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Dialoguing and Youth Restiveness in the Niger Delta
By
Felix
Tuodolo
Ijaw Youth Council
[IYC]
Preamble
Recently, activities in the Niger Delta area of
Nigeria took the world by storm. Increases in the international price of oil
this year, first in January 2006 when it climbed to over $50 and again in March
2006; and in late April 2006 [as we are here] when it rose to over $70 has been
partly attributed to the happenings in Nigeria. In 2004, the rise in the
international price of oil between August 2004 and October 2004 was also
attributed to the happenings in the Niger Delta. The same reason was given for
price increases in 2003.
When prices of oil rise, the way it has done
recently, oil producing countries and companies smile to the bank – more
revenue! Nigeria had smiled to the bank several times. In the 1970s, following
the rise in the price of oil and the bountiful revenue Nigeria made from it,
Nigeria’s Head of State; General Yakubu Gowon had boasted that Nigeria’s problem
was how to spend its huge oil wealth. Both former military rulers Generals
Ibrahim Babaginda and Sani Abacha presided over periods of enormous wealth from
increases in the international price of oil during the Gulf crises. Even the
present General [or Chief] Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime benefited from oil price
windfalls during the Iraqi war in 2002. This economic windfall continued even to
2005 as shown by a recent report on the oil industry for 2005,
thus:
As a result of high cost of crude oil at the
international market during the year, the nation raked in over 400 million
dollars as extra revenue [Tide
03/01/2006]
But on the recent increases in price this
year, the same government was quoted as saying:
We’ve lost something close to a billion dollars…that is the amount that
all the stakeholders have lost. And for each passing day, we are losing
a substantial amount,” said Daukoru [Thisday 20/03/2005]
That is, government is complaining that recent
increases in the international price of oil did not benefit Nigeria. It is not
only government that is complaining. The oil companies are also complaining –
complaining of damage to their facilities, low morale of their work force,
safety of their workers and mostly the financial losses being incurred daily.
All five oil majors are affected: Shell wept, AGIP cried, ChevronTexaco shed
tears, ExxoMobil sobbed, and Totalfinelf lamented.
But what are the recent happenings in the
Niger Delta that is making both government and the oil companies to complain. It
is what both government and the oil companies have termed as “Youth
Restiveness,” which has taken a new dimension in the Niger Delta area where the
oil companies operate.
What Is
Happening?
Between December 2005 and March 2006, the oil
industry in Nigeria recorded numerous casualties to its personnel and
facilities. From Rivers State to Edo State, Delta state to Akwa – Ibom state,
and in Bayelsa State, oil pipelines were blown up, flow stations were burnt or
destroyed, oil company premises were attacked, and oil workers were kidnapped
and taken hostage. In addition, the oil companies were threatened of impeding
attack or more attacks. Shivers were sent down the pine of many – oil companies,
government, and local communities who fear that government’s anger might fall
them. Such fears are not unfounded: remember Odi, Odioma, Omuechem and most of
Ogoniland!
Championing this campaign of “shivering the
system” are relatively unknown youth groups foremost of which is the Movement
for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND]. The others include The Martyrs
Brigade and the Coalition for Militant Action in the Niger Delta [COMA]. These
groups employed strategies unusual to the struggles of the Niger Delta people. I
do not mean to state here that kidnapping of oil workers or damaging of oil
facilities had not been taking place in the Niger Delta. The point here is that
there is a clear distinction between the occurrences of the past and the
present. Occurrences in the past were perpetuated for purely economic reasons
and limited to communities, individuals and criminal cartels. The criminal
cartels also include government officials as even members of the government’s
Presidential Task Force on Pipeline Vandalisation have been arrested for
vandalising oil pipelines [Vanguard 29/03/06]. On the other hand, the present
activities do not have economic motives but altruistic - an “aluta”- when
considered from the perspective of the demands made by the groups.
Before the emergence of these groups, other youth
groups have been championing the cause of the Niger Delta people at different
levels and with differing approaches. There is the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer
Force [NDPVF], the Ijaw Youth Council [IYC], Itsekiri National Youth Movement
[INYM], Isoko Youth Movement [IYM], Coalition for the Liberation of Ikwerre
People [COLIP], National Youth Council of Ogoni People [NYCOP], Ikwerre Youths
Convention, Egi Peoples Coalition, Isoko Front, Movement for the Survival of
Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEN), Urhobo Economic Foundation, Oron National
Forum, Egi Peoples Coalition, among others.
To fully understand the “Youth Restiveness”
in the Niger Delta, if there is any, is also to understand the evolution of
these youth groups. How is it that in a society comprising of respected
traditional rulers, chiefs, elders, businessmen, professionals, literate icons,
proven politicians, women and youths, it is the youths that are championing a
struggle for a better society?
Cause of “Youth
Restiveness”
I will not bother you with some of the reasons
that have been proffered by many learned men and what you can easily see in the
news such as the fact that the central government had failed in its function of
providing the basic necessities of life; and that the operations of the oil
companies on the Niger Delta communities have manifested in wanton exploitation,
economic deprivation, underdevelopment, environmental devastation,
marginalisation, injustice, inequity, impoverishment, unemployment, loss of
livelihood and extra-judicial killings.
I will also not bother you with the fact
that oil activities have created ethnic tension in the Niger Delta, eroded
traditional institutions and moral values, violated the culture and customs of
the people, introduced arms proliferation, caused community power tussles,
caused inter- and intra-communal conflicts, caused the collapse of local
economies, increased the level of illiteracy despite all the scholarships,
show-cased poor living and working conditions despite all the community
development programmes, deskilled the labour force of the people, and increased
criminality and lawlessness in the communities. Visit Nembe, Odioma, Joinkrama,
Gbarantoru, Ikebiri, Okigbene, Olugbobiri, Okoroba, Okerenkoko, Egbema, Ojobo,
Peretoru, Bomadi, Kula, Umuechem, Erema,
Gioko, Botem Tai, Bodo, Iyak, Ataba, Omelema, Bonny, Buguma, Okrika, Ibeno, QIT,
Eket, Oron, Iyede, Igbide, Olomoro, Ughelli, Effurun, amongst many others and
see living evidence.
But I want to inform that a major cause of the
“Youth Restiveness” in the Niger Delta is the failure of dialogue and its use as
an instrument of deceit. That there are historical records of the people of the
Niger Delta, mostly by the chiefs and elders, attempting to dialogue with the
“Powers-that-be” in Nigeria, but the results of such dialogue have not yielded
good fruits. And that the youths have come on stage because the “powers-that-be”
have failed to listen to their respected chiefs and elders. In order to clarify
this point, I shall illustrate with one of the ethnic nationalities in the Niger
Delta where most of the recent events have occurred – The Ijaws. I want to show
the penchant for dialogue and its failure first with government and then with
the oil companies.
The Ijaws in
Dialogue
Historically, the infliction of
socio-economic disaster on a people and the environment in the magnitude of that
of the Niger Delta had never gone unchallenged either locally or
internationally. Indeed, when a population feels that its livelihood is
threatened, it feels insecure and reactions are not unexpected [Ibeanu 2000].
Yet the Ijaws, the majority ethnic group in
the Niger Delta, had chosen the way of peace to express their displeasure. This
is in accordance with the religious admonition of beating “their swords into
ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” The contradiction with this,
with respect to the Ijaws, is that when the swords are beaten into ploughshares,
there will be no fertile farmlands to plough because of the prevalent
environmental degradation visited on them by oil exploration activities in the
area. Nor is there any meaningful trade to embark on as there will be nothing to
trade with – no fish, no palm oil, no palm kernel, and no craftworks. The land
is altogether desolate!
The people of the world should be grateful
to the Ijaws for their display of selflessness, perseverance and endurance in
the face of utmost provocation. The people had employed tactics acceptable to
civilized society, of “…. living with a set of values, attitudes, modes of
behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by
tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiations
among individuals, groups and nations” [United Nation
url].
Unfortunately, the ways of peace, which had
brought joy and development to other peoples in the history of the world, appear
to be different in the case of the Ijaws of and the Niger Delta people. And this
is historical. The question I want us to ponder over is: How beneficial has
dialogue been to the Ijaw people? I shall more draw from history on the
different attempts at dialoguing involving the Ijaws and answer this question in
three parts – pre-independence dialogues, post independence dialogues, lessons
and the way forward.
Pre-Independence
Dialogue
One of recorded attempts showing the
willingness of the Ijaws to dialogue was that of King Jaja of the Ijaw kingdom
of Opobo. As a result of the disruption to free trade in his domain, King Jaja
had desired to discuss the treaties he signed with the British. On September 18,
1887, King Jaja was lured to a meeting with the British and was taken on board
the British warship into exile in Accra and later the West Indies [Cookey 1996].
He never came back. The desire for dialogue caused him his throne, land and
people. What treachery!
In 1895 the Nembe Ijaws revolted following
the plundering, starvation and killing of their people, and economic stifling of
the Nembe Ijaws by the British Royal Niger Company. This revolt came after
several processes and years of futile dialogue and negotiations with the RNC and
the Colonial British consulate officers at Brass. It was reported of the Nembe
Ijaws that
They were driven by desperation to a war… In
a letter written soon afterwards, they outlined the futile years of negotiation,
and suffering… [Isichie 1983:363]
The response of the colonial government was
overwhelming. The communities of Okpoama, Nembe [Ogbolomabiri] etc were shelled
and invaded by gunboats of the Royal Navy where several persons lost their
lives, and the King of Nembe went on exile [Flint
1960].
The Nigerian Constitutional Conference of
1957 at Lancaster House in London saw two Ijaws in attendance – Chief Dappa
Biriye attended as a delegate, while Chief S.J. Amachree was one of the
advisers. It was at this conference that a very strong case was made for the
minorities of Nigeria, of their fears of domination by the majority tribes, and
a demand for separate states for the different minorities. One of the results of
the conference was the recommendation of commission to look into the fears of
the minorities and allay same – the Willinks
Commission.
At the Willinks Commission of 1958[2], which was set up to partly ascertain the
fears of the minorities [including their demands for separate states] the Ijaws
among other minorities displayed their penchant for dialogue, and the commission
acknowledged this when it stated
We were impressed by the arguments indicating that the needs of those who
live in the creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta are very different
from those of the interior [Willinks Commission
1958]
The outcome of this dialogue was several
recommendations such as declaring the Ijaw country a special area, and the
establishment of a federal board for the specific development of the area. Only
the board – Niger Delta Basin Development Authority [NDBDA] - was established
and nothing more. Even the NDBDA was later starved of funds, while development
boards were proliferated all over the country and
funded.
