Bleak as the Delta situation appears to be, given the recent escalation of violence, we may actually be approaching a stage of possible resolution – touch wood! This is why, albeit with much reluctance, I feel I should respond publicly to the spate of entreaties and expressions of anxiety coming my way over my perceived adoption of a ‘siddon-look’ attitude towards the troubled region. Such pressures have increased dramatically over the past few days, following – perhaps non-coincidentally - public responses by presidential candidate Pat Utomi, Ambassador Segun Olusola and others to President Yar’Adua’s latest offer of an Amnesty offer to Delta militants.
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| prof-wole-soyinka |
Let me begin by conveying my full endorsement of the position of these two. The offer of amnesty is worthless if it is not all-inclusive, and embraces those who are currently in state custody and/or on trial. The attempt in some quarters to confuse issues by refusing to separate the principled militants, such as members of MEND and its affiliates, from the opportunistic mercenaries and criminals, has always struck me as dishonest and diversionary. Separating the wheat from the chaff is a simple enough process, one that can be undertaken by a miniaturized Truth and Reconciliation version of the South African original, adapted to our own unique set of circumstances – and preferably with a change of emphasis that substitutes ‘Restitution’ for ‘Reconciliation’, keeping the latter on the agenda however as the implicit, ultimate destination. This has always been my position even over the South African process.
May I comment here also that the excitement over the ‘discovery’ of documents in one over-run insurgent camp, implicating well-heeled citizens as backers of the resistance has been nothing but amusing. Did anyone seriously believe that it was nothing more a bunch of ‘rascals’ who have bent the nation, literally, over the oil barrel these past years? That ‘respectable’, high-placed citizens, including many not from the oil-producing region, did not share their yearnings? Rascals? Extortionists? Hostage takers? Thrill killers? Since when was any liberation movement throughout history exempt from its quota of deviants! Was the Nigerian Federal Army itself even free of such human dregs when it was launched to prosecute a war dedicated, with all due sanctimoniousness, to ‘keeping the nation one’. We shall bypass for now, the question of what, and whose nation it has proved – an imperial delusion, or the genuine product of a people’s will? The urgent task for us at this moment to climb out of the pit of amnesia, recall that the army was not without its quota of psychopaths, looters, mass murderers and rapists – one of whom even became a Head of State, headed for a Life Presidency. Those who wish to dispute that had better visit army records and find out whether or not Sani Abacha – whose name is still proudly flown on Abuja streets - had been recommended for dismissal from the military for ‘conduct unbecoming’ during the Civil War. Ironically, he obtained reprieve from yet another Head of State whom he later attempted to reward with a first-class ticket to the Great Beyond. These are not irrelevant asides – we must learn to cast a glance backwards periodically in dealing with the present. Records are also available, internationally, over the criminal conduct of sections of the Nigerian contingent of the ECOWAS ‘liberators’ in Sierra Leone, despite the heroic virtues displayed the Army as an entity.
My withdrawal into a seeming ‘siddon-look’ posture over the Delta has been inevitable, a product of disgust and bitterness over callously wasted opportunities. Disinterested but concerned interventions with the Obasanjo government, and next, its present offshoot, have not been wanting. I know of several – including from the diplomatic Corps, individually and as groups, speaking both for their governments and from their own concern as observers on the ground, but will restrict myself to the one in which I have been personally involved – the Nobel Laureates’ initiative. That Commission, after a extensive visitation to the embattled areas, with frank exchanges with the people of the Delta at grassroots – or more accurately, at the deepest mangrove roots level – with government officials and representatives of oil companies, forwarded its recommendations to the government. The Nobel document, let me hasten to add, proved to be quite in tune with prior recommendations and agreements entered into between the government and Delta representatives. In tandem with his predecessor Olusegun, President Umaru Yar’Adua must be made to recognize that he shoulders a moral and political responsibility for failure to make a decisive breakthrough in the quest to terminate hostilities in the Delta region. Much of the toll of death and destruction could, and would have been avoided if only these two rulers had lived up to their charge.
I should reveal at this point that the Nobel initiative did not end with a transmitted report. David Philips, Secretary to the Commission, sought and obtained an audience with President Yar’Adua in New York during his visit to the United States for the 2008 THISDAY event – NIGERIA MEETS THE WORLD. He came away from that meeting with uncomplimentary observations on the lack of informed seriousness on Yar’Adua’s part over this ticking time-bomb. Phillips concluded that he expected nothing of value to emerge from his meeting with the Nigerian Head of State, any more than could be expected from the Commission’s report itself. He has been abundantly proved right. The Delta crisis is not the Middle-East dilemma, and does not require the high-powered serial rituals of negotiations that still characterize the Middle East, or indeed the Yugoslavia scenario in a not so distant past. The matter is straightforward. As MEND statements have periodically emphasized, the Delta crisis is the mere purulent tip of the Nigerian boil, now prodded into a violent eruption in a particular region. Over and over again it has been stressed that nothing but a holistic approach to internal re-structuring will serve the nation. Not only is this historically inevitable, such an approach provides a context within which the aggrieved oil-producing areas can feel a genuine relatedness to the national question.
