The Browning .50 Caliber Machine Guns (listed by government as Brandy Machine Guns) displayed on Saturday, August 22, 2009 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state were identified by Cameroonian Military Intelligence as suspected weapons seized after an attack on November 12, 2007 in its territorial waters by unknown gun men from Nigeria believed to be men of the Nigerian army in which 21 Cameroonian gendarmes were killed.
We hope that the Nigerian military whom we accused recently of providing its weapons for display at that shameful disarmament ceremony will allow an independent international armament expert in the presence of both Cameroonian and Nigerian officials to examine the Browning weapons in question to determine their origin.
MEND has always called for a proper peace and disarmament process to avoid this sort of embarrassing situation where fraud, rent-a-crowd and monetary inducement is now a part of an amnesty charade.
If the Nigerian Government had followed the recommended UN disarmament and weapons destruction protocol, they would have a set of serial numbers of all weapons handed in and these numbers could be checked to track the provenance of the weapons and ensure the required chain of custody.
We doubt any such list of serial numbers will emerge and the chain of custody cannot be verified, thus the current disarmament process has no integrity.
Similarly, the Federal Government Inter Agency Coordinating Committee on Amnesty overseeing the implementation of the amnesty states that no funds have been paid to those who have surrendered nor for any weapons.
It is truly amazing that Dr. Timiebi Koripamo, the Coordinating Committee media coordinator who made these assertions actually expects the public and officials to believe such a blatant fabrication.
The public protests in Yenagoa on Friday, September 4, 2009 by over 200 boys who participated in the sham disarmament ceremony over non-payments of N10million each promised them has vindicated MEND.
If it is found out that the weapons belong to Cameroon as strongly suspected, they should be returned back to the rightful owners with an apology and a proper investigation conducted to unravel the truth behind their display in Bayelsa state of Nigeria.
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