Post Independence Dialogue
In 1992, Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye led a
delegation of Rivers People and Chiefs to Rio de Janeiro for the 1st
EARTH SUMMIT where a case was made for the Rivers people. [Bring in quote] The
recommendations were never implemented in Nigeria as government paid deaf ears
once more.
Between 1991 and 1998, the Ijaws via its
umbrella body, the Ijaw National Congress [INC], made numerous attempts to
dialogue with government and the oil companies on problems confronting the Ijaw
people. All their attempts were frustrated as was expressed in one of their
letters
Both the federal government and multinational oil companies shunned all
our efforts at initiating dialogue as a means of putting to rest the twin
phenomena of youth restiveness and communal crisis in the Niger Delta [INC
1999]
Perhaps, if the government had allowed for
dialogue, the youths would have not taken the historical steps of the Kaiama
Declaration.
The only time the Ijaws had a listening ear
was during the sittings of the Justice Mbanefo Commission on state creation. The
Ijaws made a case for a minimum of three homogenous Ijaw states. Only one state
was granted – Bayelsa state – without a matching grant as was the case in the
past. Unlike other states, the only Ijaw state comprised of only eight local
government areas. Of course, even a child can adduce the reason for this – one
of the criteria for revenue sharing from the federal government is based on the
number of LGAs. Thus the continuous deprivation of the Ijaw people of their
resources was not abated despite having a state of
theirs.
When in 1998, the Ijaw people expressed
their grievances and insisted on their right to self-determination and resource
control as proclaimed in the Kaiama Declaration, they also expressed their
desire and willingness for dialogue with the government on the issues raised.
Several processes were put in place to achieve dialogue by the Ijaw youths.
Letters were written to government and business, which were never
replied.
When there was no response from government,
the Ijaws started the processes of non-violent agitation known as “Operation
Climate Change” – prayers, fasting, meetings, peaceful processions commonly
called “ogele” that will culminate on the Multinationals stopping operations for
1 day as a sign of respite for the land and people of Ijaw nation – just one day
of freedom from environmental pollution: from gas glaring, from oil spills, from
noise, from deforestation etc. The government responded by militarising Ijaw
communities from Yenagoa to Bomadi, and military invasion of Kaiama, Yenagoa and
most Ijaw communities from Mbiama to Patani, where several persons were killed
and properties wantonly destroyed by the invading soldiers.
Well, the Kaiama Declaration was proclaimed
during a military regime - that of the reign of the military junta headed by
General Abdusalami Abubakar. The hope
was that a civilian regime would be better inclined to dialogue. How wrong the
Ijaws were. So, when President Obasanjo visited the Rivers state on 11 June
1999, the Ijaws presented their desire for dialogue in resolving the numerous
problems confronting the Ijaw nation and the rest of the Niger Delta people
thus:
We are committed in this regard to use the
primary processes of NEGOTIATION and DIALOGUE. We see your coming as part of
that process of reaching out as we march towards dialogue and negotiation. It is
for this reason that we agreed to come and meet with you so that the process of
negotiation with the Ijaw people can begin [IYC 1999]
And also warned “delay is dangerous.”
Government turned down this request. The Ijaws have never shied away from attending conferences,
constitutional or political, to express their positions. In fact, most
conferences aimed at reforming the country explored the leadership qualities and
capabilities of the Ijaw people. The 1986 Political Bureau, the 1999
Constitutional Conference and the recent National Political Reform Conference
[NPRC] were headed by Dr Cookey, Justice Karibi Whyte and Justice Niki Tobi
respectively – all Ijaws.
The Oil Companies and
Dialogue
Like the government, the oil companies have towed
the same line in approaching dialogue in the communities where they operate.
Ijaw communities have approached them on dialoguing and negotiating community
development programmes, reducing environment impacts and loss of livelihood. On
several instances, the agitation of the people has been suppressed through the
use of government security forces, publicity and litigation.
In 1998, Liama community confronted a Shell
contracting community on issues of community development. Immediately, soldiers
invaded the community and almost burnt down the entire community. In Ikebiri,
when AGIP was confronted to dialogue with the community, government soldiers
killed over seven persons in 1999. The same fate fell on Olugbobiri in 1998,
1999, and 2002. In 1999, the people of Twon-Brass protested to the AGIP oil
company respect the MoU signed with the community. The company reacted by
sending government forces after the protesting people, and three youths were
killed. In Peretoru and Ojobo, government forces guarding SHELL oil flow
stations killed and wounded several persons in 2005. The story is same in other
Ijaw communities such as Bonny, Bakana, Buguma, Kula, Bille, Okrika, Ataba,
Nkoro, Etiama, Ewelesuo, Diebu, Peremabiri, Akassa, Nembe, Okokodiagbene,
Aghorho, Gbaranmatu, Esaba, Egbema etc.
Unfortunately, whenever the communities are able
to apply force successful, they get good responses from the oil companies. Most
of the Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] signed between communities and the oil
companies and the few projects embarked upon by the companies resulted from the
successful application of force by the communities. Examples include the MoU
signed between Twon-Brass and AGIP, SHELL and Kula, ChevronTexaco and Kula
etc.
This has created a perception among the
youths of the Niger Delta that the only voice the oil companies listen to is the
application of force – a dangerous perception!
Dialogue as
Deceit
The trappings of dialogue and negotiations
appear to be moving at the opposite direction for the Ijaws. No wonder, at a
point in time, our ancestors became sceptical of dialogues. In 1888, Johnson,
acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, invited the King and chiefs of Okrika
to a meeting on board his ship, the people refused, as they do not want the
treachery that happened to King Jaja to happen to them [see Pekenham 1991]. Other instances
include:
Ø After the ransacking of the
RNC at Akassa, the chiefs and people of Nembe made appeasements and held several
negotiations with the British consul at Brass, yet the towns of Nembe, Okpoama,
and surrounding communities were bombarded and destroyed.
Ø The people of Bayelsa and the
rest of Ijaw land plead with President Obasanjo that soldiers should not be sent
to invade Odi. Yet Odi was destroyed and hundreds of Ijaws killed.
Ø Isaac Boro made several
presentations to the Federal Government, including taking the government to
court, on the plights of the Ijaw people? What happened to all those
presentations?
Ø When Chief Melford Okilo as
governor of Rivers state campaigned for the principle of derivation, what was
the outcome? A paltry 1.5% derivation!
Ø Again the Ijaws were at the
National Political Reform Conference on the same issues that have been plaguing
them since oil was discovered in the Ijaw territory. And what did they get from
the NPRC? The Ijaw delegates and others from the Niger Delta had to walk out of
the conference because there was no sympathy from the rest of
Nigerians.
Ø What happened to the numerous
Ijaws of Okigbene, Olugbobiri, Kula, Koluama, Diebu, Brass, Oluashiri, Nembe,
Bille, Bonny, Finima, Dekema, Ewelesuo, Otari, Iyak, Ogbogolo, Joinkarama,
Biseni, Ogulagha, Peretoru, Ojobo, Amabulu, Agge, Aghorro, Letugbene, Akepila,
Ikebiri, Aleibiri, Futorugbene, Ayama, Liama, Igbemotoru, Odioma, Gbarantoru,
Otuasega, Emeyal, Abuloma, etc when they visited the oil companies operating in
their communities for dialogue? Some of them were killed, some were maimed, some
were slightly wounded, some lost their livelihood, some lost their property etc
Ø Asari Dokubo and Ateke Tom
accept to dialogue and ‘surrender’ all the small arms in their possessions. What
happened to Asari? He is now languishing behind bars.
I have used the Ijaws as a case study of all the
happenings in the Niger Delta. The failure of dialogue and its use as an
instrument by the “powers-that-be” on the Ijaws is also meted to the Ogonis,
Ikwerres, Urhobos, Itsekiris, Ekpeyes, Isokos, Orons, Ibibios, Efiks, Kwales,
Etches, etc. The signal being sent, in very clear terms, is that dialogue does
not pay for the people of the Niger Delta and that the only language both the
government and oil companies understand is confrontation or force hence the
youths coming onboard to save their future. A youth leader confirmed thus:
They are still expecting and the expectation
is what our parents did until they died that is why this time around you see the
youths carrying arms. They will
negotiate with you until you get old, your children will come, they will
continue to negotiate, your grandchildren would continue to negotiate with them
on same issue, same project. That is why you see some of us in the Niger Delta
using arms to achieve quicker result, not because that is the ultimate but
because that is what the trans-national corporations have forced upon us too
[Nembe youth 2005]
The best dialoguing with the powers-that-be have
able to achieve are several failed promises to the people and half-hearted
projects while the blood is being sucked away from the vein of the people.
In a lighter mood, failed promises were given as
part of the reason pipelines are being vandalised! A youth was asked why some of
them engage in pipeline vandalisation, and his reply was:
All the time our fathers asked government
for development projects, they were told that it is in the pipeline. When we ask
for water, government will tell us it is in the pipeline. If we ask for
electricity, oil companies will tell us that it is in the pipeline. If we say
give us good road, they will tell us that it is in the pipeline…..everything is
in the pipeline. Since anything we ask is in the pipeline we have decided to
break the pipelines to bring out all the goodies!
MEND has employed the instrument of force;
government appears to be listening now. The signals government and the oil
companies have sent to the Niger Delta are very dangerous signals to send to a
people. It is at this junction that the International community and Niger Delta
people in Diaspora need to be awakened. The international community must not
allow such signals to persist – it will be bad for history, civilization and
development.
Trading Blames and
Responsibility:
Unfortunately, both government and the oil
companies are trading blames on the causation of the “youth restiveness.”
Recently the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr.Edmund Dakouru blamed
the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta for the “youth restiveness” in
the Niger Delta [Daily Independent 06/02/06]. On developing the Niger Delta
communities, government does not see it as its responsibility. Hear the Foreign
Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olu Adeniji, telling visiting British Foreign
Minister, Mr. Jack Straw that the failure of oil companies operating in the
Niger Delta to address the socio-economic problems in the Niger Delta is
responsible for “youth restiveness” [Thisday, 15/02/2006].
On their part, the oil companies feel that
it is government’s responsibility to develop the Niger Delta communities:
Government entreaties that oil companies should do more for their host
communities will not put an end to the demand by communities for a more
equitable distribution of crude oil revenue. In our view when government
officials ask us to do “more” for our host communities they are asking us to
take over the traditional roles and responsibilities of government in these
communities. We know that we will fail in that regard [ChevronTexaco
2004]
With government and oil companies trading
blames and responsibility, the Niger Delta is left in the middle: neglected!