The stubborn retention of the status quo, and its manifest rejection by component parts, is at the heart of the Delta crisis. President Yar’Adua’s lackadaisical approach towards these contentious issues has become increasingly clarified as not one of governance indifference or lack of understanding, but of complicity through inaction. It is studied and purposed, the complement of the frenetic inaction of his predecessor. The only difference is that the Ota farmer fabricated a lot of deceitful motions – what I have termed frenetic inaction - to provide a cover for ensuring the status quo, while his successor cannot be bothered with such pointless exertion. His preference is the posture of a somnolent spider that has learnt to outwait and outwit noisome flies.
Is the Delta crisis an exception? Not in the least. The chronic concession of amnesty through national amnesia cannot extend that far, not even in this nation of self-censured memory. Parallels surround us in Yar’Adua’s treatment – or more accurately, neglect – of burning issues. Candidate for the most provocative is unquestionably the continuing retention of the INEC head, Maurice Iwu, in his theatre of gross abuse of national trust, where a people’s democratic yearnings have been treated with contempt and derision in the confidence of immunity. It is not for nothing that MEND, in a number of its dispatches, has stressed not just the flawed antecedents of the Nigerian project in general, but the incorrigible cabalism of governance that makes a mockery of the democratic process, and thus robs the citizens of dignity and voice. MEND has interjected its communiques with reminders that the Delta contestation is a product of the desperate sustenance of the very immorality of the Nigerian state – and the continuing, corrupt desperation of power. That MEND took pains to state this in such stark terms is superfluous; even without this denunciation, the insolence of the democratic exercise of 2007 cannot be discounted as a crucial factor in the stiffening of militant intransigence in the Delta.
Governance is built on trust. Trust is earned through transparent legitimacy. “ONLY A FEW TAKERS FOR GOVERNMENT’S AMNESTY OFFER” - reports an international headline. Surprise? “There is widespread distrust among Niger Delta’s Youths for government’s amnesty offers”, continues the sub-heading. Yes, indeed, that summative word – distrust! How has the Obasanjo-Yar’Adua diarchy acted to erase a distrust that began since Isaac Boro and his colleagues took to arms against a rapacious Nigerian state? What adjustments in approach – beyond tokenism - has the state made in its policies since the Ogoni tragic forewarning? Yet even far more ancient calluses of mistrust have been peeled off in other histories, and the Delta could have been relieved of its own by now, if the government had acted with transparent sincerity in general spheres of governance. After two years in power, can one objectively state that this is a government that deserves the trust of Nigerians?
Umaru Yar’Adua made several avowals of intent on taking office. He even backed his words up with one or two credible moves, such as disowning and dismantling his predecessor’s scaffolding of governance by illegality - witness his compliance with some long obstructed judicial directives and the bravura order of new investigations into unsolved political murders etc. However, just how far have these been pursued and sustained? Beside those few gestures, the nation has been confronted with nothing but the immobility of will, punctuated by sudden spasms that generate spidery vibrations, only to subside without any effective result. One’s anxiety therefore is that the Amnesty reach-out, and its potential, may end as yet another cocooned victim of purposed inertia.
Amnesty, after all, is something that Yar’Adua should know about. The Nigerian nation has granted his government an amnesty that has now endured two years, and is set to run its full four-year course. In my political dictionary, there is no political offence graver than organising, condoning, participating in, or benefiting from, the thievery of a people’s political will. On taking office through the gba’ju e tactics of the last incumbent, Umaru Yar’Adua made noises that conceded that a robbery had indeed taken place – an excellent starting point that paved the way for the people to reconcile themselves to what amounts to no more than a political Amnesty. But then, what steps has the beneficiary of this generosity taken to ensure that we put an end, once for all, to this cycle of electoral impunity that steadily takes its toll on a people’s forbearance? What are the concrete, not rhetorical measures taken?
