tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post2945137560602761748..comments2023-10-03T10:06:43.840-07:00Comments on ICHEOKU: NIGER DELTA MILITANTS, BRAVO!EBEKUOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12634012877434160861noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-86968233702758917572008-08-19T23:41:00.000-07:002008-08-19T23:41:00.000-07:00Insist on 50% resource control, Uwazuruike tells N...Insist on 50% resource control, Uwazuruike tells N/Delta leaders<BR/><BR/>EMMA OGU, OWERRI <BR/><BR/><BR/>Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike has charged leaders of the Niger Delta region to insist on 100 percent control of their resources rather than 50 per cent being advocated. <BR/><BR/>He said the people of the region should be free to negotiate with the oil companies and only pay tax to the federal government in line with current global trend. According to him, the regions during the first republic shared the revenue from their resources with the federal government on 50: 50 ratio. <BR/><BR/>He therefore argued that if regions had control of 50 per cent of their resources during the era of groundnut, cocoa and palm oil why must they be calling for 50 per cent today. "The era of 50:50 is gone. The world is not static. The current trend all over the world is that people are in control of their resources. <BR/><BR/>"They only pay stipend to the government. This should be the case in Nigeria ", he said.<BR/><BR/>Uwazuruike who spoke with newsmen in his Freedom House Okwe, Imo State" on the movement’s planned sit-at-home protest scheduled for August 28, gave kudos to the Niger Delta militants over their resistance to Nigerian authorities in their quest for resource control, saying that freedom fighters will always emerge in a place where there is injustice. <BR/><BR/>He said that the United Nations has made it clear that ethnic nationalities have a right to self determination even by violence and use of force. He said: "I say bravo to militants. But what I hate to hear is that Niger Delta leaders are calling for 50 per cent control of their resources. No, they should call for 100 per cent and pay tax to the government. The militants should take a step further to mount pressure on the federal government for their demands". <BR/><BR/>The MASSOB leader who blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for the crisis in the country said that his movement has engaged the services of international lobbyists in the United States of America to press for the prosecution of Obasanjo over the killing of about 2000 activists of the movement during his eight year tenure. <BR/><BR/>Chief Uwazuruike who noted that Obasonjo’s regime witnessed the worst abuse of human rights insisted that ex-president be tried for genocide against Ndigbo. While he refused to disclose how much MASSOB has committed to the project, he stated that the lobbyists are seriously working to get OBJ brought to book. <BR/><BR/>He said he has no doubt that the former president would one day face the law for his crime against Ndigbo Although, he said that MASSOB chose non-violence means to achieve its objectives, he nevertheless, noted that if violence will work out for the militants they should stick to it. On the planned stay-at –home exercise on 28th August, Chief Uwazuruike stated that it was conceived by his movement to provide an agenda for which the Igbo will come together. <BR/><BR/>According to him, his concern for the unity of the race informed his decision to introduce the silent protest to serve as a rallying point for the Ndigbo who he said have suffered terribly in Nigeria. <BR/><BR/>He said that no security agent can stop the exercise from holding as planned. He was very optimistic that the exercise will cripple activities in the country within the hours it will be observed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-4768313132918223032008-08-07T00:12:00.000-07:002008-08-07T00:12:00.000-07:00Niger Delta speaks with one voice Written by Le...Niger Delta speaks with one voice <BR/>Written by Leke Adeseri <BR/>Thursday, 07 August 2008 <BR/>Nigerians in general and people of the South-South region in particular are in the throes of history as the two-day South-South legislative retreat (exclusively Vanguard) kicks off today at the prestigious Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. <BR/>Eggheads, political leaders and opinion moulders from the nooks and crannies of the region will be led to the retreat by the six South-South governors.<BR/><BR/>Initiated by Vanguard Newspapers and a media consulting firm, Bridgelink Limited, the talks will also feature no fewer than 250 personalities made up of serving and past governors of the six South-South states, all Senators and House of Representatives members from the zone; all Speakers and leaders of the six state Houses of Assembly in the zone, all the leaders of the South-South Zone; eminent opinion leaders and personalities; Federal and state lawmakers and legal luminaries.<BR/><BR/>The specific focus and agenda will be the eight federal laws identified as being inimical to the overall social and economic development of the South-South zone. <BR/><BR/>According to the chief convener, Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, the success of the retreat will be a major boost to Vanguard Newspaper as the clear leader in the Niger Delta market.<BR/><BR/>Today’s event will start with the opening remarks by the Chairman, Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte; welcome address by Mr. Sam Amuka, keynote address by Governor of Rivers State (Chief Host); Goodwill message by Vice-President Goodwill Jonathan and solidarity messages by governors of the South-South.<BR/><BR/>There will be three papers during the afternoon session including: "Revenue Allocation, Fiscal Federalism and the impact of the Abolition of Dichotomy Act, 2004 on the Niger Delta Region" to be delivered by Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN). The Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, will give the executive perspective on the topic while Speaker, Cross River State House of Assembly will lead the discussion. Justice Karibi-Whyte will chair the session.<BR/><BR/>The second paper will be presented by Dr. Joseph Abugu on "Solving the Niger Delta Problem; the law and the people ... the Land Use Act as a case study." Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Governor, Delta State) will give the executive perspective; Chief Abel Ubeku will chair the session while the Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly will lead the discussion.<BR/><BR/>The final paper for the day on "The Petroleum Act 51 of 1969 and the imperatives of evolving true Federalism in Nigeria," will be presented by Dr. Michael Ibanga (Senior Lecturer, Law, University of Calabar). Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State will give the executive perspective at the session to be chaired by Chief Philip Asiodu, while the Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly will lead the discussion.<BR/><BR/>Legislation considered to have negative impact on the socio-economic development of the region are:<BR/> <BR/>•Petroleum Act Cap. P10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004<BR/><BR/>The Petroleum Act Cap. P10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, is an Act which provides for the exploration of petroleum from the Territorial Waters and the Continental Shelf of Nigeria and to vest the ownership of, and all on-shore and off-shore revenue from the petroleum resources derivable therefrom in the Federal Government of Nigeria and for the regulation of all other matters incidental thereto. <BR/><BR/>This Act further states that the entire ownership and control of all petroleum resources in any state in Nigeria shall be vested on the Federal Government.<BR/><BR/>•Lands (Title Vesting, etc) Act Cap. L7 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004<BR/><BR/>The Lands (Title Vesting, etc) Act Cap. L7 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, is principally to provide for the vesting of the title of all land within the 100 metres limit of the 1967 shoreline and all land reclaimed near the lagoon, sea or ocean bordering Nigeria exclusively in the Federal Government of Nigeria.<BR/><BR/>The Act specifies the conditions in which allocation of land may be invalidated, namely, that any lease purportedly granted by any state or local government, individual or any body corporate or unincorporated or any agency of the state or local government, in respect of such land, before the commencement of this Act shall abate, be null and void and of no effect whatsoever.<BR/><BR/>Additionally, the Act deals with the regularisation of leases. Therefore, it provides that the holder of any lease purportedly granted before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been granted by the Federal Government based on its terms and conditions.<BR/><BR/>•Minerals and Mining Act Cap. M12 LFN 2004<BR/><BR/>This Act provides for the control of and establishment of proprietary rights in minerals and regulation of mining activities in Nigeria. It makes provisions for mining incentives and assistance to corporate bodies, small scale miners, individuals or foreign investors.<BR/><BR/>It also contains provisions relating to the acquisition of prospecting titles and rights in respect of an area, minerals, and its disposal, duration of the right, renewal and surrender of such right. The Act also made provisions regarding water pollution, i.e., pollution in the course of mining, compensation to be paid and the grant of a water licence. <BR/><BR/>There are provisions on the possession and purchase of controlled mineral; compensation to be paid to owner or occupier of land and prevention of pollution of the environment. Under the Act, provisions are made on the appointment of mine officers, their duties and powers, offences and penalties for breach of any provision. <BR/><BR/>This enactment further provides for the revocation of titles to mining leases, trading in diamond, gold and other precious metals including quarry operations payment of royalties. Also, the Act, provides for the establishment of Tin Production and Development Revolving Loans Fund as well as the Small Scale Mining Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund.<BR/><BR/>•National Inland Waterways Authority Act Cap. N47 LFN 2004<BR/><BR/>This Act establishes the National Inland Waterways Authority, with the responsibility to improve and develop inland waterways for navigation in Nigeria. It provides for the appropriate statutory mechanism for the untilisation of the nation’s waterways.<BR/><BR/>•Exclusive Economic Zone Act Cap. E17 LFN 2004<BR/><BR/>This Act delimits the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria being an area extending up to 200 nautical miles seawards from the coasts of Nigeria. Within this zone and subject to the universally recognised rights of other states (including land locked states), Nigeria would exercise certain sovereign rights, especially in relation to the conservation or exploitation of natural resources (minerals, living species, etc.) of the sea bed, its sub-soil and superjacent waters and the right to regulate by law the establishment of artificial structures and installations and marine scientific research and the applicability of criminal and civil laws within the zone.