(NAN)
The Movement for Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEND) has urged the Federal Government to ignore the ongoing campaigns of calumny against Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Prince Marley, and Mr Godwin Opiuyo, Chairman and Secretary of the Eastern zone of MOSIEND in Yenogoa.
The group said it had noted with dismay that some unpatriotic individuals, envious of the performance of some political office holders, had resorted to cheap blackmail to discredit them.
MOSIEND stated that as a leading advocacy group in the Niger Delta, it would not fold its arms and watch faceless groups haul malicious and baseless claims to leaders from the region.
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“The latest is the unwarranted media mudslinging from one shadowy bunch of fugitive agent provocateurs parading themselves as Nigerians for Transformational Change (NTC).
“The group with no known address, calling for the sack of the Chief Sylva over summons by a US District Court in Pennsylvania over a defamation of character case, which he instituted against one Jackson Ude is frivolous,” MOSIEND stated.
The group, in dismissing the call noted that the case of libel was instituted by Sylva against Ude in the US, adding that Sylva was the plaintiff while Ude was the Respondent/Defendant.
MOSIEND also noted that the matter has not been concluded thus the brains behind the blackmail was to whip up public sentiment against Sylva amounts to prejudice because the case was in court.
They urged the relevant agencies of the Federal Government to go after the masterminds of the smear campaign and bring them to face the extant laws as it concerns inciting the public based on falsehood.