The public proclamation of ceasefire by members of the Niger Delta Avengers, announcing the end to the over five months bombing of pipelines may never be the end to the hostilities in the volatile region.
Although, the militants have agreed to lay down their arms following the plea by the leaders of the region, especially Chief Edwin Clarke and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, the allurement in militancy and the near impossibility of President Muhammdu Buhari meeting the needs of the militants may ignite more violent agitations.
Already, the disagreement among the dissident groups played out on Tuesday, August 30, following the bombing of the oil facility belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at Ogor-Oteri in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
A militant group, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group asked oil firms operating in Warri and Port Harcourt to send their staff packing to avoid the painful consequences of the attacks in the coming days.
Militants
It called on oil firms in the upland area of Delta to quit the region as the destruction coming in the days ahead will be too catastrophic for the people in the area, even to the government of the federation. The warning, it said, had become necessary as the group does not want any innocent blood to be spilled in the vicinity of the oil firms designated for destruction.
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The group also accused militant groups fraternizing with Chief Edwin Clarke in the wake of negotiation moves as being influenced with the need for money, following the unwritten knowledge that financial gratification and inducement will definitely change hands at the negotiation table with the presidency.
It said, “those in the field just for the money will quickly rush to align with the E.K Clarke’s arrangement because they were, as a matter of fact, created by some of the people co-travelling with Clarke.” The group dissociated itself from the Clarke faction, arguing that EK Clarke could hold the Ijaw groups, his ethnic nationality, but not others in the region.
Militants jubilation in the creeks
In a similar vein, a group under the aegis of Niger Delta Red Squad, on Thursday, September 1, released a report on Facebook stating that it had attacked Agip oil firm in Umuonei in Awara community in Imo state. In the post signed by one General Don Wannie, the militants said they hit the oil facility because it has nothing to show for the operations of Agip and other oil companies in their area since the creation of Imo state.
The squad added that it was made to renew attacks as a result of the continued criminal ignorance of the oil-bearing communities by oil companies just as it expressed unhappiness over Agip’s continued neglect of the communities surrounding its area of operation in the state. It insisted that it will continue blowing the oil installations until Agip thinks and does the best for the people as part of its corporate social responsibility to the people.
It threatened to attack the offices of the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) among others in the state. The militant group also said it would attack Governor Rochas Okorocha’s Ogboko village if government deploys any army to their community in an attempt to quell the uprising and subdue their operations.
Nigerian Army
“To Imo state government and their security agencies, we ask you to give our people what rightfully belongs to them. You think the best thing you can do is to plan how to deploy security men to our area. “No problem, we are assuring you that no security agent will come to any part of Awarra and go without being beheaded”, the militant group threatened.
The multiplicity of groups and their diverse objectives is one of the major hindrances to the success of the negotiations with the militants. One fact that cannot be wished away is the diversity of the groups and their different demands, all seeking for attention from both the government and the multi-national oil firms.
At the inception of the recent violence, the Niger Delta Avengers listed 10 point demands which the group said President Muhammdu Buhari must grant before the militancy will cease in the region. Many of the points listed seem impossible for the President to grant, a development which observers say may hinder the success of the negotiation moves of the president.
War in the Niger Delta
Some of the demands include implementation of 2014 national conference report; tendering apology to Alamieyeseigha’s family over his death; reflecting 60 percent of oil blocks to oil bearing communities; Amaechi Rotimi, Minister of Transport, to apologise to Niger Delta over his unguarded statements; unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, detained leader of IPOB and director of Radio Biafra and the prosecution of indicted members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), among others. The Avengers had said that President Buhari’s failure to fulfill the demands, the conflict will continue.
Also, traditional rulers who visited the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, in Abuja, last week, listed conditions that are at variance with the demands of the Avengers. Among their demands submitted on behalf of the chiefs by Chief Wellington Okrika, a leader in Gbaramatu kingdom, include release of the 10 students arrested by the army on May 28 when the soldiers invaded the Okporoza, return of the Golden Sword, the symbol of authority in Gbaramatu kingdom, said to be stolen by the army, withdrawal of military from the region and re-opening of the Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State. This presentation of the leaders is quite diverse from the demands of the militants.
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The diversity of demands, the growth of militant groups, the un-united stand among leaders of the Niger Delta due to political party affiliations and the political will of President Buhari to meet the demands of the diverse groups may definitely lead to the continuity of the attacks.
Besides, what actually fuels the growth of the groups is the unwritten understanding that financial gratification is connected with the negotiations.