<BR/><BR/>•Land Use Act Cap. L5 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004<BR/><BR/>The Land Use Act vests all land comprised in the territory of each state (except land vested in the Federal Government or its agencies) solely in the Governor of the State, who would hold such land in trusts for the people and would henceforth be responsible for allocation of land in all urban areas to, individuals resident in the State and to organisations for residential, agricultural, commercial and other purposes while similar powers with respect to non-urban areas are conferred on local governments.<BR/><BR/>The intention of the Act was to “make land available to all Nigerians irrespective of where they live or their state of origin.” It was intended by its provisions to preserve the existing land holdings or ownership created by the existing laws before its commencement and operation. <BR/><BR/>The Act made the governor of each state a trustee (vis-a-vis the people) who holds the land in trust and administers same for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians in his state and does not become the beneficial owner of the land. <BR/><BR/>By this Act, the structure and nature of land ownership was changed drastically to deny communities and groups that historically-owned and controlled their land the traditional rights associated with the ownership of land in favour of the government.<BR/><BR/>•Territorial Water Act Cap. T5 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004<BR/><BR/>This is an enactment which determines the limit of the territorial waters of Nigeria and for other matters connected thereto. <BR/><BR/>The Act defines the nation’s territorial water. Under the Act, acts or omissions considered as offences are triable as if they occurred within the territory of Nigeria. It also states the prosecutorial restriction to try offences committed by foreigners at the open sea within the Nigerian territorial water as such trials can only be commenced with the consent of the Attorney-General, who issues a certificate that such offender shall be tried.<BR/><BR/>•Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc.) Act Cap. A15 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004<BR/><BR/>This Act determines the basis for distribution of revenue accruing to the Federation Account between the Federal, State and Local Government Councils in the States. <BR/><BR/>It further provides for how the revenue of the various states will be distributed amongst the existing Local Government Councils in the States and the proportion of the revenue of the states which should be paid into the State Joint Local Government AccountAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-20426983140866437392008-08-04T02:43:00.000-07:002008-08-04T02:43:00.000-07:00Militants attack JTF Logistics Base By Sola Adebay...Militants attack JTF Logistics Base <BR/>By Sola Adebayo and Ibanga Isine<BR/>Published: Monday, 4 Aug 2008<BR/>More deaths have been recorded in the restive Niger Delta as militants on Saturday night attacked the Logistics Base of the Joint Task Force in Bomadi, Delta State and a drinking spot in Onne, Rivers State.<BR/><BR/>Skip to next paragraph <BR/> <BR/>Photo file<BR/>Warship, insets, Gen. Andrew Owoeye-Azazi & Vice-Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye<BR/><BR/>Apart from killing five people in the two incidents, the militants abducted two French nationals and seized two JTF gunboats as well as sophisticated weapons. <BR/><BR/>Investigation by our correspondents on Sunday showed that the militants stormed the JTF base from a neighboring coastal community.<BR/><BR/>The base was established by the pioneer Commander of JTF, Brig.-Gen. Elias Zamani, in 2003 to coordinate the operations of the security outfit in Bomadi, Patani, Burutu and neighboring riverine communities in Bayelsa State.<BR/><BR/>Our correspondents learnt that JTF operatives made futile attempts to ward-off the militants whose mission was to seize arms and ammunition to fortify their armories.<BR/><BR/>A source told our correspondents that many residents of Bomadi were forced into the bush during the more than one hour gun duel between the operatives and the militants.<BR/><BR/>“During the gun battle, a woman and two people were killed by stray bullets. Some members of the JTF were also injured,” the source said.<BR/><BR/>Another source claimed that the militants abandoned the seized gunboats at Okwagbe Waterside, Burutu Local Government Area, after taking weapons in them.<BR/><BR/>According to the source, the bandits abandoned the boats because of lack of competent hands to pilot them to their camps. <BR/><BR/>The boats were expected to be escorted back to Bomadi by an air force helicopter on Sunday.<BR/><BR/>Report from Bomadi showed that the road leading in and out of the Ijaw community had been sealed off by the JTF operatives.<BR/><BR/>Before 10 truckloads of troops and gunboats departed the 93 Batttalion, Effurun for Bomadi on Sunday, the JTF Commander, Brig.-Gen. Wuyep Rimtip, held a crucial meeting with top officials of the Force to review the development.<BR/><BR/>Six gunboats were also deployed in a militant camp in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State where a reliable JTF source quoted Rimtip as claiming that he was in possession of intelligence report linking the attack on the base to the camp. <BR/><BR/>The Co-ordinator of the newly-created Joint Media Campaign Centre in the JTF, Lt. Col. Rabe Abubakar, confirmed the Bomadi incident. <BR/><BR/>He said, “Yesterday (Saturday) night, there was an encounter between our troops and militants at our duty location at Bomadi and no single casualty on our troops. <BR/><BR/>“The Commander of the JTF condemned this development and warned those behind it to stop or we will be left with no option than to pay back, which will be catastrophic.”<BR/><BR/>In Rivers State, one of our correspondents gathered that the abducted French men were crew members of Bourbon Absara, a vessel working for Adax Oil Nigeria Limited.<BR/><BR/>They were said to be in a drinking spot popularly referred to as “Bush Bar” when the gunmen arrived and started shooting inside.<BR/><BR/>A source said that one of the Nigerians in the bar tried to escape but was gunned down.<BR/><BR/>He said, “Just after the man was killed, a phone held by one of the ladies inside the place rang and the gunmen opened fire and she fell down and died.<BR/><BR/>“They took the two expatriates to a waiting bus outside the bar and drove to the waterside. They escaped with a speedboat after setting the bus ablaze.”<BR/><BR/>When contacted on the telephone, the Spokesman for the JTF, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, confirmed the attack.<BR/><BR/>However, he did not confirm the killing of the two Nigerians but said that the command was awaiting details of what happened at the bar. <BR/><BR/>He said, “We have received report on the attack on a joint in Onne where two expatriates are said to have been abducted by hoodlums. <BR/><BR/>“The hoodlums went to the area in the night through the waterfront and also escaped through the waterfront. We are yet to know the identities of the hostages.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-17622185680760661092008-07-29T23:36:00.000-07:002008-07-29T23:36:00.000-07:00Hand-over Bakassi, risk impeachment, Arigbe-Osula ...Hand-over Bakassi, risk impeachment, Arigbe-Osula tells Yar’Adua<BR/>By Our Reporter<BR/>Tuesday, July 29, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/>•President Yar'Adua <BR/>Photo: Sun News Publishing <BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/>Barely two weeks to the scheduled hand-over of the Bakassi Peninsula to the Camerounian authorities, the Federal Government has been told to perish the idea. Hon. Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula, a former member of the House of Representatives who gave the warning at the weekend said President Umaru Yar’Adua would be committing an impeachable offence if he goes ahead to handover the oil-rich region.<BR/><BR/>The former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in Edo State said before Bakassi or any other part of the country listed in the first schedule of the 1999 constitution can be excised, the constitution must first be tinkered with.<BR/><BR/>“Bakassi is a part of our constitution in first schedule and section 8 (4) and section 9 (3). The president will be breaching the constitution and committing impeachable offence if he supports this lawlessness of his predecessor, while irredeemably rubbishing his supposed commitment to the rule of law,” he noted.<BR/><BR/>Last week, Yar’Adua while receiving the new Camerounian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Salaheddine Abbas had said the deal between Nigeria and Cameroun over the oil rich Bakassi Peninsula was irrevocable and insisted that his administration will for no reason go back on the issue. <BR/>According to him, Nigeria was ready and fully committed to a successful handover of the disputed Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun on August 14, 2008, in accordance with the Green Tree Agreement signed between Nigeria and Cameroun. <BR/><BR/>“We must ensure that the August 14 handover goes ahead, in accordance with the Green Tree Agreement, and then we shall continue to work together to further strengthen our existing very cordial and brotherly relations,” Yar’Adua had said.<BR/><BR/>But a visibly concerned Arigbe-Osula told Daily Sun at the weekend that the treaty, which purportedly relocated Bakassi was not only a farce, but was against the spirit and letter of the constitution which Yar’Adua has sworn to defend and uphold.<BR/>“Treaties, even when in compliance with section 12 of the constitution cannot controvert the supremacy of our constitution nor circumvent it”, he reasoned. <BR/><BR/>He continued: “Treaty, no matter how good the intention, an international body, no matter how big, including the UN, cannot legislate for Nigeria, particularly if such legislation is inconsistent with the provision of our constitution. <BR/><BR/>The supremacy of our constitution cannot be undermined by anyone who has a serious and valid democratic credential and regard for the rule of law. Consequently, those members of the National Assembly who support the seccession of Bakassi without the amendment of the constitution in line with section 9 (3) are committing a sacrilege. The president will be breaching the constitution and committing impeachable offence if he supports this lawlessness of his predecessor, while irredeemably rubbishing his supposed commitment to the rule of law.<BR/><BR/>“The NASS, by itself, cannot amend the constitution nor make a law inconsistent with the constitution valid even if they passed it. Bakassi shall remain a part of Nigeria until all constitutional conditions are met before it can be ceded away. It is, therefore, still the responsibility of Nigeria to ensure their welfare and security. <BR/><BR/>We can do the right thing now or go the lawless part and plunge our country into an avoidable crisis.”<BR/>According to Arigbe-Osula, by backing down from handing over Bakassi, Yar’Adua will be remedying one of the most hideous crimes of Obasanjo’s administration against Nigerians who in a desperate bid to perpetuate himself in power ceded away part of the nation ostensibly to hoodwink other world leaders that he was peace-loving and the solution to the Africa insecurity. <BR/>“The international communities will respect us if we do the right thing,” he maintained.