The Way
Forward
It is time to intensify the struggle in
Diaspora. The International community will be silent and unappreciative of the
plights of the people of the Niger Delta if the peoples in Diaspora are docile.
If smaller ethnic nations and countries of the world have good coordination,
leadership and contacts abroad it will not be unwise for the people of the Niger
Delta to have a similar coordinated front in Diaspora.
In order to counter the dangerous signals
being sent to the people of the Niger Delta, I wish to make the following
recommendations as part of the processes of intensifying the struggle in
Diaspora.
· Niger Delta people in Diaspora
must start the processes of having a unified structure abroad. Leadership should
be decentralised to all the different countries and
continents
· Processes of identifying,
contacting and consulting all Niger Deltans in Diaspora should be embarked upon
in earnest.
· Communication spaces should be
established between organs in the different countries / continents; and with the
umbrella organizations in
Nigeria
· The umbrella organizations at
home must be strengthened and further empowered. Economic avenues should be
especially explored
· As a matter of urgency, contacts
should be established with the different governments of the different countries
and all / most international bodies such as the UN, EU, AU including human
rights and environmental organizations. The sympathy of these international
bodies must be gained for the sake of the struggle and people
· Pressure must be exerted on
the parent bodies of the oil companies influence their surrogates in
Nigeria for better deal for the people of the Niger Delta
· Pressure must be exerted on the
governments at home for good governance, and transparency
To the international, the time to act is now. The
situation in the Niger Delta is deteriorating very fast. When the signals of
crises started manifesting in the Sudan, Kosovo, Luanda, Georgia, Liberia, Ivory
Coast, DR Congo etc the international failed to act until the situation
deteriorating to massacres, genocide, or pogrom. The signs are manifesting again
in the Niger Delta. It is in this light I want to agree with the Ogele Club that
your intervention is needed urgently in the Niger. I wish to reiterate that
position in the box below.
What the International
community must do urgently
- Send an independent team to investigate all the killings,
maiming, looting, destruction and other human right abuses by government forces
in the Niger Delta
- Conduct a referendum to ascertain the aspirations and
desires of the Niger Delta peoples
- Order the Nigerian government to withdraw its forces of
occupation from the Niger Delta
- Declare the Niger Delta area a protectorate of the UN
until all the issues of natural resources ownership and management have been
acceptably determined
- Establish and supervise a dialogue process between the
Niger Delta people and the government of
Nigeria
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In addition, the international community should prevail on the oil companies
to practise in the same way they approach community development, community
relations, environmental protection, and human rights in their home countries
in the Niger Delta. More than ever before, government should sit down with
the accredited and creditable representatives of the Niger Delta peoples.
I mean proper dialogue and not the type of monologue that took place in
Abuja in April 2006. Dialogue should be followed with action on decisions
reached as opposed to the past where decisions reached at dialogues were
ignored or half-heartedly implemented. Implementation of
the above coupled with the present approaches of conferencing will contribute to
curbing “Youth Restiveness” in the Niger Delta. As people of the Niger Delta, we
shall continue to pursue dialogue and negotiation despite all the negative
signals until we get to wall.
In concluding, I must not hesitate to advise
the government of Nigeria and its leadership to listen to the words of one time
president of America, John Kennedy that “where dialogue and negotiation fails,
violence becomes inevitable.” A word is enough for the wise: don’t push the
people of the Niger Delta to the wall.
I thank you all for lending me your ears and
time.
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People:
It appears we still don't know the kind of country we are
after all this years. The use of force is the only language in operation in all
is ramification. The world wants what we have, the NigeriaState will never let
go the Ijaw Nation or change from over the years oppression. The way forward is
continuous armed struggle and well coordinated actions from all our axis and
completely stop the flow of crude from the Niger Delta region. Take on Aremu
and his evil forces which Aremu represent, with very strong resistance of our
deities and spirit of our ancestors.
"God has taken
his place in the divine council; in the mist of the gods he holds
judgement:" We will overcome
Glory A.
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THE ENEMIES
WITHIN
Posted: Sun 1/29/2006 4:48 PM
As expected some of our
so-called "Royal Highnesses" and other self-styled "opinion leaders" have
already started volunteering statements condemning the noble work our brave
warriors are doing on our behalf. I think such condemnations and calls for the
release of the hostages without demanding apology and concessions from the
Nigerian governments tantamount to subversion. These are people who have become
so scared stiff by Aremu's saber rattling that they are freely volunteering
condemnation of our warriors for taking hostages as a bargaining chip.
Well, we have been
hostages of the Nigerian government for over fifty years and nobody pleaded for
mercy on our behalf nor condemned the leaderships of Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa,
Gowan, Murtala/Aremu Obasanjo, "President" Shagari, Idiagbon/Buhari,Maradona
I.B.Babangida, Abacha, and Obasanjo aka Chief Aremu of Otta.
Yet, these so-called
Chiefs, lawyers and doctors with foamy mouths have the gumption to condemn a
people who are expressing their genuine grievances in the only language the
Nigerian authorities understand. After all, the hostages are enjoying our
hospitality. They were given cell-phones to call home. We were even not allowed
to consult and seek protection from our deities all through our ordeal in
Nigeria's concentration camp.
The hostages are guilty
by association as employees of a foreign company that colluded with the Nigerian
government to enslave and exploit us as well as render our land and rivers
totally unproductive; even the air we breathe was rendered toxic. But in our
hostage situation under Nigeria, we took nothing from anybody; we neither
destroyed nobody's property nor used terrorist tactics to burn down towns and
villages in any part of Nigeria.
Instead, they and their
British masters came and took us hostage and forcibly took our oil too.
Sometimes when they got mad at us for no apparent reasons they resorted to strip
searching and humiliating our young men in public and no mini-power nor
super-power expressed concern nor threatened rescue operation. So, those of you
who are running your mouths criticizing the actions taken by our warriors in
this struggle are also enemies of the (state) - the Ijawnation - and would one
day be called upon to answer for your sins.
I call upon our brave
warriors to ignore these elements and others who have never been in our shoes
nor seen things through our eyes nor heard all the nasty things Obasanjo and his
agents have said and still saying about us. Your cause on our behalf is just and
you have the wholehearted support of the vast majority of your compatriots. I
also call upon you not to release the hostages until Nigeria blinks.
And when it comes time
for their release, you must demand a written and signed guarantee for your
safety and immunity from later prosecution. Any such document must be signed by
Aremu himself and not the Inspector-General of the country's corrupt police
force nor any other functionary in the administration. The only people you
should allow to intercede in any discussions are representatives of the
governments of all the multinational oil corporations in the delta.
Please do not deal nor
listen to any government functionaries both national or local and whether such
people are "Highnesses," self-styled "Opinion leaders," "credible citizens,"
Ijaws or not because they could turn out to be traitors. Lest I forget, you must
also reject any notion to get the matter settled in Nigeria. You must insist on
a neutral country as is the norm in most such cases. I must in the same token
advise that no more photos of the hostages should be released. The one released,
so far, is in order in so much as it served as a statement that they are alive
and enjoying hospitality and all the goodies our environment. Otherwise, any
other photos like the one released could be a strategic mistake in terms of
location.
You must pay special
attention to the Briton because he is doubly guilty. As for the Honduran, he is
from a poor and exploited country like ours so you might consider him for early
release.
Again, the Ijawnation
thank you very much for your sacrifice on our behalf. You have our full support
and that of God, the inspiring spirits of our great ancestors some of whom
fought British economic exploitation in earlier times, and our powerful
deities.
Honest Akama
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Justice, Liberty,
Resources and the Future
By Fubara
David-West
Much of the debate about resource control highlights
the factors accounting for the lack of economic, political and cultural progress
in Nigeria since independence. Much of the economic-cum-political thought
within the population of policy-movers appears to be clouded by short-sighted
and clannish ideas.
Thus the Oxford-educated Nigerian is not more objective and
patriotic than the fishermen and the market women of the Fubara clan (someone on
the forum, to great hilarity even observed them running around naked in their
poverty and backwardness), who just live their economic and political reality,
without the urge to put those into some analytical scheme.
It is just that those with the world-renowned degrees tend to
be given the high-table routinely, even though they are unwilling to put the
candle of their enlightenment in front of the manifold problems created by
anachronistic cultural consciousness, roped around the clan and the ethnic
group; social mores defined by a changeless stone in the ethnic garden, and
economic ideals, untouched by a changing world of global finance, electronic
banking, information technology, and the multi-national corporation.
We might note that the intelligentsia fully enjoys the
benefits that flow from all of those things, in their exile within their comfort
citadels in Europe, North America and Asia, but when they look upon their home,
they see nothing but a people and a place that must always be understood within
the context of the hamlet, "the tribe" or more accurately, the ethnic group; a
benighted landscape to which the Internet Age and Post-Industrialism must at
least, for now, mean nothing.
Thus as long as Nigeria gets some bountiful crumbs from
British Petroleum and other multi-national corporations in the oil business, who
really cares about the implications of the transfer of funds, to justice,
future economic well-being, fiscal responsibility and the political and economic
empowerment of the Nigerian people, who after all own all of these natural
resources? As long as that crucial question is left unanswered, the issues
surrounding resource control and management will continue to have clannish
elements, may be defined along political and regional fault-lines.
Let us note that the natural resources of Nigeria belong
to all of the Nigerian people. As long as there is no law in Nigeria
restricting the movement of people, resources, knowledge and capital, any
Nigerian living anywhere in Nigerian should be able to lay claim to those
resources and the economic and financial rewards that flow from such a claim.
How might they be empowered to actually make those claims as individual actors?
That is the challenging question, and the way it is answered will have profound
implications for citizenship stake-holding, not only when it comes to individual
property rights, but also with regard to political representation, and civic
responsibility.
Indeed, the huge population of southern Nigerians in northern
Nigeria, the large population of eastern Nigerians in the West, the thriving
population of northern Nigerians in places like Lagos, indicates that the
Nigerian people have no problem accepting the possibility of such nation-wide
claims on the resources of the country.
However, they are easily taken in by the idea that the way to
run and finance your public institutions and your government is to share the
revenues from some loot out there, that falls magically onto the laps of the
Nigerian state, by the grace of the "White Man's Technology," and of course
Mother Nature; that companion of Eve's who is fully capable of dazzling all with
her power and her guile.
