Group Condemns Mend's Threat to Attack Mosques

An Islamic organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Tuesday said the threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, to attack mosques and some Islamic institutions was unjustified.

MURIC's Director, Professor Is-haq Akintola, said in a statement issued in Ibadan that the timing of MEND's threat was wrong, uncoordinated and illogical.
Mr. Akintola said the organisation's position was based on the fact that the Federal Government had been working vigorously to stem the Boko Haram menace.
The statement said: "The fact that MEND's threat is coming just when light starts to appear at the end of the dark tunnel is quite interesting; it raises more questions than answers.
"The Federal Government has been working round the clock to find a solution to the Boko Haram menace. Why not allow the FG to conclude its plans? "
It urged Muslims and Christians to disown the threat as a mere cover up of MEND's agenda; which was not in the interest of brokering peace as portrayed.
"Christian and Muslim groups in the country have been consistent in our condemnation of the attacks carried out by the Boko Haram group.
"We have long disowned Boko Haram and washed our hands off their atrocities.
"It is therefore ironical that MEND still associates Boko Haram with Islam and threatens to avenge the attacks carried out by the group on innocent Muslims," it said.
The statement further added that the task of nation-building could not succeed in an atmosphere of fear and distrust.
MEND recently threatened to attack mosques and other Islamic institutions from May 31.