The answer is easily read in the Uwais Panel report on electoral reform. Instead of principled and transparent pro-activity on the document, presidential efforts have been committed to attempting to water down or expunge critical recommendations, so that the commencement of implementation is currently stymied under procedural delays even as the next election looms ever closer. Knowing how pressure of time was deliberately fomented, then exploited, by the Head of INEC – the Institute for National Electoral Chicanery - it surely should be clear to the nation by now that our electoral organizing genius is, without question, being encouraged to utilize the same alibi of ‘decision-making’ to justify what is already looming as another electoral debacle, in which last-minute disorganization will be used to confuse and befuddle the electorate and the electoral process. The tribunals - and judiciary – will then be coopted once again on the interminable rounds that surrender the electorate to another cycle of aggravated assault and eventual concession of – Amnesty to the seasoned, incorrigible, and cynical assailants. The fount of all electoral malfeasance rests firmly in the director’s chair. So firmly, so confidently is our man that he offered to instruct the United States of America how to run their democratic elections. Not surprisingly, that reluctant student, Barack Obama, decided to give the Iwuruwuru Nigeria Incorporated school a wide miss on his way through the African continent.
Other credibility gaps? Status quo – no, retrogression - on power generation. Status quo on electoral reforms. Status quo – no, again - retrogression on anti-corruption pledges. Related to that of course, the presidential ‘absenteeism’ throughout the Nuhu Ribadu travail and its nationally embarrassing denouement. The retention of an openly, repeatedly compromised Attorney-General, despite the spirited and elaborately argued case for his removal by the Nigerian Bar Association and others. The unprincipled removal of the Head of the Law School, Lagos, for no other crime than presiding over a formal event, a normal feature of an institution that trains its students to be defenders of the fundamental right of free speech. For a president that swore to restore the integrity of the judiciary, and thus of justice, this certainly was a high water-mark of matching word to deed. Presidential torpor over the Halliburton scandal while the point man, the Attorney-General scurries to and fro, filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing. A head of state consistently rumoured to be so weak as to be barely able to receive the accreditation letters of foreign envoys nevertheless finds sufficient motivation and energy to invade the politically charged zone of Ekiti for a heated electoral re-run, sending – yes, exactly what signals to the nation? Or shall we diverge to the insensitive, nauseous extravaganzas of the self-declared Servant-Leader’s daughters’ betrothals, weddings etc., reminiscent of those decadent Roman days that have bequeathed to the world the expression ‘fiddling while Rome burns’? That truly is leading by example! Shall we anatomize the discredited company that the President so clearly loves to keep? But why continue? I know that I have repeatedly described Yar’Adua as a president on permanent sabbatical, but professors do not proceed into unproductive hibernation during this physical absence from teaching – indeed, very often, much ground-breaking work is done during this period, and the question under constant study has been: what grounds has this incumbent has been breaking during his two years of sabbatical retreat? Our findings – the ground under the feet of democracy, the completion of the mission embarked upon by his predecessor. Two years have been more than sufficient to test President Yar’Adua’s sincerity, and it has been found wanting. The mistrust that is voiced by the Delta militants only responds to vibrations from the web of deception that Umaru Yar’Adua has spun around his hibernation.
As I stated at the ‘Town Hall Meeting’ in London – that plain, ordinary, routine, and legitimate entitlement to community gathering that Yar’Adua’s representatives in London made such strenuous efforts to scuttle - a passive posture may disguise systemic aggression. That is commonplace actuality. It lies at the core of certain forms of martial, or indeed marital art, since either form of conflict is often conducted on such terms – a cultivated passivity on one side as strategy for the attrition of the opponent’s resistance. It is only a matter of time before the latter discovers how weakened he has become. Yar’Adua’s strategic indolence is in that mode. He has been given two years to prove otherwise; he has used both years of comatose affectation to lull the nation also to sleep. Nothing is happening, yawns the citizenry, as it dozes off, or else sleep-walks aimlessly. Wrong. Just like the godfather, the Spider never sleeps.
No, indeed, I have not been indifferent to the Delta crisis – very much the contrary. My position is that, after decades of military dictatorships that have brought a nation to its knees where she had no choice but to endure the dribble of international opprobrium, TEN, repeat TEN years of amnesty to post-military civil governance is no longer an act of generosity by any people, but a sign of resignation and/or supineness. Nevertheless, we need to remind the one to whom the nation’s over-extended arm of accommodation has been stretched that his government is not emplaced on any high moral ground that permits quibbling or dawdling over this offer of amnesty. Well, the gesture is on offer, and will, I am confident, be soberly and positively considered by the disaffected region. To ensure the result desired and deserved by the nation, it must be backed by structures and procedures that testify to its sincerity, with transparent guarantees placed before the nation. It should not be rejected out of hand by the militants – this we must also strongly urge - despite the fact that the offer comes from one whose credit has been exhausted. Some of that credit-worthiness can be regained and injected into the process through a serious encounter that brings both sides together, brokered – I strongly recommend - by international neutrals. This is not a novel solution, on the contrary! It had been embarked upon several times before, only to be abandoned through passive procrastination, punctuated by acts of bad faith – such as the ill-considered appointment of a chairman of deeply flawed credentials for one such exercise. Was that a mere error of judgment? Or was it a diabolical exercise in advance sabotage?