Their legislative and political leaders and their most
articulate citizens, tell them that their only problem is that greedy neighbor
out there, who wants to get more than his fair share of the loot. All will be
well, if only the annoying neighbor could be cowered or as a last resort forced
to accept the majority's consensus, rationalized by historical data and
mathematical logic. We do not even have to ask ourselves whether viewing
resource management and control merely as "sharing the loot" serves the
long-term interests of the people and their country.
Some of the Ogoni youth have however; come around to
realizing that there is no magic involved. Some forces, protected by the full
power of the Federal Government are extracting from their lands real wealth,
with the technical know-how of those forces, their capital, and their muscles.
How might this reality be made to complement the facts involved in the free
movement of people, capital and technical knowledge in Nigeria? That is another
challenging question.
Looking at the situation on the ground, one might make one
observation. That is the possibility that it is the policy-making
intelligentsia, the political class of party front-men and leaders, and their
coterie of clannish activists, who are pulling the people back, from their drive
towards objectifying the new Nigerian reality of nationhood, beyond
anachronistic clans and ethnic groups, narrow interests and blatant
bigotry.
The role of government in a liberal-democracy is to create
the fiscal and economic conditions, under which those individual claims I have
referred to might be satisfied objectively, and rationally, with as little bias
as possible. The formal instrument for achieving that are constitutional and
legislative mandates, established within a justice system, which is not only
rational and therefore predictable, but also legitimate. The facts on the
ground tell us that the legitimacy of the system is under active challenge, and
no amount of brow-beating will automatically eliminate that challenge. It has
rarely been done in human history.
Of course the polity must be careful enough to strike a
healthy balance between John Locke's and Adam Smith's (he was not a major fan of
the corporation) enthusiasm for private property rights, and Karl Marx's embrace
of a socialist order, arising out of advanced capitalism. Unfortunately, many
of these thoughts on resource control tend to adhere to state capitalism, a new
species of capital formation and control in which a fully parasitical cadre of
government bureaucrats, supported by a system of laws, plunder the resources of
the country at will, for their own benefit and for the benefit of sections of
the country, which happen to have the upper hand at one time or the other in
politics, be it military or civilian. That, in turn, creates a political realm
in which electoral fraud, public graft and general lawlessness become the norm.
On your marks, go! Its all to the races for the grand loot, with no real
accountability.
A sine qua non of liberty is justice. Nigeria must
establish, through its systems of public budgeting and finance a self-correcting
structure of laws and governance based on justice. Without that as an
irreducible element, none of these formulas relating to resources will do much
for the future, because liberty will be lost.
Fubara
David-West
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We can’t talk of peace and leave
out justice, Evah insists
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Story by Chioma Anyagafu, Assistant Editor
Posted to the Web: Saturday, January 28, 2006
COMRADE Joseph Evah is the national chairman of Ijaw Monitoring Group and
speaks on the kidnapped expatriates, the killings in Niger-Delta and how to
restore peace in the region.
“As far as we are concerned, the expatriates were kidnapped by the gods. The
oil companies are destroying our land and the gods are angry and are causing
havoc. See the problem we are having here, everybody is talking about peace out
there. Nobody is talking about justice.
Our people here are suffering. Their land has been destroyed; they live in
abject poverty. But I know that the moment the government begins to develop this
place, there will be peace. Let them begin to build industries in Niger-Delta.
Let them improve the living condition of the people. Let them use the
by-products of crude to develop our region. The plastic chairs you see in
churches today are made from the products of crude with rubber. All the plastic
chairs, plastic plates are not produced here. They are brought in from Lagos.
And we can establish these factories in Niger-Delta.
Okay, they have kidnapped the expatriates. Let them come and negotiate with
the people. We have seen the type of construction going on in Abuja with our
oil money. We want such construction here. What we have here are forests
everywhere. That is not fair.
Do you know that the amount of money the federal government is spending on
military mobilization to Niger Delta can be used to better the lot of our
people? It is better that they begin to consider these things. All we are asking
is that they develop our land with the money they are generating from here. We
live in shanties, in forests under austere measures but we see the white men
living in glass houses with our money.
We are not saying they should not use the money to develop other parts of
Nigeria. We are saying that the suffering of our people be minimized. Since we
can no longer farm, let them develop our land that they have destroyed. Let our
children take scholarships and have good education. These children are born
under these devastations and deprivations. If nothing is done to better their
lots, they would grow up to become wild animals with no regards for human
rights. That is the issue and they will be willing to die.
Children that are four, five years in the Niger-Delta today see military
weapons as fashion parade. They are not afraid because they are already like
animals. That is the issue. Life means nothing to them and I’m talking about
little children. What do you think they will become when they grow up in five,
ten years? So, what we are asking is that government makes life more meaningful
to the people so that the people will also protect the environment and protect
the oil companies.
In the past, we Ijaws named our children after oil companies because we
thought they would do us good. Today, you will see people bearing names like
Shell, Chevron, Mobil but we stopped that last year. Parents have been banned
from naming their children after oil companies because the oil companies have
destroyed our land and destroyed our people.
Build industries here and there will be peace. The oil companies compromise
some of the so-called leaders. They do not develop our communities, they do not
pay tax but they quote outrageous amounts as what they spend in Niger-Delta. If
they spend that much, why is Niger-Delta not like Libya or Saudi-Arabia? Why are
the Ijaws the poorest group in Nigeria? No Ijaw man holds a position of pride in
the oil companies and now, the Ijaw gods are dealing with them.
Deploying soldiers will worsen the
crisis, says Clark
First Republic Information Commissioner, Chief Edwin Clark advises the
government not to send soldiers to the riverside communities to harass and
persecute the villagers in their search for the militants because it will fan
the flames of anger and aggravate the situation. He said that government should
identify the real kidnappers and dialogue with them, pointing out that the
leaders of the region were not in support of violence in achieving any
objective. The Ijaw leader also asked the kidnappers to release the hostages as
their action was capable of sending wrong signals about the
region.
According to him, Ijaw leaders negotiated with the Federal Government when
Asari-Dokubo was having problems with the authorities and he was released to
the leaders, adding that though, Asari-Dokubo was now back in detention on
fresh grounds, the leaders secured his release then and should be trusted to do
so again. “Government must embrace dialogue because it is the surest way to
resolve this matter without bloodshed. I’m for anything that will bring about
peaceful resolution, just as we urge the militants to, please, release the
hostages.”
Negotiation will do the magic, says
Kokori
CHIEF Frank Kokori was the secretary-general of National Union of Petroleum
and Natural gas Workers (NUPENG). He talks of the process of peaceful resolution
of crisis in the Niger-Delta in this encounter.
The problem of peace in the Niger-Delta region is something to be considered
seriously and the only way to peace in that area is to make the people happy. I
have always said that the Niger-Delta is a very fertile terrain for revolution,
for guerrilla struggles. Anybody who thinks he can go into the region and
destroy the people and get away with it is joking. Dealing with Niger-Deltans is
different from dealing with people on the mainland.
So, they have to really come and discuss with the people, that is the
stakeholders, not just the chiefs who have collaborated with government for so
many years to exploit the people. I think the youths are getting tired of
dealing with these so-called leaders and they want to talk for themselves. That
is why I called them stakeholders. Government should know that the Niger-Delta
is a special terrain and the people have suffered so much devastation. They see
their land being destroyed. The source of their livelihood is being taken away
from them with the connivance of their leaders.
Unfortunately, innocent oil workers are being taken away as hostages. So,
what I am advising is that the Federal Government comes down from its Olympian
heights to meet the stakeholders and begin negotiation.
You see, these people (Niger-Deltans) are living in shanties. And the oil men
live in amazing opulence. And the stakeholders are the land owners and when they
see this clear demarcation their blood boils. And they vent their spleen on
innocent oil workers instead of the persons responsible for their problems. We
must not continue to ignore the militants. As this stage, there is need to
negotiate with them. And the truth of the matter is that if we don’t do it now,
it will get worse in future. A child that is five years today was born into
devastation, into the struggle. In the next ten years, he will be a teenager and
he would be more dangerous than the ones we have today. So, what am I saying?
The sooner we resolve the problem, the better.
The government has to develop and beautify the Niger-Delta. These youths
whose lands have been devastated, whose parents have suffered degradation and
poverty because their farmlands have been taken away from them have to be
compensated. They must go to school. They must have jobs. They must have good
homes and have portable water to drink. If you visit the Niger-Delta and see
the clear demarcation of opulence as represented by the oil men and poverty as
represented by the land owners, then, you will know that we’re not telling
ourselves the truth.
Oyegun: Let’s handle this delicate
matter wisely
In this brief chat, the former governor of Edo State, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun proffers solution to the crisis in the Niger-Delta. I will just
say this: the only way to get peace to reign in the region, to get the kidnapped
expatriates out and to stop the killings, lies with the government.
The government needs to come down from its high horse and talk to Dokubo and
Alamieyeseigha. You see, we cannot continue to ignore crimes against humanity
that are being committed in Nigeria. I’m aware that the former police boss, Tafa
Balogun negotiated with the government and got away with a very light
sentence.
The trouble in Niger-Delta is the one that has been costing lives. I think at
this juncture, we should call a spade a spade. The government should swallow its
pride and get talking to the militants and their leaders. We must swallow our
pride and talk to them. We can bargain with them to restore peace and then, give
them whatever light sentence if they are found guilty. We must restore peace in
the Niger-Delta and that should not be taken for granted.
If we keep doing it the way we are doing it now, it could get worse. In a
couple of years, it will get worse than it is now because the young ones are
growing up and they will be deadlier than the people doing it today. So, we
must talk. We must negotiate and that is the way to get out those that are
kidnapped and stop further killings and then have peace reign. It is a delicate
matter and should be tackled wisely.
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This Injustice Will Not
Stand!
Mr. Sabella Ogbobode
Abidde
“This country
will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place
for all of us to live in.” -- Theodore
Roosevelt
Publicly and privately, I have always favored political
solution to the problems of the Niger Delta. I do so mainly because political
solutions yield better and enduring results; moreover, the benefits outweigh
military actions with its attendant destructions, maiming and the killings of
combatants and the innocents. Lately however, I have been wondering and
rethinking my position: does Nigeria understand any other language, other than
force?
Successive Nigerian government, the international community
and the oil companies have been aware of the underdevelopment, marginalization,
misery and the fetid environmental conditions of the Niger Delta -- and
especially of the Ijaws. In other words, the collective poverty and
underdevelopment of Nigeria’s breadbasket is not a secret to the government, the
oil companies, local and international think tanks, the US government and the
numerous embassies in Nigeria. Yet, nothing is being done to ameliorate the
sufferings and hellish condition of the area and the
people.
