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Daily_Independent (Lagos)
****** Nigeria: The Niger Delta Militants - What Do They Want? ******
D. Peter Ihejirika
23 December 2008
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opinion
The issue of the Niger Delta Struggle has become a recurring decimal. Even with
the death of the foremost Niger Delta agitator and nationalist, Isaac Adaka
Boro, through the most recent in the persons of the Late Ken Saro Wiwa and the
Ogoni Nine, the issue which people hitherto thought would have died down or
completely washed away from the Nigeria political discourse due to the Odi
massacre among other afore mentioned, has been given a fresh bite.
Today, the struggle which started ordinarily as a mere protest and mild
agitation has taken a wild dimension leading to so many other vices as
dissidents and infiltrators have cashed in on the precarious situation to
unleash mayhem on both Nigerians and expatriates alike as the youths have
yowled to the swaps for jungle justice to drive their points home to the
authorities.
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So, if it is not the exchange of gunfire with the Federal security agents, it
will be a case of kidnap; if not oil well sabotage, it will be a boastful
threat of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) or the
Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) or others warning of their readiness to
attack oil installations.
The struggle has made heroes out of some of the freedom fighters that
ordinarily would not have been known. Such persons as Alhaji Asari Dokubo of
the NDVF who, despite been incarcerated, is still weighing a very serious
influence and commendations after choosing the part of peace after his release
last year.
When these hitherto vigilante organizations started some years ago, people did
not give them a chance hence they thought they were playing to the gallery.
Even the writer of this piece had always treated Dokubo's head lines and that
of his co-traveller, Ateke Tom, with disdain as they were then seen and
portrayed in local tabloids. Hence in the public domain, they were then seen as
common local criminals whose stock in trade is illegal oil bunkering. Today,
Asari's firm statements on national issues send the shivers down the spine of
the Nigerian authorities. Though since his release by the present
administration of Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, his power has been watered down a
little. Hence before his release, some splinter groups have emerged, now making
the Niger Delta issue a hydra-headed affair - either it is MEND bulldozing from
this angle or the reformed Niger Delta Volunteer Force and the Martyrs Bridge.
So, at any point in time, either Jomo Gbomo or Cynthia Whyte has not left
anybody in doubt that they are not faceless. No wonder at any point of attack,
they would let the public know they were responsible for a particular attack or
the other. But most of the times, people ignore such warnings to their peril.
In May 2006, MEND boastfully told the Nigerian government that they have
acquired a rocket-propelled launcher, which would undermine the Nigerian
security at the Bonga oil field. Two years after, the oil field fell to the
supposedly superior powers of the militants.
Hence they dislodged the biggest oil-floating vessel in the continent and
beyond. As complacent as the federal authorities were, they disregarded the
earlier warning. No wonder after two years of careful study and craftsmanship,
the militants struck the Bonga to the chagrin of both Nigeria and the
international communities. What an irony!
However, one thing that has continued to baffle everybody is the true intention
of these freedom fighters. Ab initio, they were talking of maginalization,
environmental degradation, and lack of development of the Niger Delta area.
They felt the Nigerian state under the leadership of the former President Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo was not keen on solving the numerous problems of the people
of the Niger Delta hence they resorted to kidnapping of expatriate oil workers
and some construction company giants like Julius Berger, among others.
Initially, people thought they were doing it to attract the attention of the
international communities but as time goes on, the issues snow-balled into
chains of kidnap cases of even innocent persons including children. To that
extent, early sympathizers of the struggle are now batting to unravel the true
intentions of the militants. Such questions as these are now being commonly
asked: Are they just there to make money through an act of bravado? Are they
truly fighting for the downtrodden masses of the Niger Delta? Is it a mafia war
to outwit the initial illegal oil bunkers? Is it to send a message to the
federal that they are no longer comfortable with their marriage of convenience,
orchestrated only by the black gold?
But if people are wont to believe that the struggle is still for the interest
of the masses, which is supposed to be the main cardinal objective, it is high
time they sheathed their swords and re-energize and channel their grievances
and might to the total liberation of the Niger Deltans.
It might not only be through violence or war but through the ideal way of
dialogue especially this time around that the Federal Government has shown a
genuine commitment with the creation of the NIGER DELTA MINISTRY. We must
resist the temptation of the outsiders instigating us to cause confusion in our
region thereby scaring genuine investors away.
The Niger Delta militants should as a matter of urgency liaise with other
sister ethnic organizations that share the same ideology like the MASSOB and
OPC to realize the main objectives of the region. However, such marriage should
be well scrutinized to avoid dissidents infiltrating into the struggle or some
politicians highjacking the struggle for their self-aggrandizement. More so,
they should limit the incessant cases of kidnapping of innocent citizens of
this country or foreigners alike. Hence you cannot use the iron rod you are
condemning to punish others, as people would look at you as having misfired.
In as much as this struggle is legitimate, they can drag the federal government
to the law court here in Nigeria or to the International Law Court at The
Hague.
There is no auspicious time than now as the present administration under Umaru
Musa Yar'Adua has been singing the rule of law slogan. If Yar'Adua can hand
over the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon citing the decision of the international
court of justice who knows, anything can still be possible hence by carrying
more attacks you are inflicting more harm on the already impoverished region.
Ihejirika wrote in from Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Copyright © 2008 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by
AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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