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-58626601460198833612008-07-24T21:15:00.000-07:002008-07-24T21:15:00.000-07:00Let's take chargeIjaw leader, Clark says N'Delta w...Let's take charge<BR/>Ijaw leader, Clark says N'Delta wants to control its resources <BR/>By EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, Warri<BR/>Friday, July 25, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/>•Chief Edwin Clark<BR/>Photo: Sun News Publishing <BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/>The ultimate goal of the people of the Niger-Delta area is to take effective control of the natural resources emanating from the area, so says Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark.<BR/><BR/>In an interview with Daily Sun, Clark predicted that the crisis in the area would continue to escalate until oil producing states had taken total control of funds from the proceeds of oil sales. Such states, he stated, would then pay taxes to the Federal Government.<BR/><BR/>“There must be true federalism. We insist that oil producing states must take control of their oil money and pay taxes to the Federal Government. It is pertinent that every oil bearing area must develop their communities,” he said.<BR/><BR/>While regretting the shabby treatment being meted out to the oil producing communities, the Ijaw leader noted that every part of the country depended on oil money without having any regards to the development of the area that produced the nation's wealth.<BR/>He vowed that leaders from the South-South would never relinquish the struggle for control of the area's resources.<BR/><BR/>“How can we drop the issue of resource control? That is our life. In fact, we are still pushing for an increase to between 25 per cent and 50 per cent in the next five years,” he stated, while noting that that was part of the recommendations made by the area in the report submitted by General Alex Ogomudia to the Federal Government.<BR/>According to him, past reports and recommendations on the Niger-Delta since 1958 should be collated and acted upon rather than wasting time, energy and money to convene conferences that would yield no positive result.<BR/><BR/>The Ijaw leader also said that leaders from the region had already made presentations to the Federal Government that three committee members should come from each state in the region with one from each senatorial zone.<BR/>“As long as we want a forum for dialogue we had already told the Federal Government to use the 2008 budget to develop the Niger-Delta. The region must be protected and nothing will be too big to earmark for the development of the area that produces the oil wealth of this nation, if the government is really sincere on the development of the region,” he said.<BR/><BR/>The ex-Information minister urged President Umaru Yar'Adua to show genuine interest in the Niger-Delta question, insisting that the leaders would continue to maintain their stand on the issue.<BR/>“The only way out of the numerous violence and all forms of criminality in the area is the sincere infrastructural transformation of the battered region that has been in abject poverty and want. All we are saying is that President Yar'Adua should be sincere in this direction,” Clark said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-5751999435475345232008-07-21T02:13:00.000-07:002008-07-21T02:13:00.000-07:00BLOODY PARASITES!•Dokubo-Asari replies Arewa, Soyi...BLOODY PARASITES!<BR/>•Dokubo-Asari replies Arewa, Soyinka<BR/>•Re-states call for Sovereign National Confab <BR/>By EMERSON GOBERT, JR<BR/>Monday, July 21, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/>•Asari-Dokubo<BR/>Photo: Sun News Publishing <BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/>He was apparently vexed in spirit. As he talked, his pitch fluctuated depicting the bile in his spirit. Sometimes, it crested to high notes. He was very passionate about the issues raised. His tone betrayed such emotion. Though he was not wielding his AK 47 assault riffle which is one of his trademarks, it could be seen all the same imaginarily. Convinced about his struggle, he fired his salvos from all cylinders, occasionally sounding thunderous.<BR/><BR/>As he literally sprayed his bullets everywhere, he was ready to go on and on but the interviewer would not let him empty his bowel. Some of his statements were simply slanderous but Asari-Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), wouldn't care a hoot. He poured invectives on everybody who dared to oppose him and damned them to go to hell. “It is my land; get out of my land,” he effervesced in spontaneous fury. <BR/><BR/>He was expectedly explosive and at the end of the day, he affirmed that the struggle must continue until there is total liberation for his people.<BR/>From the presidential villa in Abuja to the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Harcourt, it is hard tackle all the way. Some northerners, who recently made vexatious comments on the Niger Delta situation and its oil,b also got a good dose of Asari's vitriol. He called them primitive, lazy parasites.<BR/><BR/>Excerpts:<BR/>Now that Professor Gambari has opted out of the chairmanship of the steering committee of the proposed Niger Delta Summit, which is the way forward on the Niger Delta situation?<BR/>For me, the issue was not Gambari. If you have read my interviews, you will find out that I never talked about Gambari. Gambari was not an issue in opposition to the conference. The issues we are talking about are very fundamental. They are issues that concern our political sovereignty and self determination and we have stated clearly that it is only a sovereign national conference that can adequately address the issues.<BR/><BR/>Even as Gambari has opted out, who would you prefer to chair the summit?<BR/>I don't believe in the summit, so I cannot suggest anybody. We have stated that our minimum demand as I stated earlier is a sovereign national conference. Anything that does not have sovereign power, I think it is useless and a waste.<BR/><BR/>You were quoted as saying that deployment of troops by the Federal Government to the region will not change the situation in the Niger Delta. What exactly do you mean by this statement?<BR/>It will not solve anything. The era when they intimidate people with troops is over. In this world, nobody has exclusive preserve of terror. If they think that they will terrorize us and fight us, that time is over. It is gone and it is gone forever, so as long as they come into our land to attack us, we have every right; inalienable right to defend ourselves.<BR/><BR/>You have accused the Federal Government of insincerity in the handling of the Niger Delta situation. How did you arrive at that conclusion?<BR/>Insincerity has always been there. It is not new. Any reasonable, discerning mind will know that the government is not sincere even in the relationship between the president and his vice president, Goodluck Jonathan. If the president is sincere, we will see it from his relationship with Goodluck Jonathan who is vice president; who unfortunately, is from the Niger Delta. The constitution of the Nigerian state assigns certain functions to him which Yar'Adua has refused to give to him. The ministers from the Niger Delta, their relationship with Yar'Adua in the executive arm, that is where it will start. Let us see it from them. It is when we see it from them that there is sincerity. This is the most powerless vice president in the history of the Nigerian state. He has no power. He is stripped of all powers. He is treated as if he is not part of the government and we see it even if the man does not see it. He pretends to cover it up. Everybody sees it. It is an open secret. Everybody knows that Yar'Adua has not been fair to Goodluck Jonathan and the ministers from the South-South and the South-Eastern states.<BR/><BR/>How do you react to some statements from some northerners that the Niger Delta is responsible for its problems and that oil belongs to all?<BR/>Why don't they go and say that oil in Chad or Cameroun or in Saudi Arabia or Lybia belongs to them? They are talking because our elders allow them to talk. It is their arrogance. First, they are parasites. They contribute nothing; absolutely nothing intellectually or resource wise to this entity they call Nigeria. They are only parasites. We all saw what happened to them in the last four years of Obasanjo when they lost virtually everything; how they were hunger-stricken and became beggarly, so their boast does not affect anyone of us. <BR/><BR/>They are men and we are men. If they send their men, we will defend ourselves. We will not only defend ourselves, we will carry the battle to them wherever they are. They cannot come to our land, destroy our land and kill our people and cause mayhem. We will take the battle to wherever they are. You take somebody else's resources and you have the temerity, instead of you to be begging, to pour invectives. Did they conquer us? What power do they have? The Biafran war they are talking, we fought it. Did they fight it? Did Murtala Mohammed not run away? Which of them fought the war? We fought the war to keep this dubious entity one. It was our blood and sweat and resources. They didn't fight the war. Who never knew about how Murtala Mohammed cowardly ran away at Asaba?<BR/><BR/>Would you say the attack on Bonga oil fields and other flow stations were justified?<BR/>I don't think that anybody will attack his own property. We are only re-possessing our property on our land. We have not gone to attack anybody. We have not attacked Kano. We have not attacked Ibadan. We didn't attack Enugu. We didn't attack Lagos, so how would we have attacked our own territory?<BR/><BR/>Professor Wole Soyinka has said that the region should engage in intellectual militancy instead of violence. How do you react to that statement?<BR/>So, what was Ken Saro-Wiwa engaged in when he was judicially murdered? Was he engaged in any other form of militancy or what is militancy? I'm not a militant. I don't know what Professor Soyinka meant when he said intellectual militancy. I don't believe in that. What I say is, this is my land. Get out of my land. It is as simple as that. You are in my land, I'm not in your land. Get out! If you don't get out, I will use everything-all that God has given me to send you out of my land. That's just it!<BR/><BR/>Some people believe that militancy in the region is politicized and that there are powerful individuals behind the militants. Do you agree with that?<BR/>I don't know who are the powerful individuals. The person I know is the people in government aided by Obasanjo which I know very well. Obasanjo was very instrumental with his security, with the SSS and military intelligence that worked with people like Henry Okah to discredit the struggle that I know. If there are other individuals who fund the movement; if they are Ijaw people, they have the right to fund the movement for their own liberation and the betterment of their people. So, I don't know about militancy. The patriotic struggle of our people is supported by the whole Niger Delta people even if they pretend; even those who are wining and dining with the opposition force.<BR/><BR/>Some youths in the region also accused the region's leaders of being sell-outs, is this true?