And
since no one is listening to the grievances and genuinely addressing the
concerns of the Niger Delta, perhaps it is time Niger Deltans -- especially the
Ijaws -- change position and strategy. Something needs to be done to force the
hand of the Nigerian State. If Abuja won’t listen and agree to peaceful
change…perhaps it is time to forcefully make the Nigerian State listen.
Therefore, either through military or diplomatic solution or a
combination of both, the Nigerian State -- with regards to the Niger Delta --
has three options: (1) provide massive federal presence in terms of human and
infrastructural development; (2) One hundred percent resource control; or (3)
full and complete autonomy for the Ijawnation. Anything less would be foolish,
condescending and unacceptable.
That said, I think the Nigerian government needs help. And so
does the president. The president needs help with refining his thinking, his
judgment and his intellect. As with most other things, this president is being
incalcitrant and unreasonable in matters concerning the Niger Delta.
Why hasn’t anyone or a group of people impressed it upon this government
(and previous governments) that unless there is justice there can be no peace,
security and uninterrupted business in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole?
Sending in the military to kill, maim and arrest a group of people is not a
viable solution -- it is a waste of time and resources.
An intelligent reading of the ongoing situation -- which will
definitely worsen -- points to the fact that henceforth, there is not going to
be uninterrupted business. There will no longer be “business-as-usual” in the
Niger Delta. In other words, the costs of doing business will become unbearable
for Nigeria to bear. And not even the security pact she has with the United
States of America will save her neck. Instead of doing what is right, fair and
equitable, the government sends in the military. Recent actions and declarations
on the part of the insurgents and freedom fighters indicate that the government
does not have a monopoly of guns and arms and coercive force and brutality.
What we have in the Niger Delta, and more so in Ijawland, is
exploitation, injustice, injustice and more injustice. Four decade of injustice
must end. Four decade of exploitation must end. Four decade of marginalization
must end. Four decade of abandonment must end. And four decade of subjugation
and oppression must end. The Nigerian government and her backers can threaten
all they want. They can send in the military. They can bomb the Delta. They can
imprison the insurgents; but the insurgents will not bend or yield to Nigeria’s
insatiable thirst for stupidity and brutality. This, the nationalists have made
clear. A smart read of history makes these points crystal clear.
Any
sensible student of history and international politics can surmise that it would
be foolish for Nigeria to think she can “shock and awe” the insurgents into
submission, and then rewrite the rules of the game by monopolizing the spoils of
war. Oh no! No, no, no. The endgame, as far as I can tell, is this: since
Nigeria has made peaceful change impossible, she must be ready for whatever
comes her way. Since she has made it difficult for the Niger Deltans to sleep
and go about her business; the Niger Deltans too shall make it difficult for
Abuja to nap and go about her usual business. According to the insurgents, “all
bets are off!” In other words, the injustice being perpetrated and perpetuated
by Nigeria’s must stop. Forthwith!
This government, and for that that matter,
no government in the history of Nigeria has shown genuine concern for the
welfare and wellbeing of the Ijaws. As indicated by the speech given by
Vice-President Abubakar Atiku late last year, the government’s primary concern
is “its aspiration to grow national crude oil reserves and daily production by
2010.” The government wants to do this at the expense of the people of the Niger
Delta -- especially the Ijawnation. This government is concerned chiefly with
economic growth (GDP/GNP) and not the people; not human and infrastructural
development. People mean nothing to this government. But this attitude will not
stand!
Abubakar Atiku was quoted by Bassey Udo of the Independent
newspaper in November 2005 as saying:
“We are confident to say that
the worst is over. To get to this stage, we have been deliberate, systematic and
consistent in tackling environmental and social problems in the Niger Delta. We
have maintained that while we are doing what a responsible and caring government
is expected to do to address genuine problems, we will not condone criminality
and lawlessness…”
Well, he was wrong. Atiku is
dead wrong! “Criminality and lawlessness” is having total disregard for the
wellbeing of the Ijaws and the Urhobos and the Itsekiris and several others in
the Niger Delta. It is a crime not to listen to and genuinely act on the
grievances of the Niger Delta community when he, Atiku, and the president and
the ruling elites are busy stealing, mismanaging and misappropriating the
nation’s resources (of which 80 percent or more comes from the Niger Delta). It
is criminal to worry more about the oil than the people. It is criminal to worry
more about the international community than about the domestic community. It is
high crime when the Nigerian State continually and consistently ignores the
wishes and aspiration of an important segment of her population.
All
the government and Nigeria want is the oil, oil, and more oil and gas. Nothing
more. Not the human development of the indigenes. Left to the government of
Obasanjo, the Urhobos and the Itsekiris and others -- and especially the Ijaws
-- would be exiled from their ancestral homeland and relocated north of Sokoto,
Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe or Borno State or simply confined to the hash and
punishing Sahara wasteland.
The
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set up by the current administration
to deal with developmental issues is a charade. And so are other development and
peace building initiatives. Successive Nigerian government have lied and lied
and lied to the Ijawnation and Niger Deltans. And the current administration is
no exception. Government has been aware of the subhuman conditions in Ijawland
for well over four decades; and so do the oil companies. Yet nothing was done to
uplift the living standard of the people. And because of the precedent set by
the government, the oil companies have been thumbing their noses at the Niger
Delta community.
Since political independence
in 1960, the North, West and Eastern Nigeria and others have been busy looting
resources and trampling on the inalienable rights of the Ijaws, belittled and
disparaged. For instance, the government relate to the Ijaws as though they are
less than humans and are therefore not worthy of economic and human development.
Oh heavens, they should have known that these repugnant and repulsive attitudes
would not last for eternity. The Ijaws are not a people to be ignored or
disrespected; they are not a people to be used and abused and discard like used
wrappers. The Ijaws have inhabited that part of the world for generation after
generation after generation.
It
is mostly on their land from which Nigeria gets the money to sustain other
federating states in the country. Yet, the Ijaws live mostly in abject poverty
and in inhumane condition (with no potable water, no hospitals and clinics,
sewage system and tarred roads). Women and children are dying of malnutrition,
malaria, air and water-borne diseases. Moreover, the lands, rivers, streams and
creeks are extremely polluted causing unimaginable illnesses. Educational and
other public infrastructures are pitiful and laughable where present. There is
nothing to show for the billions and billions of dollars the Delta have given
Nigeria and the oil companies.
In a land this endowed,
the citizens live in abject poverty! Spaces are filled with hopelessness and
emptiness; hearts are full of ache and pain and sorrow. But today, enough is
enough…this injustice will not stand! The options before the government are
simple: (1) massive federal presence in terms of human and infrastructural
development; (2) one hundred percent resource control; or (3) full and complete
autonomy for the Niger Delta.
The aforementioned are some of the demands and position of
the insurgents. If unmet, the insurgency will multiply. It will escalate.
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Dear Ekiyor &
Roy,
Thank you very much for your very sound responses. We have no
choice but to salute the bravery of these young men who have defied odds to
establish a case that once again brings the Niger Delta Question to the front
burners of world affairs.
Now a harried Obasanjo is struggling hard to convince the
world that 'Nigeria' oil industry is not 'troubled'. The beauty of all this is
that every world press commentator ensures that the description of the Niger
Delta as one of the poorest areas in the world is not left out.
I get really upset when some people makes excuses for the
kind of responses that they make. We need to ask ourselves why and how these
young men could get so driven. We need to honestly sit down and ask ourselves
why these young men would so gladly expose their selves into harm's way.
These young men are trained militants who for about five
months now, have been undergoing drills and warfare exercises just for this
objective. Their abilities have been tested. Endurance, resilience and
adaptability. While the Nigerian state continues to bring up dubious information
for lack of any real or true info, these militants remain unbroken. Only
recently, there was a merging together of some other militants groups, even
though their combined operations have not been clearly defined for security
reasons. More youths are willing to go in.
Each day, more of our youths are getting angrier. For each
soldier of the Nigerian state that they see, they get turned onto the path of
militancy. Unfortunately not all of them can have access to the quality of
weapons that can make real insurgency be.
We should be grateful to these young men. They have put their
lives on the line. They have put their LIVES on the line. Their LIVES! If
you know how difficult it is for people to sacrifice anything then you would and
should value what these people are doing.
The Town Crier TTC
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The abysmally
depressing environmental and socio-economic conditions in the
Niger Delta, where the entire population has been subjected to wholesome
deprivation, abject poverty, fiscal sodomization, and hopelessness for the past
fifty years are facts no fair minded Nigerian nor foreigners conversant with the
sordid situation can realistically defend as deserving of the people. It is,
indeed, a situation that is universally known to all successive Nigerian
governments, politicians of every stripe, the multinational oil executives, and
their governments. In fact, it is a horrendous situation that has been begging
for redress.
Yet, no one or group
among the aforementioned expressed any concern nor compassion, out of good
conscience, to address as if the Ijaws and other groups in the region are mere
morons and, therefore, oblivious to the pleasures of life enjoyed by others;
even with money accruing from the oil wealth from the soil of the Ijaws and
their neighbors. Nigerian governments, particularly the current one under the
leadership of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, instead, declared the area
"undevelopable" and went on to instituted a policy of intimidation and
suffocating oppression whereby any challenge to the status quo was met with
brutal force.
The people had on
occasions been forced to witness whole towns and villages in the area razed to
the ground and, their kin murdered, their mothers, wives, sisters, daughters
raped, and many others maimed by Obasanjo's Junk-Yard Dogs under the command of
one "Brigadier-General" Elias Zamani. Even children, the elderly, and the infirm
who could not escape such onslaughts were not spared. The only "sin" committed
by the victims for all the humiliations, mayhem, and brutality visited on them
by Obasanjo's bloodhounds was in demanding a fair share of the revenue accruing
from the sale of the "black gold" that is being extracted from right under their
feet on and on their own land.
It is no secret that this
revenue is used to fund prestigious projects in every nook and corner of the
geographical entity called "Federal Republic of Nigeria, except the Niger Delta,
at the behest of some greedy and uninformed politicians of every stripe. And
while all this is happening, we, the Ijaws remain marginalized and intimidated
into submission so that the Nigerian government could maintain the corporate
existence of that tottering and violent sham of a republic. That odious policy
of marginalization, oppression, intimidation, brutalization, and fiscal
sodomization of our people is now faced with extinction as the we have come to
the realization, and rightly so, that we have reached the POINT OF NO RETURN
where we must stand firm and fight the bullies, the oppressors, and all their
agents or be eternally kept in humiliating servitude. And fight we must because
violence is the only language Chief Aremu and his bloodhounds understands.