Finally, should such an Amnesty be broad enough to embrace even the criminal opportunists of the struggle? Absolutely not. That would be as much as to say that Amnesty also embraces those accused, or proven guilty of war crimes, such as the officers who took part in the cold-blooded shooting of two brothers – among similar, less publicised crimes – against the innocent citizens of the Delta region. Indiscriminate bombings and saturation bombardment of villages ‘suspected’ to harbour sought militants must be investigated and the guilty charged. Orders began somewhere. Those orders were given, and those orders were carried out. Who gave the orders? Has Umaru Yar’Adua yet launched a commission to enquire into the extra-judicial, cold-blooded murders of the two Gbaramatu brothers? I hope not. There is no need for a commission. Names, locale, time and witnesses – including video records - are sufficient to have initiated an internal enquiry that should now move to the public sphere as criminal proceeding. Will Yar’Adua seize this chance to dissociate himself from the peacetime massacres that became commonplace under his predecessor, and commit the nation to a humane morality even in time of war? That question hangs for now but, like the question of detainees, constitutes a strand in the fabric of Amnesty that will either enfold the militants or catapult them deeper into the violent zone of alienation.
These are the choices before Anansi, the spider of West African folk-lore, and current tenant of Aso Rock. Those who dispute this categorization are destined to become fodder for that seemingly inert web that is spun ever wider, and with so little energy, while the rest of the nation sleepwalks, mesmerized by yet another receding chimera: Vision 2020. The question posed by the Delta region however, in tune with the rest of the nation is: whatever happened to Vision 1960?
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alh. Seu
25 June 2009 18:37SANGO,
GO ON TELL THEM, BUT THEY ARE DEAF THEY WILL NOT HEAR.
THE CATARACT OF CORRUPTION HAS BLOCKED THEIR EYES,
SO THEY CANNOT SEE WHAT IS HAPENNING IN BORI,YENEGOA,
ODE-ITSEKIRI AND IGBOKODA.
EVEN GOODLUCK OF OIL HAS TURNED TO BADLUCK FOR
THE FISHERMEN.
Abdul Ahmed(aka d'Politica)
2 July 2009 12:44Konngi,
What else can i say…you put it all correctly. Nigeria bleeds yet a sick man seeks to give relief to a sickening menace.
God help Nigeria
ssgt ahmed okah
6 July 2009 15:21Did our leader did what the promise during their camping? False promise and embezelment of public funds is their duties, one day we shall out for them and may be the richer will poorer while the poor man rights must painted white.May save their ass.
Patrick Agbobu
6 July 2009 22:2845 MILLION NAIRA OVERSEAS TRIP FOR WHAT? THIS IS A SCAM THAT IS HAPPENNING UNDER OUR NOSE. THIS AGF MICHAEL AONDOAKAA IS THE WORST THING THAT HAPPENED TO THIS ADMINISTRATION. I DO NOT SEE THE REASON, WHY THE PRESIDENT IS STILL KEEPING HIM IN HIS CABINET. IT THERE ANYTHING THE PRESIDENT KNOWS, WHICH THE PRESIDENT IS NOT SHARING WITH US? THIS TRIP IS A DELIBERATE WASTE OF PUBLIC FUNDS. WE ALL KNOW WHO THE CULPRITS ARE. THEY ARE IN THE CORRIDOR OF POWER IN THIS ADMINISTRATION AND IN PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION. THEY ARE IN THE PRESENT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND PAST ONES. THEIR NAMES ARE IN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, DISPLAYED BY THE COURTS IN THE USA AND SWIZERLAND. THIS AGF IS PATRONISING NIGERIANS AND HE IS GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER. THIS AGF HAS BEEN DOGGED, IN PROTECTING HIS FRIENDS AND BACKERS, THE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS. THE