President Goodluck Jonathan on MEND in 2010 And 2015

2015Flagging-off of his presidential campaign in Lagos today, President Goodluck Jonathan told a crowd of party faithful that the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, was procured by someNigerians to assassinate him. Nigerian and South African intelligence, he said, however foiled the plot. In 2010, when MEND claimed responsibility for the Nigeria’s Independence Day bomb explosions in Abuja, Mr. Jonathan absolved the group of blame even when MEND announced that Jonathan had asked it to blame Northerners for the explosions.
Speaking further today, Mr. Jonathan suggested that MEND’s endorsement of Buhari for next month’s presidential election means that Mr. Okah has political connections with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.