Former Adviser on Niger Delta to the immediate past President, Timi Alaibi on Saturday dismissed claims by the defunct militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, saying he contacted the group to confirm the nomination of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia as a part of its team negotiating with the Federal Government over unrest in the Niger Delta region.
Recall that MEND had claimed Ajumogobia, “practically begged to be a part of its negotiating team with the Federal Government,” adding that Alaibi called the group’s “emissary” to confirm.
However the former Minister has come out to deny the claim saying he has no connection with MEND.
In a further twist, Aliabi in a statement said the claim by the former militant group was designed at tarnishing his image.
The statement reads, “My attention has been drawn to a statement purportedly issued by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wherein the author spuriously and rather incoherently claimed that I contacted a MEND “emissary” to “confirm the authenticity” of the supposed nomination of Mr. Henry Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, to lead a team MEND is said to have proposed to negotiate on its behalf with the Federal Government.
“I seek to clarify that this is not true. I do not know any emissary of MEND and so could not have contacted any.”
The former Presidential adviser alleged that he got wind of Ajumogobia’s nomination into the MEND negotiation team on the pages of newspapers and on the social media, stressing that he never contacted anybody from the former militant group.
“I did not (and still do not) have any compelling need to “confirm the authenticity” of Mr. Ajumogobia’s purported nomination into this team. Of course I have similarly read on the pages of newspapers that Mr. Ajumogobia has turned down his purported nomination by MEND into this negotiation team.
“My desire for the entrenchment of sustainable peace, safety, security and development in the Niger Delta is unassailable but this should not give any person or persons the license to mischievously drop my name in ways that are not likely to help achieve any meaningful or desired developmental goals in the zone.”
Alaibi while describing the mentioning of his name as mischievous and an attempt to soil his reputation said, “I consider the insertion of my name in that statement purportedly issued by MEND as mischievous and clearly intended to tarnish my image.”
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