IBORI AND ASSOCIATES, MONEY LAUNDARY AND FRAUD CASE WITH THE LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE, IS ONE OF THEM. THE AGF PLACED A LOT OF ABSTACLES, ON THE WAY OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE, SO THAT THEY CAN NOT GET IBORI AND ASSOCIATES. NOW HE IS SEEKING COOPERATION WITH THE SAME INTERNATIONAL POLICE. SHAME ON YOU AGF MICHAEL AONDOAKAA. THESE SAME CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS RECCOMENDED THE AGF FOR THE POST. IT WAS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE PAY BACKS, FROM THE PRESIDENT, AS THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS CLAIMED THAT THEY BANK ROLED THE PRESIDENT’S ELECTION. THERE IS A POPULAR SAYING, WHICH SAYS THAT, SHOW ME YOUR FRIENDS AND I WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU ARE. MR PRESIDENT IF THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS ARE YOUR FRIENDS, THEN IT MEANS A LOT. MR. PRESIDENT HAS NOT COME OENLY TO DENY THE CLAIMS OF THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS. MR. PRESIDENT SILIENCE IN LAW MEANS ACCEPTANCE. MR. PRESIDENT YOU MUST NOW SPEAK UP AND TELL US YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EXGOVERNORS. MOST OF THEM ARE ALSO BEHIDE THE CRIMINAL ELEMENTS IN THE NIGER DELTA, SLAUGHTERING OUR MILITARY PERSONS IN COLD BLOOD. MR. PRESIDENT YOU SHOULD REMEMBER THAT, YOU SENT THESE MILITARY PERSONS TO THE NIGER DELTA TO MENTAIN LAW AND ORDER, AS THEIR COMMANDER IN CHIEF. YOU PROMISED TO NAME AND SHAME, THE BACKERS OF THE CRIMINALS IN THE NIGER DELTA, BUT YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO. IS THERE A HIDDEN AGENDA? WE MUST LOATH ANY BACKER OF THESE CRIMINALS AND ANY GOVERNMENT, THAT KNOWS THE BACKERS OF THESE CRIMINALS AND REFUSES TO NAME AND SHAME THEM, SHOULD FAIL AND DESERVES TO FAIL. NOW THEY HAVE SOLD THE IDEA OF AMNESTY TO YOU THROUGH THEIR AGENT THE AGF MICHAEL AONDOAKAA, BECAUSE HIS FRINDS AND BACKERS WILL BE THE MAIN BENEFICIARIES OF THIS SO CALLED AMNESTY. MR. PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA I HOPE YOU KNOW WHJAT YOU ARE DOING. THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS AND THEIR FRIENDS ARE THE WORST HUMAN BEINGS NIGERIA HAS EVER HAD. YOU SHOULD AVIOD THEM LIKE A VERY SERIOUS PLAGUE OR THEY WILL DRAG YOU DOWN WITH THEM. MR. PRESIDENT THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS ARE ALREADY A DISGRACE TO THEMSELVES, THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR RACE. MR. PRESIDENT YOU HAVE A GOOD FAMILY NAME TO PROTECT AND YOU HAVE A GOOD RECORD AS GOVERNOR OF KASTINA STATE TO PROTECT. MR. PRESIDENT PLEASE THINK OF THE VERY GOOD AN IMPECABLE LEGACY YOUR FATHER AND YOUR ELDER BROTHER LEFT. THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS ARE CANCAR WORMS OF INIQUITY AND THEY MUST NEVER BE APPROACHED WITH ONE THOUSAND MILES LENGHT OF POLE. THEY ARE EVIL, THEY ARE SATAN. THEY ARE VERY, VERY, BAD PEOPLE
Patrick Agbobu
6 July 2009 22:34THIS AGF IS THE PROBLEM. THE AGF HAS ALWAYS PUT OBSTACLES ON THE WAY. HIS MAIN AND ONLY INTEREST IS TO PROTECT HIS FRIENDS AND BACKERS, THE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS. THE AGF WILL USE ALL AVAILABLE SHENANIGAN TO PROTECT THESE CORRUPT EX GOVERNORS TO EVADE JUSTICE. THE AGF FORGETS THAT JUSTICE, GRINDS SLOWLY BUT SURELY. HE SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT NIGERIANS ARE VERY PATIENT PEOPLE. THE AGF SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT EVERY DAY IS FOR THE THIEF BUT ONE DAY IS FOR THE OWNER. THE AGF SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT NIGERIANS WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH AND IT WILL BE A VERY SWEET LAUGH.
