Nigeria's major militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said on Tuesday that the armed struggle will continue unabated until all conditions that led to the agitation are met, Xinhua reported.
In an e-mail statement reaching here, the group's spokesman Jomo Gbomo said MEND welcomes the release of its leader Henry Okah by the Nigerian federal government on Monday.
Contrary to the expectations that following the release of Okah, MEND will end the armed struggle, the group insisted that armed struggle would go on until the basic constitutional issues of fiscal federation, Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and the issue of resource control are addressed. Okah was held in custody by the government for 23 months while facing treason trial in Jos.
"MEND considers the release as a step towards genuine peace and prosperity, provided Nigeria is open to frank talk and deals sincerely with the issues once and for all," the statement said.
The group added that it hoped that hundreds of other men and women languishing in detention over the Niger Delta issue will also be set free.
The group carried out an unprecedented attack on the Lagos Atlas Cove jetty on the eve of the release of their leader.
"Some newspapers have been making speculations on the numbers of attackers and the boats used for the Atlas Cove attack on Sunday, the fact is that only two gun boats were used with a total 18 well-armed and experienced commandos," it added.
"The naval resistance was weaker than anticipated because after the first shots were fired by them, we responded with heavy caliber machine guns, which made them flee," the group said. "We regret loss of lives by the civilians as a result of the attack.".
To put an end to their armed struggle, the group had made Okah's release a condition to consider the Nigerian federal government's plan to grant militants in the Niger Delta amnesty.