<BR/>We know that for sometime now, our people - the governors and so on - are they elected by our people? Take for example the governor of Rivers State, who elected him? Seven Supreme Court judges elected him; a man who never contested election. Have you ever heard of such a thing anywhere in the world that seven Supreme Court judges imposed somebody who never contested election to become the governor of a state? Or is it in Delta State, Adamawa and Kogi where somebody was exempted from contesting election -was prevented by INEC but the issue of Delta State, uptil today, the case has not been decided? Or is it in Bayelsa State where the president is meddling in the affairs of Bayelsa State and did not allow the people of Bayelsa to decide who will be their governor? Or in Edo State where the Appeal Court has delayed pronouncement on the judgment between Oshiomhole and Professor Osunbor? It is all apparent that they put them there as the task masters of Pharaoh. Pharoah is in Abuja then he sent his task masters to force us to work without straw.<BR/><BR/>In a nutshell, what is the real problem of the Niger Delta and what does the region want?<BR/>(Cuts in) The problem of the Niger Delta is political. Our sovereignty was stolen from us by the British and that's what we are talking about. Until that issue is addressed at a sovereign national conference, all these half measures will come to nought. They will fail and the people doing it are not sincere at all. I met with them. I was in the committee set up by Ijaw people to go and meet with the government of the Nigerian state. I withdrew for about four months. I was persuaded by Ijaw people to return and I did. What are these meetings? “Look, my friend, go back to your people. Let them know that there are masters. <BR/><BR/>They are the slaves. If you accept that, we will leave you in peace. We will not come to turn your land into Odi, Odoma, Unekem, et cetera. We will not kill you as we killed Isaac Boro and Saro-Wiwa and others. Just go and tell them to accept that there are slaves. Period and we are their masters and overlords.” These are the meetings they held and nothing else. I was part of the meeting and I know the mindset of the people. I know the mindset of the present government. “Go and accept to be slaves” and we are not ready to be slaves. We either die than accept to be slaves.<BR/><BR/>If you are asked, what does the Niger Delta region want, how would you answer it in a nutshell?<BR/>I have told you. I said convocate a sovereign national conference. The decision of this sovereign national conference will be subjected to a referendum like it was done in Ethiopia when Eritrea left or as it has been attempted three times by Cubec in Canada. Convocate a sovereign national conference.<BR/>You talked about a Pharoah in Abuja. What kind of leader would you say Yar'Adua is?<BR/>As far as I'm concerned, Yar'Adua will be worse than Obasanjo.<BR/><BR/>What gives you that impression?<BR/>It is very obvious seven-point agenda. Niger Delta is one of the seven points according to him. He made a budget. Four hundred and something million for security in the Niger Delta, sixty something million for NDDC. NDDC’s money that is two hundred and something billion has expired but the Lagos State money that Obasanjo held did not expire. He paid Lagos. So, I know the mindset of the man. The man is not even pretending about it. It is very clear. He cannot give NDDC’s money to them. They are constructing one road in Abuja for N50 billion but nine NDDC states will share a budget of N70 billion. One single road in Abuja for N50 billion. It is only people who are friends and brothers of Satan that can do that.<BR/><BR/>You have not been as vocal as you used to be and some people feel you have been compromised. What's responsible for your new stance?<BR/>(cuts in) What is being vocal? So, what I am saying, what do you expect me to say? You want me to say what? That they should kill somebody or they should do what? What is being vocal? I've stated my position clearly everywhere at every forum, everywhere that I address people from the grassroots to the town hall meetings and everywhere and people say I am not as vocal as I used to be. So, how would I be vocal?<BR/><BR/>Have you ever entered into any deal with the Federal Government past or present to back down?<BR/>I've never as a person entered into any deal with anybody to jettison the struggle of my people. That was why I was sent to prison because I made it clear to Obasanjo that this is the position of our people, that except for a sovereign national conference, there will be no solution. He thought it was a joke. He put me in prison and he saw it that it was not possible except they convocate a sovereign national conference; except there is sincerity on the part of the people like what happened in South Africa. Except there is that level of sincerity, all these things will come to nought and if Zionist Israel could not suppress Hammas and Islamic Jihad, it could not suppress Hezbollah. If America with all her power could not suppress the resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan, how do they think that these primitive, lazy, parasitic people will be able to suppress and subdue the resistance in the Niger Delta. It is not possible.<BR/>How would you assess the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the Rivers State government?<BR/>It is part of the diversionary tactics. Amaechi received N89 billion last month from what they call federation account. <BR/><BR/>So, he wants to divert the attention of people. Let Amaechi show anything he has done with all the money he has collected since he came. He wants to divert people's attention and malign those who were there before him, a government in which he was No. 3 man. He wants to extricate himself from that government. There was no differing opinion. Everybody was saying Odilli, Sekibo, Odilli, Sekibo until I came and brought an alternative view and from then, have you been seeing them airing it live again? They cut the programme. They brought people to come and malign people. That is what they do. They pay people to come and malign. It's one of the grand designs. He was not elected by Rivers people. He was imposed. It was a coup against the people of Rivers State. He was imposed on us. So, all that he was doing, he only provided me a platform to state my case under legal cover. I took oath, I stated the demand of our people. I thank him for that. Apart from that, this thing (the commission) was set up to witch hunt people.<BR/><BR/>So, what do you make of the revelations from the commission?<BR/>There is no revelation. What revelations are there? Did you hear any revelation? People come and lie. You see people lying; saying all sorts of lies. When they are asked questions, they circumvent them and they leave. Go and get my tape and listen to it and even where it will affect me, I stated the facts as they were. I was not taking sides with anybody. They don't want that. Everybody ought to support Amaechi. The billions are there.<BR/><BR/>You had an altercation with Marshall Harry's son at the commission and the situation nearly went out of hand. Why?<BR/>Yes! That young man is paid. He is a junkie. You can make your investigation. He is paid to come and malign people and we all know. He made several attempts to kill his father. His father is a member of my house. After his father's death, he fraternized with Odilli and even said that if his father was alive, his father would have supported Odilli to become president. So, when did he suddenly realize that Odilli was the killer of his father? I was the first person to openly come out to accuse Odilli and Obasanjo of having a hand in the killing of Marshall Harry. <BR/><BR/>That was in May 2004 in my second letter to Rivers people. The letter is there. Even your paper published extracts from it; Kaima confession. Where was he then? If I was not afraid to accuse the powers that be when they were in power, is it now that they have left office that I will be afraid of them? He agreed that he held a meeting with Odilli where he demanded that Odilli should pardon him for his criminal activities when he stole and was duly convicted and he went to prison. Amaechi has an agenda. He wants to remove Tonye Harry. Sekibo took him to court, so he is fighting Sekibo. So, why is he accusing only those who are anti-Amaechi as the killers of his father?<BR/><BR/>You have made some strong statements at the commission, even now, can you justify them?<BR/>I was in Kuje Prison with the people who were arrested and accused of killing Marshall Harry. The young man has never met then. They said they never killed; police only gathered them and gave them a cheque and told them to go and pay it after that they will leave. These people are not dead. They are still in Kuje prison. I met the investigation officer. He was the one who was in charge of my case, DSP Bello. Even though he said they were the killers, I met with him. The so-called Marshall Harry's son has never met him. So, I'm better positioned to say what happened to Marshall Harry than that fellow who is looking for money. Everybody knows him that he is looking for money.<BR/><BR/>So, on a final note, concerning the Niger Delta crisis, for you, would it be right to say that the struggle continues?<BR/>The struggle will continue until the political issues are adequately and totally addressed. Until that issue is resolved, whatever half measure taken or proffered will fail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-3392487233238023932008-07-20T02:00:00.000-07:002008-07-20T02:00:00.000-07:00Why we opposed Niger Delta Summit —Oritsejafor ...Why we opposed Niger Delta Summit —Oritsejafor <BR/>Written by Sam Eyoboka <BR/>Saturday, 19 July 2008 <BR/>LAGOS—A FEW days before the Federal Government decided to jettison its controversial Niger Delta Summit, the National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, expressed his opposition to the idea of a summit, saying it was no longer necessary. <BR/><BR/>Addressing newsmen in Lagos, Pastor Oritsejafor also enjoined the Federal Govern-ment to re-examine its strategies for resolving the Niger Delta crisis by involving well meaning religious leaders from the area who, he said, could pacify the militants to submit their weapons as a pathway to peace in the area.<BR/><BR/>He also gave thumps down for a military option, as some people have canvassed, saying that his greatest fear in that direction is that so many innocent persons may be killed while countless others will be displaced. <BR/>“Military is not an option,” Oritsejafor, who played a prominent role in the resolution of the Warri crisis, said, adding “the problem that will come out as a result of that option will be too enormous for the government to handle, especially given the terrain of the area.” <BR/><BR/>Oritsejafor further suggest-ed that government should now refocus its attention at addressing the real issues of the area, by involving religious leaders who still command the respect of these boys and they (the religious leaders, together with a committee set up by government to harmonise past white papers on the Niger Delta issue) will negotiate an amnesty for the militants in exchange for disarmament in the region.