NIGER DELTA
——————————————————————————–
AMNESTY IS NOT AMNESTIA. WHAT IS REQUIRED IN THE NIGER DELTA IS IMMEDIATE MASSIVE ECCONMIC DEVELOPEMENT OF THE AREA AND EMMIDIATE AND MASSIVE ECCONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF THE PEOPLE OF THE NIGER DELTA. USE THE EXCESS CRUDE MONEY, USE PART OF THE EXTERNAL RESERVE, INTRODUCE WINDFAL TAX ON THE COMPANIES THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM AND USE THE MONEY TO PROGRESS AND DEVELOPE THE NIGER DELTA. WE NEED AN IMMEDIATE MARTIAL PLAN IN THE NIGER DELTA. PURSUE THIS MARTIAL PLAN, WITH THE SAME ZEAL, VIGOR AND ENTHUSIAZM, AS WAS USED IN BUILDING ABUJA AND ENVIRONS. NO MORE SLOGANS, NO MORE TALKS, NO MORE TITLE TATLE, NO MORE INFANTILE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE NIGER DELTA. NO MORE POSTPONNING OF ACTIONS, NO MORE PROMOSES. IF THEY ARE CRIMINALS JAIL THEM, NAME AND SHAME THEM. NAME THEIR SUPPORTERS AND COLLABORATORS. WE WANT ACTION! ACTION!! ACTION!!! AND WE WANT IT NOW! NOW! NOW!!! NOW!!!. MISS THIS OPPORTUNUTY TO RIGHT THE PAST WRONGS AND MISS IT FOR EVER. MAKE HISTORY MR PRESIDENT.
Niger Delta
——————————————————————————–
Mr. President now that you have shown good faith, you must take the next bold step. Mr. President you must now put tuor money where your mouth is.
We want ACTION, ACTION ACTION from now on. Mr. President you have taken a very bold step and you must continue as relaxing is not an option NOW.
The problem in the Niger Delta was caused by the followings,
1. The International Multi National companies in the Niger Delta. These companies operate as cow boys and with reckless abandon, They have destroyed the environment, the waters, the lands of the Niger Delta. They polluted the waters, lands and the environment and as a result, the people can not farm on their lands or fish in their waters, which is their main occupations. The people are dieing dailly of diseases, caused by the polution to the environment. These multi nationals build cheap infrastrutures like pipe lines etc., without regards to internationally accepted norms and good practices. There will never do such things in other parts of the world, where they are operating, otherwise they will pay very dearly for such horrible practices. The multi Nationals have made a lot of money from these sharp practices, at the expence of the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
2. The next offenders are federal and state governments of all shades, both past and present, who have made lot of money by ignoring and encouraging with nods, the multi National companies to get away with murder. .
3. The third group are the so called selfish leaders, or do i say dealears of the Niger Delta, who have also made a lot of money from the sufferings of the people of The Niger Delta, Some of the them and their collaborators, sponsor the criminals, to forment and cause a lot of sufferings to the people of the Niger Delta.
4. The President must without futher delay, publish the names of those, who have been sponsoring these criminals in the Niger Delta. The President must name and shame them.
Now that you have given amnesty, to the genuine agitators, we should now have a truth and reconcilliation commitee, so that we can learn a lesson from all these.
WHAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD DO NOW!!
The federal government should introduce, a wind fall tax on the huge profits, the multi nationals made over the period and use ALL the money for the IMMEDIATE developement of the Niger Delta and the ecconomic empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta. This is what is done, even in developed countries. In Great Britain, when the Labour came into power, they introdued the wind fall tax, inorder to claw back some of the huge profits, the companies made, when the Conservative party in government, sold very cheaply all government companies during the Privatization process. ALL the money realised was used to creat new jobs and train the unemployed. This move was very popular with the British public. You should bear in mind that, most of the companies, that made the huge profits in The Niger Delta, are British and American companies. This move will be popular in Nigeria and these British and American companies will not fault it. All you have to do is, to refer them to what happened in the United kingdom.
ALL the money realised from the excess crude, which was got any way, from the Niger Delta, should be used for the immediate ecconomic development and empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta.
The federal government should draw down now, 30% of its external revenue for the immediate ecconomic developement of the Niger Delta and ecconomic empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta. The ferderal government should not give the usual excuse, that this draw down will affect the value of the naira, as this is a price that, we should pay for the peace and stability of the Niger Delta and Nigeria. ALL THESE MUST BE DONE NOW!! Mr. President do all these and you have solved the problems in The Niger Delta permanently. If you do ALL of these history and prosterity will remember you very kindly.
NIGER DELTA WAY FORWARD
——————————————————————————–
Mr. President now that you have shown good faith, you must take the next bold step. Mr. President you must now put tuor money where your mouth is.
We want ACTION, ACTION ACTION from now on. Mr. President you have taken a very bold step and you must continue as relaxing is not an option NOW.
