29-12-08 Nigeria's main militant group MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) warned it would cripple the Nigerian oil industry in 2009 if the government of the West African country did not release detained militant leader Henry Okah. MEND said that while it was still observing its self-imposed ceasefire declared last September, it could resume hostilities over the Okah issue.
"We use this opportunity to call on the international community to impress on the Nigerian government to do the right thing by releasing Henry Okah to proceed for medical treatment and seek the path of genuine peace to avoid a total collapse of the oil industry in 2009," MEND said.

It was the latest in a series of warnings issued by MEND over the continued incarceration of Okah since February 2008. MEND earlier called for the intervention of the United Nations for the release of Okah, who is being tried at a court in the central city of Jos for illegal gun running and treason charges, so that he be allowed to go for treatment in South Africa.
But MEND denied responsibility for the last attempted bombing of ENI's Tebidaba flowstation by some gunmen. Three of the attackers were subsequently left dead after fierce fighting.
"The JTF (Joint task Force) is aware that if MEND were to have led that attack, the story will be different," MEND said. "Whenever hostilities resume, we will take responsibility for any attack we carry out."

Meanwhile, MEND has also criticized the appointment of former government secretary Ufot Ekaette as the new minister of the Niger Delta.
"He cannot bring any positive change, the same way he did not make any significant change during his tenure as secretary to the federal government during the Obasanjo administration which recorded the worst unrest and brutality in the Niger Delta," MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo was quoted as saying. "Ekaette's voice was never heard all that time," he said.

Veteran administrator Ekaette hails from the Niger Delta.
He was named by PresidentUmaru Yar'Adua to head the newly created ministry, which is expected to implement the government's programs to address development problems in the oil region.