The groups, it is believed, are rising from different parts of the region with diverse names and missions calling for attention from the federal government with an objective of settlement from the government. The craze for money, observers have said, is the ultimate goal behind the growth of militants.
But the federal government is, however, to blame for the uprising in the region. It has failed to fulfill its obligations to the people. Sincere leaders have called for the overall development of the region.
The Niger Delta has been a history of violence ranging from the post colonial days, battles have been raging and the war has remained unwinnable due largely to the unwillingness of the federal government to attend to the development needs of the volatile Niger Delta.
Nigerian Army in the Niger Delta
Many leaders have asked the federal government to, as a matter of serious concern, develop the region, clean up the Ogoni land with sincerity of purpose, engage the youths and people of the region productively.
Political pundits have argued that if the government is actually sincere with its promises, negotiations should not be an option for whatever reason. Rather than negotiating with miscreants and oil vandals who are bent on pursuing stomach infrastructure, the conflict will come to a halt without shooting a gun if the federal government bows to the development needs of the region.
For permanent peace to come to the region, the federal government must deploy the oil resources and transform the region. The roads as the East West road are an eyesore. It only has a good face from Warri to a section of Bayelsa State but from Bayelsa through to the end, it’s a symbol of a failed government and a picture of a neglected people.
The people are desirous of the dividends of the resources from the region. The roads must be attended to, the water must be made drinkable, electricity must be extended to them, schools, hospitals and other basic necessities of life must be provided for them and they must be treated as equal citizens of a united Nigeria.
But rather than attend to these needs, the federal government prefers employing the services of soldiers and air fighters to wage war against the people so as to have unfettered access to their resources. This is why Prof. Gordini Darah of the Delta State University, Abraka, said the region is a conquered territory and an exploited colony of the oppressive federal government.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Following the development, Darah said the Niger Delta is under a siege. He said there is injustice in the region. To him, there is a permanent crisis which manifests in diverse forms. He said there can’t be peace in a place where injustice reigns and the people treated as second class citizens even in their own communities.
He said the people of Niger Delta have always battled or fought gallantly to defend their right to natural resources. It has always ended in bloodshed, just as he cited the struggling days of Jasper Adaka Boro to free the region from the jaws of the federal government.
But, the military regime which just came to power then in 1966 sentenced him and three others to death by hanging in Port Harcourt by the Federal High Court. For him, it has been blood, blood and tears in the Niger Delta.
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According to him, “The reason why the federal government has occupied and conquered the Niger Delta is because of the oil and gas which is the source of revenue for the country. During the British colonial rule, they were operating what they called derivation principle. Whatever your area produced, 50 percent goes to you, the rest is shared. These British were foreigners, they have no reason to help us but they saw justice. From 1946 to 1960, they did that.
Bombed pipelines
“But when the military came to power and saw opportunity to loot the treasury, they changed the law. And by decree No 51 of 1961, petroleum decree came up and that from then on all oil and gas revenues came under the control of the federal government.
“That is the apartheid law we are fighting against in the Niger Delta. It started during the civil war, so there was some excuse for it, they didn’t want Ojukwu and Biafra to share in the revenue.
“But the war ended on January 15, 1970 till now 46 years after, they have not changed the law. They have even made it tighter. From Gowon, it moved to Murtala Muhammed, IBB, but Gen. Buhari was the first to knock everything off.
“Shagari gave one and half percent to the oil producing areas but Buhari, being a Fulani conqueror, knocked it off. He was the first Minister of Petroleum Resources in the country, so, he knows what oil and petroleum means to a nation.
“So, the cause of the war in the Niger Delta is the stealing of our resources and it’s expressed in the constitution section 44:3. Any regime that comes, it puts it in the constitution, federal control of oil and gas, but there is no federal control of cows and farmlands, why focusing on oil and gas?
“It’s only the revenue that they want. So, we know we are a conquered people and we are fighting back. Until that law is changed and a true federal system restored, there will be no peace, there may be some calmness but not peace”.
Professor Darah, who was a member of the 2014 national conference, however, expressed optimism that the crisis will come to an end. He said the conference offered peaceful resolutions without war and bloodshed. He said during the conference, members quarrelled, fought, broke up but eventually made resolutions that if implemented, the challenges in the nation and the region will be brought to a standstill.
But the political will of the President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the resolutions reached at the conference will determine the workability or otherwise of Darah’s suggestions. Time and event will tell.
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