The problem in the Niger Delta was caused by the followings,
1. The International Multi National companies in the Niger Delta. These companies operate as cow boys and with reckless abandon, They have destroyed the environment, the waters, the lands of the Niger Delta. They polluted the waters, lands and the environment and as a result, the people can not farm on their lands or fish in their waters, which is their main occupations. The people are dieing dailly of diseases, caused by the polution to the environment. These multi nationals build cheap infrastrutures like pipe lines etc., without regards to internationally accepted norms and good practices. There will never do such things in other parts of the world, where they are operating, otherwise they will pay very dearly for such horrible practices. The multi Nationals have made a lot of money from these sharp practices, at the expence of the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
2. The next offenders are federal and state governments of all shades, both past and present, who have made lot of money by ignoring and encouraging with nods, the multi National companies to get away with murder. .
3. The third group are the so called selfish leaders, or do i say dealears of the Niger Delta, who have also made a lot of money from the sufferings of the people of The Niger Delta, Some of the them and their collaborators, sponsor the criminals, to forment and cause a lot of sufferings to the people of the Niger Delta.
4. The President must without futher delay, publish the names of those, who have been sponsoring these criminals in the Niger Delta. The President must name and shame them.
Now that you have given amnesty, to the genuine agitators, we should now have a truth and reconcilliation commitee, so that we can learn a lesson from all these.
WHAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD DO NOW!!
The federal government should introduce, a wind fall tax on the huge profits, the multi nationals made over the period and use ALL the money for the IMMEDIATE developement of the Niger Delta and the ecconomic empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta. This is what is done, even in developed countries. In Great Britain, when the Labour came into power, they introdued the wind fall tax, inorder to claw back some of the huge profits, the companies made, when the Conservative party in government, sold very cheaply all government companies during the Privatization process. ALL the money realised was used to creat new jobs and train the unemployed. This move was very popular with the British public. You should bear in mind that, most of the companies, that made the huge profits in The Niger Delta, are British and American companies. This move will be popular in Nigeria and these British and American companies will not fault it. All you have to do is, to refer them to what happened in the United kingdom.
ALL the money realised from the excess crude, which was got any way, from the Niger Delta, should be used for the immediate ecconomic development and empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta.
The federal government should draw down now, 30% of its external revenue for the immediate ecconomic developement of the Niger Delta and ecconomic empowerment of the people of the Niger Delta. The ferderal government should not give the usual excuse, that this draw down will affect the value of the naira, as this is a price that, we should pay for the peace and stability of the Niger Delta and Nigeria. ALL THESE MUST BE DONE NOW!! Mr. President do all these and you have solved the problems in The Niger Delta permanently. If you do ALL of these history and prosterity will remember you very kindly.
MR PRESIDENT I HOPE THAT THERE IS NO HIDDEN AGENDA, WITH THIS AMNESTY OF A THING. IT APPEARS THAT THE WAY YOU ARE PURSUING AND PROGRESSING IT, IS BECOMMING WORRYING AND I HOPE YOU ARE NOT UNDER EXTREME PRESSURE, FORM THE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS, AS MOST OF THEM ARE THE BACKERS AND COLLABORATORS OF THE CRIMINAL ELEMENTS IN THE NIGER DELTA. THEY ARE MAKING BLOOD MONEY IN ADDITION TO THE ONE THEY LOOTED AND STOLE FROM THE TREASURY. THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS AND THEIR COLLABORATORS STAND TO BENEFIT MASSIVELY FROM THIS BLANKET AMNESTY OF A THING. YOU SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER THE UNIFORMED PERSONS YOU SENT TO THE NIGER DELTA AS THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF NIGERIA, TO MENTAIN THE PEACE AND SOME OF THEM WERE SLAUGHTERED IN COLD BLOOD BY THE CRIMINALS.
THESE CORRUPT AND INDICTED EX GOVERNORS, ARE THE SAME PERSONS, WHO CLAIMED THAT THEY BANK ROLED YOUR ELECTION AND THEY ARE NOW SAYING THAT THEY WILL ALSO, BANK ROLE YOU 2011 ELECTION. MR PRESIDENT YOU MUST CLEAR THE AIR. NIGER DELTA DOES NOT WANT AMNESTY, AS AMNESTY IS FOR THOSE THAT COMMITED CRIMES, WE IN THE NIGER DELTA DID NOT COMMIT ANY CRIME BY HAVING CRUDE OIL AND GAS. I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE PATRONISING US AND THIS MUST STOP.
