[allAfrica.com] [Africare] Warri Crisis - Troops Cannot Restore Peace, Says Community Leader Vanguard (Lagos) INTERVIEW August 24, 2003 Posted to the web August 25, 2003 By John Nwokocha SOMETIME in June, he granted an interview to Sunday Vanguard and he spoke prophetically about an imminent crisis in Warri the commercial hub-hub of Delta State with abundant oil. He had said that Delta State was sitting on a keg of gun powder set to explode. This sounded quite pre-emptive. Being stakeholder, Chief Ben Ohiri was not sounding off for the sake of it. But he spoke with the advantage of hindsight., for he had waged "wars" in the area not too long ago when he had the entire Olomoro community in Isoko north local government, as his domain while the AD Chieftain held the fiery post of President-general of Olomoro kingdom. So, when on Thursday last week, this writer approached him to appraise the Warri crisis, Chief Oheri Ozodhe of Ozoro quickly said: "did you remember what I told in the last interview" he added: "we are ready for peace." Excerpts: Q: WHY has the hostilities in Warri refused to cease despite efforts to put an end to it? You know, the hostilities refused to end because the authorities at state and federal levels are not interested in putting a permanent solution to the problem. And, for as long as the government is not sincere about resolving the problem in Niger Delta region, not the Warri crisis alone, we will continue to witness human carnage. It is very unfortunate. Q: Does this mean that the situation in Warri has defied all solutions? I don't agree. I don't think so. The government knows what to do to bring peace and stability to bear in Niger Delta, but there is a lot of double-speak and deceit. I can tell you what is happening in Warri will be a small thing if the government allows the situation to escalate. I can tell you, that it will affect the whole country. Don't forgot that more than 40 per cent of the nation's revenue comes from Niger Delta. So, any responsible government whether at state or federal level cannot afford to stay aloof while our people kill themselves. In fact, to be indifference on the part of the governments is not good enough. Because we can reasonably argue that the government is fuelling the hostilities to divert attention. You know what I mean by that. I mean that an unpopular government would do everything to cause the kind of situation we have in Warri so that our people who have been aggrieved over their neglect, could not channel their anger against the government of the day. This is what is happening in Warri. I said it immediately after the elections that PDP was bent on turning Nigeria into a one-party state, so, even where they could not win election they used intimidation and fraud to come to power. And that is why youth restiveness may not end in Niger Delta, because there is a political dimension to it. When I said that the government is responsible for the situation, I was saying in effect that the government created the problem. Q: Are you blaming the Federal Government or the state government for the ugly development? I am blaming both. But especially the state government, because it supposed to be decisive on this matter, because it not a child's play. What is involved is human lives. But the government is not taking it seriously. The government is politicking with every situation, even as critical as the situation in Warri is, they are handling it as if animals are the ones being killed. It is very bad. In the AD we have a master-plan on how to deal with the Niger Delta problem once and for all. You see the PDP has no programme for our people that is why the government cannot quench the fire that is consuming lives and property in Warri. Well you can not thrive where there is trouble. You see how the state is caught in a web of confusion. People are moving out and relocating to neighbouring states, businesses are crashing and the state is going down. We have Ijaws in Rivers State, we have them in Ondo, we have Ijaws in Bayelsa and if the Warri crisis is not controlled now, there is tendency that it will spread and that will be dangerous for the whole country. What the Ijaws are doing is a small thing to what the Isokos and Urhobos will do because a lot of injustice have been done to Isoko people. Q: What then is the solution? Government should convene a round table meeting for all the warring parties. Q: But this has been done before? Yes it has been done before. But I can say that there was a secret agenda by governments in the past. Because those who attended the meetings were selfish individuals and because of their greed, government was able to manipulate them and when the chips were down, we knew that they were not representatives of our people. They were not legitimate representatives of the people. But you reporters know the truth. Now, just imagine that the governor can afford to travel abroad while the state was on fire. Who are they deceiving. At another time the press reported that the governor relocated to Warri. What does that mean. Is this how to solve the problem. People know what is happening but it seems that everybody is afraid to say the truth in this country. But what they are doing is to postpone the evil days because those weapons the youths are using to fight against themselves could be used to fight in any part of the country in future. Has anybody asked the question: How did these sophisticated weapons enter this country? I believe that some people are responsible for this. Can anybody tell me that the youths have money to acquire sophisticated weapons. Nobody can sell that kind of idea to me. You cannot convince me on that. I know what I am saying because I have waged wars in the area when I was the president-general of my community (Olomoro in Isoko north local government area). In 2000, when we had a clash in my community I witnessed the type of weapons that were used. Q: Arms stockpiling And when I said a Niger Delta chief stockpile arms, virtually all the newspapers in Nigeria made it a headline. But nobody cared to ask me how did I know. At that time, I can recall that I wrote to President Obasanjo about the rate arms moved into the country. Today, go and see the weapons being used in the Warri crisis, you will agree with me. When the government said it was going to deploy military to Warri, I just laughed because I know that that cannot end the crisis. How can the soldiers fight against a group that has more sophisticated weapons. Remember that I have said that it is not the youths that are fighting. These sophisticated arms are very costly. The youths have no money to buy arms. The weapons are made available to the youths by our people in high places. some community leaders, some disgruntled traditional rulers and the government. The people who are claiming to be leaders of Niger Delta people are just making mockery of themselves. They are not the real leaders. We know them. They are posturing. Very soon the youths will visit their anger on them. You just watch and see. Youths restiveness will continue as long as there are selfish leaders and irresponsive government. This crisis can be resolved overnight if we had a responsive government. We in the AD have a solution to the problem. We believe in the master plan programme, but since we are not given the chance to come to power, we will continue to watch the drama from a distance. Let them deploy all the soldiers in Nigerian Army to Warri, there will be no peace. This time it is Itsekiri versus Ijaw, next time, it will be Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw and Itsekiri against the government, and that will be too ugly. Q: Is it not surprising that oil is not the cause of the fighting this time around? Oil is the main cause. What led to the boundary dispute? Because they know the thing that is coming out the land or portion of the land in dispute. So, it is the same oil that is causing the bloodbath in Warri. But I believe it is not a course. The problem is with our leaders, that is why our people are suffering. Q: How do you view the threat that U.S. marines would be deployed to Niger Delta to quell the crisis? I think it is a shame to the Nigerian government, in this respect, that I also interprete that the government has failed. Why don't the government deploy a combined team of Russian and British soldiers to Niger Delta. I think the whole thing is a joke. Are we fighting a war against another country? Sending U.S. marines to Niger Delta would be a costly mistake. Government should shelve the plan. Because it is ill-advised. Q: The effect of the hostilities is taking tolls on the economy of the state as the oil companies are said to be moving out of Warri, how do you see this development? Well I am not surprised about it. Nobody can do business under an atmosphere of insecurity. As far as the oil remains in Niger Delta region, the companies would return as soon as peace is restored. But these companies must ask themselves why is youths restiveness perennial in Niger Delta region, that is the first step towards a permanent solution.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2003 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================