<BR/><BR/>According to him, the cynicism that greeted the Niger Delta Summit stem from mistrust of government intentions for the area that has been described by UNDP as the poorest and most back-ward oil producing area in the world. The issues at stake are no longer new to anybody, he said. <BR/><BR/>“Instead of another jamboree that will gulp money and time, government should take another look at all the white papers of past Commissions, harmonise them into one workable document and begin implementation. <BR/>“The demands of the Niger Delta people are not too much.” he continued “The people want massive deve-lopment of the area that produces the wealth of the nation or you allow them to control their God-given resources as it was done in the days of cocoa, palm oil and groundnut pyramids.”<BR/><BR/>He blamed successive governments for all the “madness currently going on in the Niger Delta region,” saying “it is a product of years of organized and sustained oppression of the people whose only means of liveli-hood- farming and fishing- had been taken away from them by decades of oil exploration and exploitation in the area. Different governments have come and made promises to them without fulfilling such promises.”<BR/><BR/>Oritsejafor, General Overseer of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Delta State, further lamented that the region’s problems were compounded by the role of local chiefs, some of whom have misrepresented the interest of different communities as they allegedly corner the monies paid by oil companies.<BR/><BR/>He maintained that when the youths protest the neglect of the area by the oil companies, the chiefs would be forced to declare a paltry sum after dialogue. <BR/><BR/>Fuming with passion for the untold degradation of the area, Oritsejafor said successive governments had set up different Commissions of enquiry to look into the problems of the area and several white papers have been submitted to the different administrations and, yet, there are no roads, potable water, electricity, schools and other social amenities for them. <BR/><BR/><BR/>“Their children have no access to good schools. Even employable youths of the area are denied employment for one reason or the other. And when the jobless youths of the area protest their endless years of servitude, they are labeled militants,” he added. <BR/><BR/><BR/>He also called for the inclusion of some militants in the implemention of a harmo-nised version of all the several white papers in the coffers of government saying, “con-cluding and presenting the issue to them will be improper.<BR/>“If the militants are part of the negotiation and an amnesty included in the submission, there will be peace in the area,’’ he said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-77317319758981724552008-07-20T01:56:00.000-07:002008-07-20T01:56:00.000-07:00Unknown persons blow up Agip facility in Bayelsa ...Unknown persons blow up Agip facility in Bayelsa <BR/>Written by Sam Oyadomgha <BR/>Friday, 18 July 2008 <BR/>UNKNOWN persons yesterday blew up a Key crude oil supply pipeline operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, the Nigerian subsidiary of the Italian group, Eni. The facility was located in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. <BR/>The attack on the delivery line was said to have been carried out in the early hours of yesterday by some unknown persons prompting the nation security forces to launch massive manhunt for the alleged attackers.<BR/><BR/>Although no live was lost in the attack which occurred some distance from the heavily fortified Tebidaba flowstation in the deep swamp of Southern Ijaw in the Bayelsa central senatorial district, it was however learnt that the raid might have been caused by disagreement between the locals and the company over the non implementation of memorandum of understanding (MoU).<BR/><BR/>As at press time, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, said to have caused heavy oil spill in the area. However, an industry source said it was aggrieved youths from an Ijaw community in the state that carried out the damage in protest against neglect of their community.<BR/><BR/>However, a source from the area told Vanguard that the attack is now causing panic among the locals especially with the large number of heavily armed soldiers backed by four gunboats reportedly heading towards the Tebidaba facility.<BR/><BR/>But a security source assured that the deployment was to compliment the strength of the troops already stationed in the Tebidaba flowstation.<BR/><BR/>The destroyed facility is one of the several connecting pipelines transporting crude oil to the multibillion naira Brass terminus, one of the nation's three export stations in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>The attack on the Tebidaba, which is coming on the heels of the violent gunfight in neigbouring Rivers State between militants and the security forces has further cut down the country’s output by a quarter causing it to lose the position as Africa’s biggest oil producer to Angola, according to April figures from OPEC.<BR/><BR/>An official of Agip who spoke anonymously confirmed the attack on the facility saying the company safety personnel have been dispatched to the area to ascertain the extent of damage with a view to effecting repairs on account of its impact on the immediate environment.<BR/><BR/>Attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta have become increasingly common as militants and residents seek greater control of the region’s rich resources.<BR/><BR/>When contacted, the Bayelsa State Commander of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Col Chris Musa confirmed the incident, saying his men have been deployed to the area to investigate the matter.<BR/>His words:, “Unknown persons blew up a pipeline around Tebidaba flow station. We are looking for them,” he said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-6563815977333693552008-07-20T01:52:00.000-07:002008-07-20T01:52:00.000-07:00EXPOSED!Inside the militants’ kingdom…The untold s...EXPOSED!<BR/>Inside the militants’ kingdom<BR/>…The untold story<BR/>• The gangs, their armouries & command structure <BR/>By PATRICK ASONYE (patrickasonye@sunnewsonline.com)<BR/>Sunday, July 20, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/>•Niger Delta militants<BR/>Photo: Sun News Publishing <BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/>As with the proverbial bird that dances in the middle of the road, with the supplier of the melodious beats sequestered somewhere in the bush, Sunday Sun can authoritatively reveal that the Niger Delta militants may in fact have good reasons to challenge the military to a combat in the creeks.<BR/><BR/>These days, so audacious is their threat to life and property in the Niger Delta that observers sometimes sympathise with them ostensibly for embarking on suicide mission such as the boast to stand up to the might of the military.<BR/><BR/>Indeed, if the militants were seen to be grandstanding all along, what Sunday Sun discovered last week as constituting their combat capabilities would make even the British government think twice before sending its troops to assist Nigeria contain the militancy in the oil region. <BR/><BR/>Without exaggeration, in the camps of some of the militants can be found weapons that are far from available in the armouries of some African countries. <BR/>Yet the Niger Delta militants do not have in short supply such weapons as the notorious AK 47 rifles, assorted machine guns, dynamites and rocket launchers.<BR/>Uninhibited by the marshy terrain, which they are masterfully adapted to, Niger Delta militants are an intriguing lot. <BR/>Operating as major and minor groups, their areas of influence cover Bayelsa and Delta States. More importantly, each group has a “formidable” armoury hence they readily beat their chest in readiness for confrontation. <BR/><BR/>The gangs<BR/>There may be more, but the known militant gangs that have so far raised the stakes in the Niger Delta struggle include Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ijaw National Congress (INC), Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSSIEND), Movement for Reparations to Ogbia (MORETO) and Ijaw Youth Council (IYC). <BR/>Others are the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Federated Niger Delta Izon Community (FNDIC) and recently, the vociferous Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). <BR/>Arguably, the MEND is the largest and most organized. It is also the major torn in the flesh of both the government and the oil companies operating in the region. <BR/><BR/>BAYELSA STATE<BR/>In Bayelsa State for instance, there are about five major militant camps, each parading between 150 and 200 fighters with an identified leader. Olugbobiri, one of the camps, is led by Joshua Mckiver .<BR/>The others are Korokosei led by Africa Owei; Ikeberi 1 & 11 and Okiegbene/Ebrigbene led by Gibson Kala, aka Prince Igodo. <BR/>The others are Robert Creek and Cowthern Channel.<BR/>The minor camps include Azuzuama led by Commander Jackson, alias Young Shall Grow; Gbekeregbene, Ezetu and Agge (led by Victor Ben alias Boyloaf). Others are Bilabiri, Kurutiye, Forupa, Okubie and Clough Creek.<BR/><BR/>DELTA STATE<BR/>Under the same leadership of Government Ekpempolo, the militants have three camps in Delta State. They are Camp 5, Okerenkoko and Opuraza, while the minor ones are Ubefan and Berger camps. <BR/><BR/>Command structures<BR/>Having recorded “successes” in the areas of hostage taking, political thuggery and extortion of money from their state governments and oil companies, the militants are not only well equipped, they also maintain fairly well organized communes. <BR/><BR/>Combat readiness <BR/>In most major camps, Sunday Sun learnt that no fewer than 150 to 200 youths could be mobilized to fight at any given time. Sometimes, however, the leaders could muster as much as 500 fighters depending on the exigency. <BR/>Curiously, as Sunday Sun was further told, some of the militant groups are usually antagonistic to one another as a consequence of supremacy contest. <BR/>Notwithstanding the apparent division within their ranks, Sunday Sun also learnt that the militants readily unite to fight a “common enemy” whenever there is one. More often than not, the “common enemy” is the military, particularly the Joint Military Task Force.<BR/>In that circumstance, each of the camps could mobilise as much as 1000 fighters, including reinforcement from outside its immediate territory. <BR/><BR/>Weapons<BR/>Although they are believed to be largely without military training, the weapons in the camps of the militants and their ability to handle them during combat call that assumption to question. <BR/>In their various camps are such firearms as AK 47 rifles and others categorized as GPMG, BMG, RPG 7, speed boats an as well as Gun boats mounted with GPMG and BMGs. <BR/>It is also believed that Ekpempolo’s Camp 5 has an Anti-Aircraft machine gun. <BR/><BR/>Gang leaders<BR/>African Owei<BR/>Specifically in Bayelsa State, Africa Owei is said to have his camp – Osiaperemo - near a creek along the waterways in Korokorosei community. Besides, he is also believed to have another camp, which serves as his hideout, at Azuzuama community.<BR/>Currently he is said to be the commander of no fewer than 400 diehards, including his concubines and domestic staff.<BR/><BR/>Among his weaponry are three General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), 50 assorted rifles, including AK 47 and Pump Action guns with “inexhaustible” rounds of ammunition and dynamites. <BR/>To aid patrol in the creeks, he has about 17 speed boats, three of which look like locally configured gunboats, on which are usually mounted the GPMGs.