We did not seek a fight
with our oppressors. They brought the fight to us and we must answer their
challenge. After all, in a dog fight, it is not the size of the dog in the fight
but the size of fight in the dog that matters. Sad indeed that the Nigerians,
particularly Aremu did not learn anything from recent military history. Salient
among the highlights in this history are the disastrous American adventure in
Vietnam, the ill-fated American invasion of Cuba, the woeful defeat of the
mighty Russian military by the Poppy Merchants of Afghanistan, the triumph of
tiny East Timor over the mighty Indonesian army, and the capitulation of Israel
from Lebanon. Oh! there also was the unceremonious exit of the Portuguese from
Africa which was preceded by the overthrow of the Lisbon government because it
squandered the country's meager resources on fruitless colonial wars. The
Nigerian nation seem heading in the same direction to join the march of follies.
Good luck Nigeria
The Aremu administration
has an announced policy to "wipe them out if they started any trouble because of
oil." This was revealed by no other government functionary than Aremu Obasanjo's
own mouth piece, Fani-Kayode, in a radio interview last August with reporters of
America's National Public Radio interview during a visit to the region. So we
must all brace ourselves to meet the challenge because the Nigerians will not
stop at anything in the current situation to spread vicious and dirty propaganda
against us and our young and brave warriors in their design to annihilate us.
They would call us all kinds of uncharacteristic names such as BANDITS, THUGS,
ROBBERS, BUNKERERS, ETC.
What they will not admit
is the fact that our warriors are only fighting to redeem the dignity of their
people and liberate them from the oppression of the Nigerian nation. Well,
fellow Ijaws, we are now at a very crucial stage in our struggle to redeem our
dignity and rights as the unfolding violent panorama in our region indicates;
and we cannot afford to capitulate thru blackmail by some of our gullible
brothers and sisters (and there are many amongst us) who would not mind selling
their souls for a few Naira. These are people who are trying to be dovish in a
hawkish environment. These are people who are living in a world that doesn’t
exist and we must be very wary of what they saw on this forum. We must realize
that we now are at a time when we must all seek to support the brave men and
women in the vanguard with whatever each of us can afford until the Nigerians
realize their mistake and retreat from every inch of our land. Just imagine a
situation where our waterways are controlled and our towns and villages occupied
by Aremu's filthy and vicious bloodhounds. Where severely restrictive curfews
are imposed in all our towns and villages and our people have to obtain special
permits to visit their kin next door. No sir/maam. We must not let that happen
in our life time.
I must say I salute all
the young warriors, young men and women in the vanguard, for standing up for all
our 14 million strong Ijawnation. Your sacrifices are highly appreciated and
your courage admired. I trust that God the almighty, the fighting spirits of our
ancestors, and mighty deities will always protect you from the satanic forces of
that dirty Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo. So it is now on us in the Diaspora to stand
in solidarity with our brave fighters as our kins at home are already under
siege by the Nigerians. Any show of reluctance or vacillation on our part to
support these fine young warriors would only serve to defeat our cause and hand
the enemies a cheap victory. It is better we put the enemy on notice now that we
WILL FIGHT THEM IN OUR CREEKS, RIVERS,
SWAMPS, VILLAGES TOWNS, FISHING PORTS, MANGROVE FORESTS, BUSHES, AND RIVER
BANKS. In fact, we should tell them that the day we'll take up our arms the
Nigerian adventurers would drown in our crude oil and the Nigerian nation itself
drown in red ink. And neither they nor anyone with a functional brain would
blame us.
I must advise these
warriors not to accept any invitation for talks with the Nigerian authorities
with out the presence of third parties such as representatives of the
governments of the various oil companies in the region. You must also demand a
written and signed guarantee for your safety and immunity to later prosecution.
Any such meeting must be held in a neutral country; preferably
South Africa
Folks, our future as a
nation is at stake and we must all join to combat this threat.
Long Live Ijawnation.
Honest Akama,
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Dear Izon Nation
Kemsese, Ah-dooooh!
I see Neo-Realism at work
in the Nigeria/Niger-Delta situation. In my international relations class, I
brought up the discussion with my instructor when we were being taught about
Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism, Constructivism, Neo-Realism, and Realism. The
Neo-Realists value security/national security over individual liberty, unlike
the liberals. This, she said, is the predominant position of the United States
Government. The same U.S govt. says it is a 'close' ally with the Nigerian
government, if my interpretation of their statement is correct. Close friends
look out for each other. A close friend who sees his friend blindly walking into
the lion's den should alert his friend's attention to the impending doom ahead
of him if he keeps going in that direction.
This is true
friendship.
The Neo-Realists don't
care much about the everyday people on the ground. They are the ones who the
ordinary people find it hard to relate to, because their thought patterns
encompass dimensions that everyday people might consider inimical to national
security and survival. This means if you are a Neo-Realist in the Nigerian
situation, you would only be concerned about Nigeria's military might, the
militaries of Nigeria's allies, and violence to ensure smooth crude oil
production. You would actually believe, or might, if you are a neo-realist, that
Nigeria's violent response of visiting our communities with destruction and
genocide will quell the situation. If you are a neo-realist, you will think
shedding Ijaw blood is the right way to go in your efforts to maintain a
stronghold on the Ijaw oil and gas wealth/sector, an impossible task. You will
live with the false impression that you can militarily conquer Ijaw people and
cow them into allowing the oppression to go on. Impossible.
The term neo-realism is
oxymoronic to the whole situation. Why? It appears to me that neo-realists have
a distorted perception of reality. They should see the reality in the situation
but they don't. How can you be a neorealist and not realize the reality of the
security situation on ground? If you are so concerned about military might, why
ignore the Ijaw ethnic military machine? Why put more lives in jeopardy over
your political ideologies and ignore the will of millions of people? How unreal
can your thought process get?
Human services reference:
I will make a quick reference to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. This is how
human services breaks down the hierarchy of human needs. It is a framework with
which we can objectively look at the whole situation and see if Nigeria is going
in the right direction as regards its dealings with the Ijaw Ethnic Nation.
THE MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
1. PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS:
Homeostasis; specific hungers; food, water, air, shelter, and general
survival.
2. SAFETY NEEDS:
Security, stability, freedom from anxiety and chaos; need for structure and
order
3. BELONGINGNESS AND LOVE
NEEDS: Love, affection, belongingness; need for family and friends.
4. ESTEEM NEEDS: Self
esteem, esteem of others, achievement, recognition, dignity
5. NEED FOR SELF
ACTUALIZATION: Ability to direct one's own life, a sense of meaning and
fulfillment.
The aforementioned
5-point scale can be used to help us better understand the gradual and at times,
radical transformation of Ijaw social society. We have needs as humans. If need
one is not met, it will be difficult or probably impossible for us to go to need
two and the rest of them. We have to follow an orderly pattern of organization.
I am not saying that the Maslow's Hierarchy perfectly explains our situation,
though. I think if we all look closely, we will find out that the neo-realist
elements in our society don't understand what they are dealing with. They can't
eradicate our needs from our midst. We have been living with these wants and
needs for decades. In these days and times, knowledge has gone back and forth
and mankind is illuminated. It will be impossible to defeat Ijawland as a
nation. Let us sit down and jaw-jaw so we won't have to war-war. We are already
in a war, I understand, but Nigeria still has a little bit of room to do what's
right before the situation spirals out of control and everything falls
apart.
I asked my international
relations teacher about the Nigeria and Niger-Delta situation. I explained the
history of the usurpations and the oil and gas dynamics to her. I drew her
attention to the fact that gas prices are affected in her country and in the
rest of the world as a result of our fight for justice. I told her that this was
my ethnic nation we were talking about. This was me. I tried to make her
understand that it was way beyond a textbook situation. We needed pragmatism at
work in this, and these were the kinds of responses I got.
She said the U.S govt.
was predominantly neo-realist. I asked " Every time my people get into a
high-profile confrontation with the Nigeria federal government, world prices go
up, why is the U.S still maintaining its position in a situation like this?" her
response was unclear, so I asked, I said " If the situation gets totally
anarchic and a full-blown war erupts, what do you think the U.S government will
do?" She said, "pull out of the area, they won't care less" I then asked "You
mean they won't care less if the land burns?” "Yes" she replied. I then asked
her, "what will it take for the U.S govt. to do what is right in this situation
and support true democracy and justice, especially since it is trying to spread
democracy around the globe? Will it take a complete shutdown of every drop of
oil Nigeria gets from Ijawland?" She couldn't respond. She looked dumbfounded.
Then I asked again, I said "Why is it that the majority of the U.S population
doesn't even know about my people and the problems we are facing, but every time
gas prices go up as a result of conflict in my land, everybody wants to have
something to say about it? Why such blindness?
She then drew our
attention to a time when the U.S government has made proclamations against
supporting oppressive governments and selling weapons to them.
She said some of the
people of the nations of that time rose up against their leaders whom they
perceived as evil, but the U.S turned around and supported these brutal
governments who in turn massacred their people. This, she said, was Neo-realism
at work. They put national security above the lives of the everyday people of
these nations. This is the world we are living in. These are the political
entities we are dealing with.
In a situation like this,
let us fully educate ourselves on the intricacies of the political game on all
fronts and all levels, so when true dialogues comes, we will go about it in the
most intelligible and sophisticated way. We can't afford to be taken by
surprise.
In my opinion, let us,
Ijaws, as a nation, resolve never to be taken unawares again. Let us be like
those nations who swore never to let their lands be enslaved again for all time.
Life is what we make it out to be. Let us redefine our reality in
non-neo-realist terms.
There are other schools
of thought to talk about, but for now, I chose to focus on neo-realism because
that is the school of thought which our oppressors have adopted in their
relations with us. Let us know how the enemy thinks and enter his mind. That
way, we are double-equipped to fight the intellectual battle and win.
Your own,
Oyinpreye D
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Niger Delta and military
solution
In response to the upsurge of ferment in the
Niger Delta region, and the grave danger it poses to the nation’s oil-dominated
economy, the Federal Government seems to have opted for full military action. In
preparation for a full military operation, surveillance efforts are said to have
commenced, while two warships, NNS Nwamba and NNS Obula, as well as naval
platforms 217 and 219, are reported to have been deployed in the coastal areas
of Bayelsa and Delta states. Scared by the increased presence of the military,
ordinary residents are fleeing the riverine communities.
