger Delta region claimed responsibilities for the bombings, and released a statement indicating that indigenes of Niger Delta were responsible. The communiqué also indicated that the militants will not stand idly by while, the resources of their lands were exploited and little of the revenue has been returned to the region. Most of the region suffers from poverty and is under development.

The spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND] said, “Thinking of no better way to announce our continued presence in the Niger Delta to Delta State Governor Mr. Uduaghan, operatives of MEND today March 15, 2010, successfully breached the security at the Delta state government house in Warri and planted three explosive devices in and around this compound which is the venue of the Vanguard Post Amnesty Dialogue organized by the Vanguard newspaper.”

MEND further stated that, Niger Deltans will no longer sit back and watch its wealth being monopolized by Northerners and leaving the region that creates the wealth,  in poverty “while deceitful administrations like that of Delta and Vanguard newspapers engage in misleading dialogues. The Vanguard-organized and Delta State sponsored conference is one of such tools of deception. The Niger Delta has been partitioned into oil blocks which have been distributed amongst mostly Northerners while indigenes of the Niger Delta can barely survive. One such example, being General T.Y. Danjuma.”

It was also made known by MEND that it is common knowledge that no southerner can lay claim to an inch of land in the North, so why should we continue to talk as the occupation of our land and theft of our resources by the oil companies and Northern Nigeria persists?

They also stated that the Niger Delta governors are shameless and visionless stooges who are more concerned with looting their state treasuries and seeking a second term in office, even against the wishes of their people. It said it will attack any future assembly “designed to propagate more falsehood.

The Militant group promised to continue their attracts in the coming days, we will carry out a number of attacks against installations and oil companies across the Niger Delta and will spread out to companies such as Total which have been spared in the past. We hope the actions which will follow will persuade Mr Uduaghan that we exist outside of cyberspace, Gbomo stated.

The State information commissioner Mr. Oma Djebah said “He however said the state will not be deterred by this action and will continue to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people. “The people of the Niger delta will not be intimidated nor be deterred by the cowardly act of a few opposed to a peaceful and non violent approach of resolving the historic grievances of the region”.

To this end, the militants warned that it high time Nigeria stop deceiving them with the Post Amnesty deal that is meant to exploit the Niger Delta.

Posted by worldnews on March 16, 2010. Filed under International Criminal Justice,International News,terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.