<BR/>His adversaries say he is an ex-prison inmate who started out as a political thug before chancing on illegal oil bunkering rackets.<BR/><BR/>Joshua Mackiver<BR/>The story is the same in the camp of Joshua Mackiver, commander of one of the contending militant groups. <BR/>With a camp that is difficult to access because of the swampy terrain, Mackiver, Sunday Sun learnt, operates from a fishing port around the Olugbobiri area in Southern Ijaw council. Even at that, he is in charge of about 300 loyal fighters. They are armed with AK 47 rifles and GPMGs. <BR/>In fact, he might as well have acquired what is called RPG 7 launchers and even hired mercenaries to train his boys in weapons handling.<BR/>In all, Mackiver’s amoury could boast of at least 100 AK 47s, 15 General Purpose Machine Guns and seven pieces of RPG 7.<BR/>Like Owei, he was said to have bolted out of the Port Harcourt prison during the 2006 jail-break.<BR/><BR/>Victor-Ben Ebikabowei<BR/>Victor-Ben Ebikabowei, it would appear, is the most ambitious of the ring leaders. He operates three camps in Ezetu, Azuzuama and Agge, a border community between Ekermor and Southern Ijaw council.<BR/>Again, he is credited with the most organized and disciplined fighters estimated at between 200 and 300.<BR/>Until he became a Commander himself, Victor-Ben was said to be a “true ally” of Asari-Dokubo, and reportedly operated in the Port Harcourt axis along with Dagogo Farah. He is believed to be “well armed” and close to detained Henry Okah. <BR/>In his arsenal could be gleaned the following: 15 GPMGs, about 120 AK 47 rifles, 15 Long Range BMGs, 3 RPG 7 AND about 20 double-engine, 150 horse power speed boats that literally fly in the water.<BR/>For some reasons, his gang is said to be affiliated to the MEND.<BR/><BR/>Gibson Kala<BR/>Gibson Kala has his camp at Okigbene Community, southern Ijaw, while his personal residence serves as armoury and operational headquarters. In his camp are about 50 fighters, mostly teenagers and youngsters in their early twenties. <BR/>Sunday Sun learnt that in his armoury are some Uzi Machine guns, GPMGs and AK 47 rifles.<BR/>To facilitate his movement in the waterways, Kala is believed to have two boats usually mounted with machine guns often serving as gunboats, as well as seven Speed boast, double 175 engines.<BR/><BR/>Jackson<BR/>With his own camp at the Azuzuama area of Southern Ijaw, Jackson was described as an “up start” in militancy. Currently, he is believed to be loyal to Government Epkompolo, the militant leader based in Okerenkoko, Delta State.<BR/>Even then, Jackson is said to be well armed with AK 47 rifles while no fewer than 40 boys are ready to lay down their lives for him.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-7300617320634270842008-07-20T01:40:00.000-07:002008-07-20T01:40:00.000-07:00Northern Poverty Is Like N'Delta Crisis, Says Solu...Northern Poverty Is Like N'Delta Crisis, Says Soludo<BR/>By Sukuji Bakoji (Kaduna), Maxwell Oditta (Lagos) and Chesa Chesa (Abuja)<BR/><BR/>A 'summit' or, if you like, 'dialogue' on the Niger Delta is necessary, former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Victor Attah, has argued; but he said it should be in three stages, noting that living conditions in the region has got worse and worse.<BR/><BR/>As he made the case at the weekend, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)Governor, Chukuwuma Soludo, also decried the crippling poverty in the North, describing it as bad as the conflict in the Niger Delta which stagnates growth.<BR/><BR/>The high level of poverty in some Northern states is unacceptable, he stressed, as it has reached mind-boggling proportions - ranging between 60 per cent and 95 per cent.<BR/><BR/>Worst hit are the North East and North West, Soludo reiterated in Kaduna at a public lecture and the 2008 Arewa Inspirational Leadership Award.<BR/><BR/>He said it would take the collective effort of every one to reverse the trend.<BR/><BR/>The ceremony was organised by Northern Development Initiative (NDI), a non-governmental organisation based in Kaduna. <BR/><BR/>It was chaired by Shehu Malami, who represented former President Shehu Shagari who is abroad on holiday.<BR/><BR/>Soludo - who received an Inspirational Leadership Award along with former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, and the leader of Ijaw Council of Elders, Edwin Clark - noted the low level of education in the North as well as its attendant poverty level in the 21st century, and argued that the quest by Nigeria to be among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 will remain a mirage unless these issues are tackled.<BR/><BR/>"Poverty is unacceptably high in Nigeria," he warned; "in fact more so that high and persistent levels of poverty in Nigeria happens to be essentially a Northern phenomenon.<BR/><BR/>"In the North, there is no state with poverty less than 60 per cent; the lowest is in the upper 60s; and it ranges from the upper 60s to 95 per cent in a state in the North.<BR/><BR/>"And if you put them by geo-political zones, the North East and the North West have 70s on the average; and there are several states with 80-something per cent poverty incident, and it stretches to one with about 95 per cent.<BR/><BR/>"For this economy to move forward, and for us to continue to claim 2020, we need to have an inclusive development."<BR/><BR/>Tinubu advocated a true federal structure to realise the Nigerian Project.<BR/><BR/>"It is pertinent to stress that the only durable and pivotal strategy for an enhanced effective and efficient urban development in Nigeria is fiscal federalism whereby every state will select a growth/development path consistent with the yearnings and aspirations of the people and democratic federalism," he said.<BR/><BR/>Attah made his own views known in a document he wrote on the proposed Niger Delta parley and sent to Sunday Independent after he was contacted to comment on the matter.<BR/><BR/>"The programme that would emerge from the summit must be given the full force of law so that it becomes a binding contract between the Federal Government and the Niger Delta peoples," said Attah, who has been away from the public glare since he handed over to Governor Godswill Akpabio on May 29 last year. <BR/><BR/>"Such a contract would be immutable and binding, not only on the present government of President Umaru Yar'Adua, but on all future governments. <BR/><BR/>"To correct the wrongs in the Niger Delta will go well beyond the life of this government, and indeed the next. Therefore to be impatient with the start of this programme smacks of the legend of the tortoise in the pit latrine."<BR/><BR/>Attah stressed that only the summit can attempt to correct all existing bad laws, spell out what development and environmental programmes the Niger Delta needs, define how best host states and communities can fully participate in oil and gas exploration for greater benefits. <BR/><BR/>He outlined the needs of the Niger Delta as infrastructure and human development, greater employment opportunities, and restoration of human dignity.<BR/><BR/>To him, the discovery of oil has brought hardship to the South South states of Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, and Delta. <BR/><BR/>So, in his view, the first stage of the summit should be the distillation and collation of disparate views as well as inviting additional views and memoranda from interest and ethnic groups in the region. <BR/><BR/>A compilation of reports and submissions by a Steering Committee of experts will form the working paper for the dialogue. <BR/><BR/>"It is my strong recommendation that Niger Deltans should have the opportunity to discuss exclusively among themselves and come up with a Niger Delta Agenda for the Niger Delta. This will be the second stage of the summit." <BR/><BR/>Attah advised against hasty implementation of the document of the summit, since "rushing into implementation without a carefully thought-out plan of action is bound to fail.<BR/><BR/>"That is why we have so many abandoned projects and cases of collapsed buildings. This is not to say that the Federal Government, meanwhile, should not show good faith by continuing with such programmes as the East-West Road, the establishment of an environmental laboratory for monitoring oil spillage, manpower training, and a few others that have already been agreed upon." <BR/><BR/>He stressed the need to internationalise the summit, because Niger Deltans are a part of a larger country and they cannot pretend that whatever they want is what they will get. <BR/><BR/>He said the third stage should witness participation by other Nigerians and the international community. <BR/><BR/>"Would it not have been ironic, indeed a beneficial irony, if Ibrahim Gambari, a United Nations Under Secretary, as the Chairman of the Steering Committee (as distinct from the Chairman of the Summit)had turned out to be the one to bring our struggle to the full attention of the United Nations?" <BR/><BR/>Taking a cue, the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee on Friday submitted to Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, its recommendations which include demobilisation and rehabilitation of Niger Delta militants and creating a fund for infrastructure. <BR/><BR/>If implemented, these would help douse tension in region, the Committee Chairman, David Briggidi, told reporters at the Villa in Abuja. <BR/><BR/>His words: "We were opportune to visit almost 90 per cent of the militants' camps and we assessed the situation. There is a critical aspect of this problem that we have not addressed and it is a generational factor. Generally, the entire region is losing a generation to arms struggle; the region is losing a generation to violence. The spate of the violence in the region presently requires a major reorientation."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-36848514223160262092008-07-18T00:03:00.000-07:002008-07-18T00:03:00.000-07:00Court Urged to Halt Handover of Bakassi07.18.2008 ...Court Urged to Halt Handover of Bakassi<BR/>07.18.2008<BR/><BR/> Add To Favorites <BR/> Print This Article <BR/> Post Comment <BR/> <BR/>Eight prominent indigenes of Bakassi yesterday asked a Federal High Court Abuja to halt the August 14 final cession of the oil-rich peninsular to Cameroon.<BR/>Respondents to the suit are President Umaru Yar'Adua, the National Assembly, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the governor of Cross River and the State House of Assembly.<BR/>Others are the National Boundary Commission, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the CBN and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.<BR/>In a fresh motion filed by the plaintiffs' lawyer, Mr Kayode Fasetire, they urged the court to restrain the Federal Government from further implementation of the ``Green Tree Agreement'' between it and Cameroon.<BR/>In the agreement signed on June 12, 2006 in New York, Cameroon would assume full sovereignty over Bakassi on Aug. 14.<BR/>The agreement was reached and endorsed by the two countries after the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, held that Bakassi belonged to Cameroon.<BR/>The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Justice Mustapha Umar had on June 10 refused to grant the injunctive order on the ground that Fasetire did not file a formal application to that effect.