But the
militants, who claim to have embarked on armed struggle to liberate the region
from the claws of an insensitive and unjust Nigerian State, remain undaunted and
undeterred. Only on Tuesday, armed youths engaged security operatives in a gun
duel for several hours at the premises of Agip Oil Company in Port Harcourt,
killing nine people, including seven policemen. Before the attack on Agip, about
14 people had been killed when a new militant group, which calls itself Movement
for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), raided the Shell’s Benisede flow
station, burnt down some staff quarters, and destroyed oil facilities.
The skirmishes in the creeks reverberated across the globe when MEND
militias, on January 11, kidnapped four expatriate workers of Tidex Drilling
Limited, a corporate contractor to Shell. In panic, oil companies are winding
down operations and withdrawing their staff. The spate of violence is estimated
to have reduced the nation’s oil supply capacity of 2.5 million bpd by 10 per
cent, feeding a sudden jump in the global price of crude to $69 per barrel. The
militants say their “aim is to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian
government to export oil.” So far, the armed youths seem to have put a sharp
knife on the nation’s economic jugular, by gradually crippling the access to
oil.
But despite the immediate threat which the resurgence of violence
poses to the economy, it is doubtful that the use of force will permanently
quell the uprising. Top military chiefs leading operations in the region have
openly reiterated the futility of using force to resolve the conflict. Military
action can never get to the roots of the crisis which are deep down in the
flawed fiscal structure of the nation’s unjust federalism. Here is a region that
has consistently supplied more than 70 per cent of the nation’s revenue, and 90
per cent of foreign exchange earnings, but has never tasted political power at
the centre. In plundering the oil wealth, the nation has been largely
insensitive to the development needs of the region. There is high incidence of
poverty and unemployment because farmlands and fishing ponds have been destroyed
by pollution. The exploitation of oil in the region has, therefore, fostered a
fertile environment for anger and frustration.
The Delta people had
expected the return of democracy in 1999 to turn the tide in their favour.
Though some palliative measures like the creation of the Niger Delta Development
Commission, have been taken by this administration, such measures have barely
scratched the problem. The hope that this administration would use the National
Political Reform Conference to review the meagre 13 per cent derivation also
failed. The 17 per cent derivation recommended by the NPRC has been ignored by
the National Assembly in its 101 amendments to the Constitution. Anger is
therefore boiling over because it has become obvious that this administration is
only interested in retaining a revenue formula that is patently unfair to the
Delta region.
The peaceful option is for the Federal Government to
initiate a dialogue by reaching out to the militant youths through credible
leaders of the region. The Obasanjo government must shift ground by immediately
offering the 17 per cent derivation recommended by the NPRC. To enjoy
international goodwill, Niger Delta youths, on their part, should release all
hostages in their custody and prepare themselves for dialogue with the Federal
Government.
The PUNCH, Wednesday, January 26,
2006
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Dear Izon
Nation,
Kemsese,
Ah-dooh!
When you look closely at
what is going on in the Niger-Delta and Nigeria as regards the rising level of
suicidal militance in our region, you might be able to identify an age old enemy
of the people. It is pretense. The Nigerian government uses this tactic to
strong-arm our people but it is too obvious for us not to notice it, identify
it, put a form on it, tackle it, tell the world about it, and eradicate it
forever.
It is unfortunate that
violence is the only language the Nigerian government understands. It really is
unfortunate. In the past, Ijaws have made countless recommendations,
declarations, suggestions, ultimatums, and every possible effort to draw the
attention of our oppressors to our plight and our decision not to keep bearing
such burdens. They might have seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, but they fell
on oppressive ears instead. Some of our demands were ignored and some of our
people were killed as a means of scare us and deter us from making such demands
in the future - that the government of Nigeria considers impossible to grant us.
Wrong strategy. You don't kill Ijaw people to maintain a smooth flow of oil and
gas in Ijaw territory. It is like harming a young cub and then gardening in the
midst of its pack! You ignore the nature of the lions and lionesses around you
and act like you're on some National Geographic documentary if you want to, but
a reality check or two will do.
Nigeria's federal might
never put fear into Ijawland's soul. It only made us harder, more united and
ready to die for what is just and right for all mankind. This is a generation of
Ijaws who were born into the suffering in the midst of immense financial booms
and an increasing desire to milk us dry and destroy our environment - or not be
concerned about the gradual deterioration of our ecosystem. Everybody cares
about our crude oil and gas, though. World prices keep getting affected every
time we confront Nigeria and try to get justice for Ijawland, but I guess a
little hike here and there hasn't been adequate enough to create the awareness
in the global political scene, of the Ijaw situation and the situation in the
Niger-Delta as a whole. A few price hikes have not been enough to let the world
know that the souls of the thousands of innocent Ijaws massacred for oil are
crying out to God Almighty for justice everyday and every night!
Ijawland always
considered itself a blessing to the world, even before the first drop of oil was
discovered, explored, and exploited in 1957. It is evident in our tradition. We
were raised to understand that God has already blessed us with immense wealth
and greatness and mercies from the days of old. We were raised to understand the
importance of our ethnic nationality, our ethnic identity, and the importance of
the fight for our survival. We were raised to protect what is ours, to be called
our brothers' keepers - even though some of us always worked against the rest of
the family from within. Such elements were always dealt with at the appropriate
time, and truth and justice prevailed in Ijawland from ancient days.
We are still united,
regardless of the seeming disunity many people are concerned about. Ijawland is
still united in thought, words, and actions. Truth is the meaning of Izon. It
has been a part of our culture from the start. We can't be part of a deceptive,
lying, warmonging, divisive federation. We were not raised to want to be or
remain a part of a failed nation state. We were raised to be victorious! Our
land has never lost a war and we never will, God being with us.
Deception has been
applied in dealing with Ijawland for so long that it has all become obsolete and
irrelevant. We identify deception as fast as we identify an enemy or a stranger
in our territory. We identify thirst for Ijaw blood in write-ups, proclamations,
declarations, attitudes, movements, coalitions, nonchalance on the part of
people who should care, intricate political dynamics, political machinations,
security utterations, and everywhere our enemies lie. We hear our enemies when
they speak of their so-callod will and plans for our land, ignoring ours in the
process. We see these things. We know when people try to kill us and steal our
oil and gas. We are fully educated on the nature of the thieves we are fighting.
These are people like you and me. They love life, just like us. They bleed just
like us. They feel emotions just like us. They want to live happily ever after,
just like us. They don't want their villages to be destroyed, just like us. They
don't want their family members to be killed, maimed, assassinated, demonized,
and suppressed, just like us. They don't want occupation forces on their land,
just like us. I mean, there is a long list of things these people don't want to
happen to them, except they are outright stupid.
But the irony is this: If
our oppressors don't want all these aforementioned woes to befall them, why
visit them upon the Ijaw nation? Why attack a nation and expect to live in
peace, especially when these people have access to you and all sectors of your
society? Why would you dare massacre thousands of Ijaws and think no Ijaw
militant groups will emerge in the future to deal with you and your cronies? Why
would you deprive us of access to our own crude oil and gas since 1957 when you
know you won't tolerate that kind of thing on your own land? Why do unto us what
you don't want us to do to you? Why act like you have a monopoly of violence
when we have hands to lift weapons, swift feet to run with, enlightened minds to
think with, an age-old connection to the rest of the world - just like you, and
the will to enforce what is right at all cost? Why act like you are dealing with
fools until you hear the gunshots blazing? Why wait till things fall apart
before you start trying to talk to the everyday people of the land? Why would
you try to continue in your myopic ways when we have risen to the challenge and
we want to tidy up our land? Why stay on the ship when it has another captain?
Why be hurt when you didn't feel our pain?
Why go against a moving
train, mortal man. Why?
The politics of pretense
has only led to cold-war scenarios, where we live together, feast on the same
table, marry from eachother's families, and turn around and murder eachother.
There can never be love in the house when the government is deceiving us,
indirectly enslaving us, provoking us, pushing us to our limits, pushing us to
the wall, leading us to insanity, caring more about gas prices than our
survival, playing politics with our lives, making us watch our people die of
hunger and starvation in the midst of one of the world's richest nations ever
known to humankind - and worse of all, acting like nothing happened. It is such
acts of political blindness and outright pride that brought great empires down
in the past. You must act like you are dealing with humans when you are in
power. You must serve the people, in the process of governing. You cannot play
with the lives of over 16 million people and think you are going to have a jolly
ride with their brethren. Life is not a rollercoaster. This is reality we are
dealing with. This is as real as it gets. Don't try to deceive someone who is
not a fool! Don't try to hide when you are transparent. We don't only see the
people who have been doing all these evil things to us and our people, we see
through them!
Prayer:
May the God of Ijawland
be with all the families of Ijawland and all our friends and allies. May our God
bless our enemies and open up their eyes so that they will see the deep pit they
are walking themselves into and retreat. May the God of mercy have mercy on the
souls of all the culprits who ever killed an innocent Ijaw person. May God
forgive and bless them. May they change their ways so that the planet would
become a better place to live in. May the God of all the ancestors and unborn
descendants of Izonebe intervene fully in this case and bring freedom to the
hearts and minds of the Izon Nation. May we get what we deserve from life. May
the God of Creation stop all our enemies in their tracks and expose all their
wicked schemes. May he enter into the places of their secret meetings and
frustrate the evil plans they have made against us. Our souls are in God's
hands. May the God of Justice see to it that Justice is done in the four corners
of Ijawland and beyond? This, I pray, In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
God bless you all!
Your own,
Oyinpreye
Dear Izon
Nation,
Kemsese, Ah-doooh!
Nigeria is responsible
for aggravating the situation and causing an escalation of the militant action
we are witnessing all over the Niger-Delta. Bad security decisions and myopic
policies are all factors in this.
When Ijaw youths start
using the most sophisticated Iraq-type weapons against the Nigerian forces,
Nigeria will still be to blame. I see us using Nigeria's own weapons against
them, on our soil. The country is playing the "HANGMAN" game, as I call it. They
are doing anything they can to hang us. Making us fight and making us procure
arms is one of their tactics they used to brand us as militants and a national
threat. Deploying troops to our region to occupy our land because of oil and gas
is a tactic used to spit insults at our faces and steal our food. Declaring a
war of attrition on us is a tactic Nigeria has used to turn our land into a
battlefield, so for the most part, all the news coming out of our homeland will
be that of war and conflicts - until we undo the big mess Nigeria has burdened
us with. Nigeria is an ancient evil that we must rid ourselves of, if we are to
live in peace at all and have the best of what life has to offer. It is a
neo-colonialist oppressive entity that has no connection to our past and our
future. They are only temporarily a part of our present. When we control the
situation, Nigeria will never again have power over the Ijaw people. Nigeria
will never rule us again. We will rule ourselves and defend Ijawland with our
own armies!