AMNESTY IS NOT AMNESTIA. WHAT IS REQUIRED IN THE NIGER DELTA IS IMMEDIATE MASSIVE ECCONMIC DEVELOPEMENT OF THE AREA AND IMMEDIATE AND MASSIVE ECCONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF THE PEOPLE OF THE NIGER DELTA. USE THE EXCESS CRUDE MONEY, USE PART OF THE EXTERNAL RESERVE, INTRODUCE WINDFAL TAX ON THE COMPANIES THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM AND USE THE MONEY TO PROGRESS AND DEVELOPE THE NIGER DELTA. WE NEED AN IMMEDIATE MARTIAL PLAN IN THE NIGER DELTA. PURSUE THIS MARTIAL PLAN, WITH THE SAME ZEAL, VIGOR AND ENTHUSIAZM, AS WAS USED IN BUILDING ABUJA AND ENVIRONS. NO MORE SLOGANS, NO MORE TALKS, NO MORE TITLE TATLE, NO MORE INFANTILE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE NIGER DELTA. NO MORE POSTPONNING OF ACTIONS, NO MORE PROMOSES. IF THEY ARE CRIMINALS JAIL THEM, NAME AND SHAME THEM. NAME THEIR SUPPORTERS AND COLLABORATORS. WE WANT ACTION! ACTION!! ACTION!!! AND WE WANT IT NOW! NOW! NOW!!! NOW!!!. MISS THIS OPPORTUNUTY TO RIGHT THE PAST WRONGS AND MISS IT FOR EVER. MAKE HISTORY MR PRESIDENT. ABUJA WAS CREATED IN LESS THAN TEN YEARS, WITH MONEY MADE FROM THE NIGER DELTA, WHY NOT THE NIGER DELTA WHERE ALL THE MONEY OF NIGERIA WAS MADE, THIS INCLUDES EXCESS CURDE AND THE HUGE EXTERNAL RESERVE.
STRAT THE IMMEDIATE MASSIVE DEVELOPEMENT OF THE NIGER DELTA NOW!!!!!!
Amnesty International has described the crisis in the Niger Delta as a “human rights tragedy,” saying that the people of the area have seen their human rights abused by oil companies which their government cannot hold to account. The group, in a report released on Tuesday, said the situation in the Niger Delta, home to 31 million people, has fuelled anger and conflict. “People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with, and wash in polluted water; they eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins - if they are lucky enough to still be able to find fish,” said the report. The report stated that the situation in the Niger Delta provides a stark example of the lack of accountability of a government to its people, and of multinational companies’ almost total lack of accountability when it comes to the impact of their operations on human rights. The report titled, “Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta”, was presented by its Head of Business and Human Rights, Audrey Gaughran. It examined oil spills, gas flaring, waste dumping and other environmental impacts of the oil industry, stressing that evidence gathered on pollution and environment damage relates to the operations of Shell, the main oil company operating on land in the Niger Delta. The agency said that the human rights impact of pollution in the Niger Delta is greatly under-reported, adding that the majority of people in the area depend on the natural environment for their food and livelihood, particularly through agriculture and fisheries. Amnesty blames both the government and multi-national oil giants for the rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous country.
MR. PRESIDENT YOU ARE NOT LISTENING. YOU SHOULD USE NIGER DELTA MONEY TO DEVELOPE THE NIGER DELTA IMMEDIATELY. ABUJA AND ENVIRONS WERE RAPIDLY DEVELOPED WITH THE MONEY FROM THE NIGER DELTA. THE SAME INTEREST AND SPEED THAT WAS USED TO DEVELOPE ABUJA SHOULD BE USED TO DEVELOPE THE NIGER DELTA. THIS WILL BE A WIN WIN FOR NIGERIA. THE CRISES WILL STOP, INVESTMENTS WILL RUSH IN, THE YOUTHS WILL BE GAINFULLY EMPLOYED, NIGERIA WILL MAXIMISE HER CRUDE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTIONS,TOURISM WILL FLORISH, NIGERIAN INTELLECTUALS AND BUSINESS PEOPLE ABROAD WILL COME BACK TO NIGERIA AND CREATE A LOT OF JOBS. AS LITTLE AS 100,000.00 (ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND) POUNDS COULD ESTABLISH A SMALL COTTAGE INDUSTRY OF A SMALL FARM AND ABOUT SIX WELL PAID JOBS CAN BE CREATED. BY SIMPLE CALCULATION, ABOUT ONE MILLION NIGERIANS ABROAD CAN RAISE THIS TYPE OF MONEY. THAT IS ABOUT SIX MILLION NEW JOBS. MR. PRESIDENT LISTEN! LISTEN!! LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!!. TIME IS NOT ON OUR SIDE AND YOUR SIDE MAKE HASTE NOW!!!!!