<BR/>But Fasetire filed a formal application yesterday for the injunction, attaching relevant documents to back up his relief.<BR/>He urged the court to grant the injunction pending the determination of the substantive suit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-79720001794900695792008-07-17T23:38:00.000-07:002008-07-17T23:38:00.000-07:00Nigerian activists reject UK plan The solution t...Nigerian activists reject UK plan <BR/> <BR/>The solution to the Niger Delta crisis is development not arms, activists say <BR/>Human rights activists in Nigeria's Delta have condemned an offer from the UK government to provide military training to secure oil supplies. <BR/><BR/>British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered military training to Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua to help fight militants and oil smugglers. <BR/><BR/>But activists said more military action would result in more militant groups springing up to oppose it. <BR/><BR/>Mr Yar'Adua says there is a cartel dealing in "blood oil" from Nigeria. <BR/><BR/>He says this trade is behind much of the violence in the oil-producing Niger Delta. <BR/><BR/>Attacks on oil installations has been partly responsible for cutting Nigeria's production by about 25%. NIGERIA'S OIL <BR/>35bn barrels in proven reserves<BR/>Daily capacity around 2m barrels of crude<BR/>Eighth largest exporter in the world<BR/>Estimates say another 100,000 barrels are stolen - worth $5.1bn at current prices<BR/>Source: Reuters<BR/><BR/><BR/>Elusive peace in Nigeria's oil Delta <BR/><BR/>The Delta's most publically visible group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) also condemned the UK's offer. <BR/><BR/>"Without justice, security and peace will be elusive. Mend will ensure that," spokesman Jomo Gbomo told the BBC. <BR/><BR/>"Mend is aware that its actions have forced the system to focus on the region and will continue our armed agitation side by side with talks until we achieve our objective." <BR/><BR/>Patrick Naagbanton, of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), said Mr Brown did not understand the problems of the Niger Delta. <BR/><BR/>"He's acting on the spur of the moment. He needs to have a better understanding of the situation," <BR/><BR/>"It will just lead to a mushrooming of hardened armed groups." <BR/><BR/>Mr Brown also reaffirmed the UK's commitment to help Nigeria improve the accountability and transparency of government. <BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>But Anyakwee Nsirimovu, of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) based in Port Harcourt said this offer was a "public relations exercise". <BR/><BR/>"It's a systemic failure. Government does not want to improve the capacity. They are deliberately running a one-party state with no alternatives. <BR/><BR/>"Until people can take a role in confirming or rejecting the people in power, it's just a PR exercise." <BR/><BR/>President Yar'Adua came to power last year in elections that were widely condemned by observers for not being free or fair. <BR/><BR/>The Delta region saw the worst of the rigging, with armed gangs stealing ballot boxes and intimidating voters. <BR/><BR/>'Positive statement' <BR/><BR/>But Dimieari Von Kemedi of the Bayelsa State government said focussing on the military aspect did not do justice to Mr Brown's offer. <BR/><BR/>"Overall, it's a positive statement that gives weight to dialogue and sustainable development," he said. <BR/><BR/>"There's nothing new in getting military help from Britain. Every country has a right to improve their military." <BR/><BR/>However, military training would not solve the problem of oil theft, he said. <BR/><BR/>"If the UK wants to help with that, Scotland Yard [police] - not the Ministry of Defence - would be the right people to do it." <BR/><BR/>Illegal oil <BR/><BR/>The oil smuggling industry is extremely profitable and involves highly placed corrupt politicians, military officers, government officials and oil company employees, human rights activists and oil analysts say. <BR/><BR/>Oil is stolen by breaking into pipelines and filling barges which then rendezvous with tankers on the high seas. <BR/><BR/> Consumers will benefit from bringing down the oil price. Anything that drives the price of oil down to help the British housewife <BR/><BR/>Patrick Dele Cole<BR/>Former minister<BR/><BR/><BR/>Nigeria seeks to end 'blood oil' <BR/>The illegal oil is then mixed with other legitimate cargoes and sold for an enormous profit by unscrupulous traders - who pay for the oil partly with weapons, analysts say. <BR/><BR/>Many armed groups in the Delta provide "security" for the smuggling rings, also known as "bunkerers". <BR/><BR/>The violence and lack of law and order in the region, caused by the sponsorship of armed youths by politicians, allows powerful people connected to bunkering to operate unhindered, activists say. <BR/><BR/>'Marked' crude <BR/><BR/>Niger Delta businessman and politician Patrick Dele Cole, a special adviser of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, says that the trade could be cracked by chemically marking crude to trace its origin. <BR/><BR/>Spy technology provided by the US and the UK could also be used to identify thieves, he said. <BR/><BR/>"We need the technology from the UK and the US and others to help us track these vessels. I know the government is interested in getting hold of drones like the UK and US are using in Afghanistan." <BR/><BR/>US attempts to form an African command for its military based in Nigeria have been rejected by President Yar'Adua's government. <BR/><BR/>But the UK is the former colonial power, and home base of the parent company of Nigeria's biggest oil producer Royal Dutch Shell. <BR/><BR/>Mr Dele Cole said Mr Brown's offer was aimed at helping oil consumers. <BR/><BR/>"Consumers will benefit from bringing down the oil price. Anything that drives the price of oil down to help the British housewife."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-2294397522805552832008-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:002008-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:00Thousands flee Nigerian militants The militant g...Thousands flee Nigerian militants <BR/> <BR/>The militant group responsible for the threat has not been identified <BR/>Thousands of Nigerians have fled the Niger Delta oil town of Bonny after militants threatened to behead people who are not originally from the area. <BR/><BR/>The unknown group attacked soldiers in the town two weeks ago, killing nine people including a pregnant woman. <BR/><BR/>According to a newspaper article widely circulated by residents, the militants said they would return on July 16. <BR/><BR/>Bonny Island is home to a major oil and gas export terminal but production has not been affected. <BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, a militant attack in the Bonny Island area has left five people dead, the AP news agency reports. <BR/><BR/>About 30 militants attacked a Navy houseboat and three militants, a navy officer and civilian were killed, said Col Chris Musa. <BR/><BR/>Panic <BR/><BR/>In Bonny, youth leader Kingsley Adonis Pepple said people took the militant's threat seriously. <BR/><BR/>"They were handing out copies of this article to people in the street. There was panic. People packed up their entire family into a boat and fled." <BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>Several boats had capsized and people drowned, he said, although there is no confirmation of this. <BR/><BR/>Mr Adonis Pepple said he had contacted all the known militant groups in the area and had been assured the article was wrong. <BR/><BR/>He tried to tell people but they weren't taking any chances, he said. <BR/><BR/>The article said unnamed sources reported the militants' demand. <BR/><BR/>"Another source said that the hoodlums, after the face-off with the navy, entered town, shooting and giving ultimatum that all residents of the town who were from other places should leave the town before July 16 or risk being beheaded," the national Nigerian Tribune paper said. <BR/><BR/>The article was sent to many people in Bonny by family members begging them to get out before the deadline, Mr Adonis Pepple said. <BR/><BR/>Production resumed <BR/><BR/>Bonny is a city of over 100,000 people, many of whom work in the oil industry. <BR/><BR/>The new multi-million dollar Liquefied Natural Gas export terminal is nearby. <BR/><BR/>Shell announced on Tuesday that a pipeline leading to Bonny Island, attacked by militants two months ago, had been repaired and production resumed. <BR/><BR/>Militant attacks on oil infrastructure are partly responsible for Nigeria's oil exports being cut by around a quarter in recent years. <BR/><BR/>Militants have also kidnapped oil workers for ransom. <BR/><BR/>Some groups are demanding a larger share of the oil wealth, but others are criminal gangs who make a living from extortion and oil theft, Delta activists say. <BR/><BR/>British aid <BR/><BR/>Nigeria has seen several "communal crises" in recent years, in which one ethnic group attacks another seen as being "non-indigenous" to the area. <BR/><BR/>Hundreds of people were killed in Plateau state in 2004 in clashes between Christian militias and Hausa Muslims. <BR/><BR/>President Umaru Yar'Adua is meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London to discuss security issues in the oil-producing Niger Delta. <BR/><BR/>Mr Brown recently offered to help Nigeria bring an end to the violence and increase oil production. <BR/><BR/>Many in the region are afraid Mr Brown means to send military aid to the Delta.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-60103283941889689772008-07-16T00:12:00.000-07:002008-07-16T00:12:00.000-07:00FG works out compromise on Niger Delta Summit W...FG works out compromise on Niger Delta Summit <BR/>Written by Emma Amaize <BR/>Wednesday, 16 July 2008 <BR/>MINISTER of Special Duties, Mr.Godsday Orubebe says the Federal Government is working out a compromise on the proposed Niger-Delta Summit, saying the Niger-Delta Summit is on course. <BR/>Speaking yesterday, in Asaba, he said that the meeting between the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and leaders and stakeholders of the Niger-Delta would explore ways of arriving at the compromise, adding, “at the end of the meeting, we will come out stronger than before”.<BR/><BR/>He said: “The meeting is about consulting with leaders, with stakeholders, with all those that are concerned so that we will have a meeting point and agree on what to do, which way to go forward, and that is what the Vice President is doing and we are very optimistic that in the next few days, we will agree on what to do and how to go about it”.<BR/><BR/>Elder Orubebe said the issue of militancy was being handled by the Federal Government and there was no fear that the matter would not be sorted out soon. <BR/><BR/>He gave kudos to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who he said, has put up a feasible structure on ground to stop militancy and things were going on better in the state with some of the militants participating in the government "s peace process. <BR/><BR/>He expressed optimism that in two to three weeks time, the logjam over the Niger-Delta summit would be over and the government would move forward with the people of the Niger-Delta in its bid to develop the region.