NIGER DELTA: ATEKE TOM FIRES BACK AT AMAECHI

 * Explains Why Rivers State Governor Is After Him

LEADER of the Niger Delta Patriotic Force (NDPF), a militia group, Ateke Tom, has fired back at Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Nigeria's Rivers State, claiming that the governor has a political score to settle with him.

Ateke who is also the leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), alleged in an on-line statement to our correspondent yesterday that Amaechi commissioned him to scuttle the emergence of Sir Celestine Omehia as the governor of the state, and equally disrupt the controversial 2007 elections.

Although Amaechi's media handlers have swiftly denied what they described as ''spurious and baseless'' the governor however, said he moved against the militant leader because of attacks on the Bonny waterways.

''Women were being raped, people were being killed and we traced these to Ateke Tom's camp'', Governor Amaechi said.

Firing back, the militant leader said, ''i want to say that, i am not moved by Amaechi's comments concerning me, as it is a display of insensitivity and a demonstration of efforts to seek public sympathy to justify his efforts to kill me''.

According to him, ''i want to thank God, that besides Amaechi, there are other prominent Rivers men and women who know me and my disposition in life. I have never stolen another person's property, neither, have i raped any woman in my life, as claimed by Amaechi. infact, i am one man women naturally love and some of them would do anything to reach me. And so, why should i rape?

''I want notable Rivers people and the whole world to know that, Amaechi want me death because i failed to disrupt the Celestine Omehia  campaign and the general election in 2007 after he [Amaechi] gave me N50,000,.000 to support him before he was substituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)''.

Continuing, he added, ''the public should know that Amaechi is using Rivers  money to sponsor the Joint military Task Force (JTF) to wage a personal war with me. when i was making peace amongs two groups in Rivers state. Some of them confessed that, Amaechi sent money to them through his agents to disturb the Bonny waterways, in other to use that as a basis to attack me''.