Special Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe
The latest uprising of militancy in the Niger Delta region provoked the intervention of the Joint Military Task Force. CHUKWUDI AKASIKE examines the reasons behind the latest rise in the activities of armed youths and concludes that criminality, rather than the agitation for the development of the region , remains the reason behind the insurgence. The recent upsurge in militancy in the Niger Delta is no doubt a source of worry to the Federal Government and the citizenry. The situation becomes more worrisome when one remembers the huge funds being expended on the amnesty programme. Today, guns still blaze and bombs explode in different parts of the Niger Delta. Even Abuja, the country’s capital, was not spared of bomb attacks as no fewer than 16 persons were killed in the city because of the resurgence of militancy in the country.
These militants had always wanted Nigerians to believe the reason behind the attacks on oil installations, kidnapping and other forms of violent crimes were as a result of the marginalisation of the Niger Delta region. This led the immediate past President of the country, Umaru Yar’Adua, to promise the speedy development of the region.
Before the current resurgence of militancy, the Federal Government had in October 2009 granted amnesty to repentant fighters with a promise to train and rehabilitate those that embraced the programme. Both the Federal Government and the apologetic militants were able to strike an accord, which included the latter surrendering their arms and ammunition.
As expected, before the October deadline for the handing over of weapons, large consignments of arms, which included AK-47 rifles and dynamites, were submitted by the repentant fighters. But while many decided to leave the creeks and embrace the amnesty, others refused to follow suit. They were sceptical about what the FG would offer. Some of those who accepted the offer did so because they were not comfortable with being exposed to the cold environment of the creeks. Others deliberately wanted a change of their lifestyle that was all about killing, kidnapping, raping and robbery.
But after the amnesty deal, there has been a twist in the unfolding events. For instance, recently, a group of militants based in Foropa in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State attacked Agip Oil installations. Earlier, another militant group loyal to one of the leaders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Tamunotonye Kuna Obese, had kidnapped two Russian sailors, who were later freed. Not done with that, the same group abducted three Frenchmen and held them for almost two months before they were released. Their release did not come without a ransom.
The last of the high profile abductions was the kidnapping of some employees of Mobil, Shell, Afein Group and Julius Berger. The spate of kidnapping had forced the Joint Military Task Force to swing into action. To the JTF, the action of the militants was a sign that they (militants) were no more interested in the amnesty programme since most of them have gone back to the creeks to unleash mayhem on Nigerians and expatriates.
This explains why on November 15, the JTF raided many militant camps in the region and dislodged the hoodlums. At the last count, the special security operatives had destroyed about 14 militant camps in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states. In the process, the task force ensured that 19 persons held hostage by Obese were freed. According to the JTF Commander, Maj-Gen. Charles Omoregie, the hostages were freed after his men bombarded one of the militant camps where Obese was staying with the abducted persons.
Having felt the impact of the JTF shelling of his camp, Obese, who spoke through an ex-militant leader, Fara Dagogo, pledged to release the hostages, surrender his camp and himself to security agents.
Obese, who had his amnesty identification card with him when he handed over himself to the JTF, did not renege on his pledge as he and 62 members of his gang surrendered themselves and their large consignment of arms and ammunition to the JTF operatives. Omoregie, however, expressed worry that some of the ex-militants, who embraced amnesty and were receiving monthly allowances from the Federal Government went back to the creeks to perpetrate crime.
“Most worrisome is that some of these criminals in front of you had accepted the Federal Government amnesty and are currently collecting allowances from the government, but still went ahead to engage in criminal activities that are strictly forbidden by the terms of the amnesty. However, we have brought them (militants) out of the creeks and we hope they will not go back to the creeks. We want you to see that the JTF is not fighting just for the fun of fighting. As stakeholders in security affairs, we are assuring that we will eradicate these criminals from the region and have a very peaceful region where development can now take place. The suspects will be handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution,” Omoregie had said.
But the question many observers have been asking is, ‘Why did some of the militants go back to the creeks?’ The speaker of the Niger Delta Youth Parliament, Mr. Imoh Okoko, attributed the Federal Government’s inability to fulfil its promise of providing accommodation and protection to the repentant militants to their decision to go back to the creeks. Apart from that, Okoko said the FG was not showing enough commitment to the development of the area, even as he called on the government to make haste and begin to develop the oil rich region.
Okoko said, “The ex-militants are not happy. Some of them are roaming the streets without accommodation. Their leaders earn the same amount of money as monthly allowance, which is not good enough. The former militant leaders were also promised police protection. The FG should have moved in construction companies to begin serious work in the region the way it has always being in Abuja.
“Most of the ex-militant leaders are complaining of their allowances and they are asking why they should be earning the N65,000 their followers are earning. We believe the FG should do something about that. But that is not to say that we are supporting militancy. We had already commended the JTF for going after those militants, who have refused to embrace amnesty.”
But the chairman, Rivers State Social Rehabilitation Committee, Chief Albert Horsfall, explained that the reasons for the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta region were three. According to Horsfall, some of the militants genuinely have the spirit of nationalism and believe that the region should be better than its current situation considering the huge resources it contributes to the development of the country. He noted that since this appeared not to be the case, they (militants) began to see the taking up of arms as the next option.
Horsfall identified the second set of militants as jobless youths, who believed that since the government could not guarantee them employment opportunities, it was better for them to go to the creeks and perpetrate crime. The third group, the state SRC chairman, who has trained over 600 ex-militants under the state government programme for ex-fighters, said consisted the criminally-minded youths, who took advantage of the agitation and infiltrated the ranks of militants, whose only reason for going to the creeks was to agitate for the development of the region.
“Those who took up arms are of different categories. Some, we regard as nationalists, who felt cheated that they were getting the kind of economic support given to others from other parts of the country. Another category went into militancy because they were jobless. That is why we want the government to do something positive about unemployment in the country.
“The third category of militants comprises criminal elements that infiltrated the ranks of nationalists and the jobless. This is the category of militants that have gone back to the creeks. I am a nationalist too. When we went to the 2005 national conference, our demands were two. First was that we (Niger Delta people) wanted the Presidency to be zoned to our area in 2007 and the second demand was resource control,” he recalled.
Suggesting that it was better to tell President Goodluck Jonathan, who is also from the region, to implement programmes that will give the people of the area a sense of belonging, Horsfall argued that going to the creeks to unleash mayhem was not the best option. He expressed sadness that some members of a militant group loyal to Obese, who were arrested recently by the JTF, were from Rivers. Horsfall, however, described the current situation where the post-amnesty programmes of the FG was yet to produce the desired effects as very sad.
Taking a close look at the current rise in militancy in the region, one can easily differentiate between genuine agitation and bizarre criminality. To the JTF commander, it is wrong for anybody to engage in violent crimes against his fellow human beings and call it agitation or emancipation. He said, “When a man kidnaps his fellow man and commits rape and armed robbery; you cannot call that emancipation. Such acts can only be described as criminal and that is why we are assuring the people of the Niger Delta that the JTF will flush them out from wherever they are.”
Many observers are of the opinion that the various militant groups in the region have derailed. Looking at the way activists like the late Isaac Adaka-Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa went about their agitation in the region, none of them took up arms and none of them went into kidnapping, rape or armed robbery. The militants can only be relevant and win the sympathy of Nigerians if they get back to the real reason they are in the creeks.
The kidnapping, raping and killing of expatriates and Nigerians, some of whom are their (militants‘) brothers from the same region, are signs that the so-called agitation for emancipation of the Niger Delta people lacks one significant aspect of the whole exercise – a human face.
Source:punchng.com
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