MEND says Diette-Spiff’s group ready to work with its dialogue team

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, on Saturday said the leader of the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group, Alfred Diette-Spiff, has expressed readiness to work with its “Aaron Team 2.”

King Diette-Spiff is the Amanyanbo of Twon-Brass in Bayelsa State and a first-class monarch from Nigeria’s oil-rich South-south region.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, MEND indicated the former Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, on Friday contacted it on the planned dialogue with Niger Delta groups.

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was contacted on Friday, July 15, 2016 by Dr. Godknows Boladei Igali, the immediate past Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Power, a diplomat and former Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government,” the statement reads.

“Dr. Igali contacted MEND as an emissary of HRH King Alfred Diette-Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Twon-Brass in Bayelsa state and leader of the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group (NDDCG).

“The subject matter of the discourse centered around the forthcoming dialogue with the Federal Government on the resolution of the current Niger Delta crisis and the imperative for the entire Niger Delta region to unite and speak with a single voice under the single umbrella of the MEND Aaron Team 2 dialogue and peace initiative led by Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN.”

MEND said it carefully considered and approved the proposal for the Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group to join its Aaron Team 2.

The group, therefore, called on aggrieved militant groups, activists, elders, tribal assemblies and interested groups in the region to forward their inputs to the dialogue and contact group.

It assured that such presentations would be considered by the Aaron Team during its negotiation with the government.