MEND plotting to assassinate me – Jonathan

Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday raised the alarm by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to assassinate him.
Jonathan said this following allegations by a splinter group of the Niger Delta Avengers, the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, that he was one of the sponsors of the NDA.
The RNDA had after it split from the NDA pledged its allegiance to the MEND.
On Sunday, a report emanated that the RNDA listed Jonathan and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Governor Seriake Dickson among others as sponsors of the NDA.
Others listed included Chief Edwin Clark; a former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio; ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo; and a national chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi.
According to Jonathan on Sunday, the allegation by the RNDA was a plot by the MEND to assassinate him.
He said in a statement by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze: “Since it is not in our place to speak for all those named in the obvious fabrication, we are only intervening to the extent that its hidden intent poses a violent threat to the life of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a committed patriot.
“We are seized by the feeling of déjà vu occasioned by the resurrection of one dim character masquerading as Cynthia Whyte, who had in the past served as the spokesperson for a notorious group that had all along shown its hand to be going after the life of former President Jonathan.”
Jonathan said the move by MEND to kill him first reared its head in 2007 shortly after he emerged as the running mate of late President Umar Yar’Adua for that year’s presidential election.
He said MEND invaded Yenogoa, the Bayelsa State capital, where he was then the Governor, in a bid to assassinate him.
He said the militant group also invaded his home town in Otuoke, Bayelsa State shortly after that with the intent of killing him.
He also made reference to the October 1, 2010 bombing of The Eagle Square in Abuja where he was attending the country’s Independence Day celebration along with several dignitaries.
The statement added: “Do we need to remind anybody that the so-called Cynthia Whyte is the self-declared spokesperson for the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, a violent and murderous underground group led by one Henry Okah, which has not hidden its intention to destroy the former President?
“We have no doubt in our mind that MEND, as a group contracted to go after Jonathan with the mind of assassinating him, has yet to abandon this criminal and ignominious craving. It is in this light that we view the purported statement issued by Cynthia Whyte as not only a sadistic continuation of this sick desire, but also a futile attempt to instigate the Federal Government to needlessly go after the former President.
“Those who have been following the unsavoury developments in some parts of the country since the last general election would have noticed that MEND, its paymasters and other unscrupulous elements in the South-South region have been striving fruitlessly to exploit the ensuing confusion by surreptitiously working for the fulfilment of its yet-to-be declared political agenda.
“We are not under any illusion that more accusations and allegations of this nature would not be hurled Jonathan’s way in the future. But we are very positive that he can never be fazed by such negative energy.”