The violence directed
against us is carefully orchestrated by the powers that be, but we see through
their deception. The days are coming when Nigeria will not find one person to
dialogue with. They will be made to dialogue with Bullets and Bombs, like
they've been doing to us. That's what they want. That country really thinks it
can kill Ijaws and still retain our love and loyalty and trust. They're Stupid.
Taking human lives is a very serious issue. Taking hundreds and thousands of
Ijaw lives is a grave situation.
Subjecting millions of
Ijaws to abject poverty and economic deprivation, in my opinion, is a crime
against humanity. Reddening our soils with blood in a time of peace is worse
than a war crime. It will be understandable if we were in a war. Nigeria
attacked us when we were at peace, and we were supposed to be part of the
federation. How can our own country rise up against us and still expect us to be
part of it.
They don't care about
anything but our oil and gas and they will not get it. Nigeria must be made to
pay dearly for our lost ones. May the souls of the faithful Ijaws who we have
lost to Nigeria rest in perfect peace. Amen.
We should not sit down
and let these people get away with genocides. It's high time we focused on Abuja
and the rest of Nigeria, to consciously make them sheathe their swords or face
extremity. If there is no peace in Ijawland, there should be no peace in
Abuja.
Obasanjo has committed a
crime against an entire country by sending his boys to kill Ijaws. They asked
for war, and war is exactly what they got. What they didn't understand was that
the repercussions of their evils lay at their doorsteps 24/7. Attacks on Ijaw
communities will make Nigeria's nemesis creep into the windows and doors of
their homes and visit justice upon them. Nobody but Ijaws will get justice for
what has been done to Ijaws. The world doesn't care but we do, and we are doing
something about it. Nigeria is not to be trusted again, not even for a dialogue,
except we are convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that something tangable will
come out of the dialogue.
They used our oil and gas
wealth to purchase these gun-boats. They used our oil and gas wealth to fund the
propaganda war against us. They use our oil and gas money to feed their troops
and clothe and house them. They use our oil money to sustain the federation, so
they have committed a grave atrocity against us and our neighbors by attacking
us. Nigeria has done what no nation should do. They have bitten the finger that
has been feeding them since 1957. They have blindly walked into the lion's den
and they will get consumed by the hungry lions, lionesses, and their cubs.
"Kala-ama Opu-ama Gbeinbade-Oh!" It's kind of like David killing Goliath. We
will prevail.
Pelede Egberi Fa
Yours,
Oyinpreye D
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Cynthia Whyte, Ekiyor, George
Kerley, Asari Dokubo, Justus Wariya and all the Members of MEND, we
thank you for ensuring the safe release of the four non-Nigerians to the Abuja
Government.
Despite 48 years of
Corporate and State Terrorism deliberately and systematically perpetrated by the
Oil Conglomerates and the Nigerian State on peace-loving Niger Deltans
especially Ijaws, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of our kith
and kin through environmental pollution and diseases, no foreigner has ever been
killed by any Niger Deltan or in fact, any Ijaw. We commend you for your
magnanimity on this release and hope the Nigerian Government will learn some
lessons.
The main lesson the
Nigerian Government must learn is that Corporate and State terrorism breeds
extreme violence that can turn into a full-fledged Guerrila Warfare. Nigeria
neither has the capacity nor the capability to fight a sustained Guerrila
Warfare in the creeks of the Niger Delta. The whole region will be in flames.
Yes, the Nigerian Government can send in the army, navy and airforce to detroy
Odi, Odiama and Zaki Ibiam. How in the world will the Nigerian State protect
specific targets in Ogun, Osun, Kaduna and even Abuja, if these youths are
determined to retaliate with vicious and explosively violent hit and run
guerrilla tactics?
The second lesson Nigeria
must learn is that the Niger Delta youths have graduated from the Machete to
AK-47 to Rocket Grenade Launchers and now Dynamites. The Nigerian Government
through its insensitivity to the plight of the Niger Deltans should not push the
youths to the next level......shoulder-held missiles or stinger missiles. Then
the Genie will be out of the bottle and Nigeria will know no peace for
decades.
The third lesson Nigeria
must learn is that when a society values oil more than the blood of its
citizens, then such a society is sick and on the way to
self-destruct.
We also sincerely hope
that Shell, Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Agip, Eni, Total and all the other Oil
Conglomerates operating in the Niger Delta will understand that the
environmental terrorism they have been perpetrating on the Niger Deltans for the
past 48 years will no longer be tolerated. 48 years of deliberate acts of murder
on innocent human beings who just happened to be sitting on large oil reserves
is unacceptable in any society, no matter how backward, forward or even
"sideward" such a society is. This must stop.
Ekiyor, my only request
to Ijaw-ISS and hence, the Nigerian Government at this moment is the immediate
withdrawal of the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air force from the Niger Delta.
Civilians and soldiers do not mix easily. Only the Nigerian police should be
allowed to provide security in the Delta. The Niger Delta is not a foreign
country or a conquered territory or at war with the Nigerian State to be so
militarized. If I am not mistaken, it is still a part of the entity called
Nigeria. If there are no troops in Ogun, Osun and Oyo, there should be no troops
in Bayelsa, Rivers or Delta. What is good for the goose is good for the
gander.
Until Nigeria has a
people's constitution drafted and voted for by the people on the ground, neither
the Niger Delta nor any region of the envelope called Nigeria will progress.
Without a solid foundation based on a living constitution of the people by the
people for the people, our long-term demands will eventually come to naught.
Hence, Nigeria must without fail, initiate or support a national conference of
all ethnic nationalities within its boundary to decide on the way
forward.
Have a good
one.
Bright.
My fellow Ijaw men and
women,
It is with great pleasure that I, Ekiyor Akparede Edotimi, Director - General,
Ijaw Institute of Strategic Studies hereby announce the release of
the four hostages (Patrick Landry - USA, Nigel Watson-Clark - Britain,
Harry Ebanks - Honduras, Pat Crawley - Bulgaria) by our Great Ijaw Patriots:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
At our January 2006 Executive Board of
Directors tele-conference spanning three continents which was chaired by our
Chairman: Justus D. Wariya; we all came to the conclusion that the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had achieved a great short term
Strategic and National goal for our Great Ijaw Nation; and releasing the
hostages now would lay the foundation and establish a long term Strategic and
National Interest goal for Ijaw Nation. It is on the basis of this conviction
that we all agree to open a dialogue with the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND) with the sole aim of freeing the hostages in the
Strategic and National Interest of the Ijaw Nation. We did not expect success
neither did we expect that our call would be entertained. But we were pleasantly
surprised that MEND opened a tedious, hard and patriotic deliberation on all
issues that affect our Ijaw Nation, including their demands which was not easy
because we cannot make any promises; for the fact that we are working purely for
the Strategic and National Interest of the Ijaw Nation, which are the same
goal as MEND. Anyway, with the help and intervention of The President - General
of the Ijaw Nation: Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari we easily came to the conclusion
that it would be in the best interest for the Ijaw nation for the hostages to be
freed.
Ijaw Institute of Strategic Studies
is exceedingly grateful to The President - General of the Ijaw Nation, Alhaji
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari for putting Ijaw Strategic and National Interest first,
foremost and above his personal liberty and interest. Your self-less service to
Ijaw land and the Niger Delta is an established phenomenal; and we are 100%
behind you and would work hard for your immediate release. Thank you. We thank
Barrister Inye Dokubo-Asari; brave Ijaw nationalist and patriots of the Movement
for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND); Cynthia Whyte especially; Mama
Luta; TTC, and a very special thank you for George Kerley and our Chairman
Justus D. Wariya. You all did a wonderful job in securing the release of the
hostages. George Kerley, please take time now to sleep; you must recover from
three sleepless nights. Thanks.
Ijaw Institute of Strategic Studies also wish to thank all in this forum
that contributed to the debate on Ijaw Nationalism and the next level of
Strategies we must employ for the Emancipation of Ijaw land and the Niger
Delta. We thank Sabella Abidde, Bright Harry, Roy, Glory Adowei, Benebi
Benatori, Mrs/Pastor E. George, Honest Akama, Lawrence, Preye Dorgu, Blesson
Oborukumo, Abis Igoni, Herman Alamene, E. D. Ogoba, Dora Etimighan, James
Nengi, Beena Youdowei, Lincoln B. Snithers, Peter Edu, D. Olotu and
many, many more too numerous to mention. I salute Geoffrey Okoro, Priye
Torulagha, Rowland Ekperi and Titoe.
The fight just began!!! WE HAVE JUST 48 HOURS TO PRESENT A LIST OF
DEMANDS WHICH MEND WOULD RELEASE TO THE PRESS IN NIGERIA AND GIVE TO GENERAL
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO (Rtd.) WHICH MUST BE MET OR ACTIONS ARE SEEN ON THE GROUND THAT
OUR DEMANDS ARE BEING MET BEFORE THE 1st OF MARCH 2006. IJAW-ISS WANT TO
PRESENT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST TO THE MOVEMENT FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE
NIGER DELTA (MEND) THAT REPRESENTS ALL SECTION OF VIEWS IN IJAW LAND. THUS,
WE HEREBY CALL ON EVERY PATRIOTIC IJAW MAN AND WOMAN IN THIS FORUM TO CONTRIBUTE
IN THIS DEBATE, BEARING IN MIND THAT WE MUST HAVE IT READY IN 48 HOURS.
WE HAVE TAKEN BEENA YOUDOWEI`S DEMAND INTO CONSIDERATION. YOUR DEMAND MUST
BE SEEN AND HEARD. THOSE THAT WISH TO REMAIN PRIVATE SHOULD SEND THEIR
IDEAS DIRECT TO: (
**) WE MUST USE THE
MOMENTUM CREATED ON THE GROUND BY MEND TO THE MAXIMUM BENEFIT OF IJAW NATION AND
CAUSE. IT IS NOW; IT IS TODAY!!!!!! WE ARE WAITING IMPATIENTLY FOR YOUR
CONTRIBUTION.
May God Almighty continue to bless our great
Ijaw nation?
Ekiyor Akparede Edotimi
Ijaw-iss.com
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Justice, Liberty, Resources and the
Future
We can’t talk of peace and leave out
justice, Evah insists
This
Injustice Will Not Stand!
The Town Crier TTC
The
abysmally depressing environmental
Dear Izon
Nation
Niger Delta
and military solution
Dear Izon Nation
Cynthia Whyte, Ekiyor,
George Kerley, Asari Dokubo, Justus Wariya
My fellow Ijaw men and
women,
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