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-11942728324413101352008-07-16T00:05:00.000-07:002008-07-16T00:05:00.000-07:00N’Delta crisis: Northern leaders unfair – David-We...N’Delta crisis: Northern leaders unfair – David-West<BR/>By YINKA FABOWALE, Ibadan<BR/>Wednesday, July 16, 2008<BR/><BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/>The insentivity and mindsets of compatriots from other geo-political zones to denigrate the Niger Delta people is the greatest obstacle in the way of swift and peaceful resolution of the crisis in the region.<BR/><BR/>Former oil Minister and Professor of Virology Tam David-West made this observation, while reacting to perceived condescending statements by eminent Northern politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai on the Niger Delta question.<BR/><BR/>Yakassai was reported as blaming leaders of the oil rich region for its continued problems of under-development even as he chided the people of the zone for claiming exclusive ownership of petroleum resources in its bowel. To him, the oil belonged to the Nigerian federation.<BR/><BR/>But David-West, who recalled having had a media altercation with Yakassai on the same subject in 1994, regretted that the renowned defender of Northern interests still harboured such mindset till date.<BR/>“He is still living in the old. It is very unfortunate if after about 30 years, he still has that mentality of dictatorship as if the Niger Delta is a colony. It is the most irresponsible posture and this attitude by Tanko Yakassai and others only add salt to injury, because they have not shown any empathy towards the Niger Delta people,” former minister said.<BR/><BR/>According to David-West, the North, which now laid collective claim to oil, would have forgotten about the belonging to the Nigerian federation, if the money-spinning resource had been domiciled in its region.<BR/>He also reasoned that, “if the oil belongs to everybody by law as asset as Yakassai claimed, Nigeria should also be ready to accept the liability which in this case are the deprivations suffered by the Niger Delta,” adding “the equation is not balance at all.” <BR/><BR/>David-West said the deep resentment by the Niger Delta against perceived exploitative Nigerian state was not only economic but psychological, noting that hawks like Yakassai, Maitama Sule and Jubril Aminu, were not helping matters with their utterances and posturing. “Except you break that psychological mould, the quest for peace would only be a pipe dream,” he said.<BR/><BR/>Going down memory lane, David-West decried statements, which made the South-South inconsequential and no threat to the economy of this nation, asking, rhetorically “are all these right? Is there a conducive psychological climate to negotiate?<BR/>“Turn-after-turn, they say we don’t exist. But they should be made aware that not strong words but soft words win the game.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-19995325981377757872008-07-15T23:58:00.000-07:002008-07-15T23:58:00.000-07:00Nigeria Loses $100b Earnings Over Bakassi, Says Ew...Nigeria Loses $100b Earnings Over Bakassi, Says Ewa-Henshaw<BR/>By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi, Snr Correspondent, Abuja<BR/><BR/>Senate Water Resources Committee Chairman, Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, said on Tuesday that the Federal and Cross River State Governments have lost $100 billion in oil earnings for ceding Bakassi to Cameroon.<BR/><BR/>Senate President, David Mark, also spoke up for the country, a few hours before his victory at the Appeal Court, arguing that a section of the Constitution which allows the executive to ratify treaties before the consent of the legislature should be reviewed.<BR/><BR/>Both he and Ewa-Henshaw were speaking in Abuja at a public hearing conducted by the Senate Foreign Affairs, States and Local Government and Judiciary Committees on the GreenTree Agreement on the Bakassi Peninsula.<BR/><BR/>Ewa-Henshaw (representing Bakassi) lamented that Bakassi residents, particularly the Efik and the Ikang, have been deeply wronged by the action of the Nigerian government over the loss of their ancestral land.<BR/><BR/>He said Nigeria flouted a United Nation "s convention by ignoring a plebiscite which would have allowed the people to choose where to belong and how the ceding would been done.<BR/><BR/>"The people of Bakassi are the unfortunate victims of high wire international conspiracy, and politics which has to do with the oil and gas resources in the region. <BR/><BR/>"But the ordinary fishermen in Bakassi are not really interested in the oil and gas. Their heritage is more important to them. <BR/><BR/>"Ceding Bakassi without the option for the people to choose where they want to belong is tantamount to compulsory acquisition. <BR/><BR/>"The only recourse is to compensate the government and people of Cross River State for the loss of future earnings from derivation which would have accrued to the state following exploitation of the resource in the area."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-62844585533833818992008-07-14T16:52:00.000-07:002008-07-14T16:52:00.000-07:00Why I’ll never forgive Okah – Asari-DokuboBy EMERS...Why I’ll never forgive Okah – Asari-Dokubo<BR/>By EMERSON GOBERT, JR.<BR/>Monday, July 14, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/> <BR/>•Asari-Dokubo<BR/>Photo: Sun News Publishing <BR/>More Stories on This Section <BR/> <BR/><BR/>Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo has opened up on why he and leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah currently undergoing trial for treason, are sworn enemies.<BR/><BR/>In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Asari-Dokubo said Henry Okah is a direct product of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s intention to discredit the struggle of the Niger Delta, divert the resources of the region and justify the building of an oil and gas free zone at Okohohnara. He alleged that Okah plotted to kill him several times and even murdered his (Dokubo’s) relations and followers.<BR/><BR/>Hear him: "He will remain my enemy unless he changes. He plotted to kill me several times. He murdered my relations and followers. He introduced crime into the Niger Delta struggle. He is a counter-revolutionary element sponsored by the government."<BR/>Dokubo-Asari also spoke on kidnappings in the region and the brains behind such activities, the threat by the MEND to foment more crisis in the region unless Henry Okah was released to participate in the peace process and the secret trial of the MEND leader by the Federal Government.<BR/><BR/>Excerpts:<BR/>What is your stance on kidnappings that have taken place in the region?<BR/>I’ve always said that our struggle is moral and just. Kidnapping and any other act that impairs the freedom of any other person; that is used to collect money is evil and criminal and it is not part of our struggle and we know those who are doing it and we know those who are funding them and we know their godfathers. Their godfathers are people in the Nigerian state, to direct our struggle away from its true and original path. Our struggle is moral and just. We cannot do injustice to others, while we are demanding for justice. We will not do it. No matter the blackmail or persecution we go through, we will not condescend to the level of the Nigerian state to use the same weapon that they are using against us.<BR/><BR/>You say you know those behind the kidnappings and their godfathers, can you name them?<BR/>We know very well that Olusegun Obasanjo was meeting with people like Henry Okah and all the people who are parading themselves when he was president of the Nigerian state at Ota farm and even at Abuja. The state security and heads of military formations were meeting with them. Up till now, they are relating with them on phone and they are holding clandestine meetings in order to discredit our struggle. We know very well. It is a historic fact that in every revolution, counter revolutionary elements will arise. This is not new. It is everywhere in the world. Ours will not be different.<BR/><BR/>So are you saying indirectly or directly that Henry Okah is sponsored by Obasanjo?<BR/>Henry Okah is a direct product of Obasanjo’s intention to discredit the struggle of the Niger Delta, to divert the resources of the Niger Delta and to give a reason why he was building Olokohnara oil and gas free zone. Henry Okah was a product of the government of General Olusegun Obasanjo.<BR/><BR/>A statement accredited to the spokesman of MEND, Jomo Gbomo says that the Federal Government should release its leader, Henry Okah to participate in the peace process if it wants genuine peace, do you agree with MEND?<BR/>Henry Okah is not a person that will determine the peace of Niger Delta. The Niger Delta is too big for Dokubo-Asari or a Saro-Wiwa or Isaac Boro. To attribute peace in the Niger Delta to one individual shows how naïve and bankrupt such minds are.<BR/><BR/>Okay, logically put, does that mean Obasanjo is behind kidnappings in the region?<BR/>Yes, Obasanjo is behind it. They will kidnap, Obasanjo government will pay money to the kidnappers and get them released, show them on television and perform all sorts of rituals I was in prison when those rituals were going on.<BR/><BR/>What do you have to say about Okah’s secret trial?<BR/>They cannot try Henry Okah secretly. If they have any facts against him, let them try him in the open. It is an infringement on his fundamental rights to try him in secret. I might not like Henry Okah but the law is very clear. Henry Okah should be given an open trial. It is the government of the Nigerian state versus Henry Okah. So if there is a decision to try him in secret, then already Henry Okah has been adjudged guilty. So if they decide to try him secretly, well, the party to the case is the Federal Government versus Henry Okah. So how can the same government who is a party to the case be a judge in their own case and decide to try the man secretly. Even if the man committed the offence for which they are trying him, how would we know? Who was there? Who are the witnesses? He should be brought to the open. Why are they afraid of trying him openly? You must try him openly. It is his right and it is his inalienable right to be tried openly.<BR/><BR/>Are you at war with Henry Okah? <BR/>Henry Okah is my enemy. He plotted to kill me several times and he is still my enemy and he will remain my enemy unless he changes. He murdered my cousins and my relations and my followers. He introduced crime into the struggle of the Niger Delta which is not part of our struggle. Our struggle is a spiritual struggle and everybody knows it is a very moral struggle. It is not done anywhere in the world. Henry Okah is a counter revolutionary element. He is an agent of the Nigerian state.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-69063504798805026212008-07-13T02:48:00.000-07:002008-07-13T02:48:00.000-07:00Clark gives condition for N-Delta talks with FG .....Clark gives condition for N-Delta talks with FG ...Appeals to MEND not to resume hostilities <BR/>Written by EMMA AMAIZE <BR/>Saturday, 12 July 2008 <BR/>FORMER Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, says the Niger-Delta will consent to hold talks with the Federal Government on the Niger-Delta, but, not an all Nigerian Summit, only after a technical committee had reviewed all the earlier reports, dating back to 1958, submitted to the government, and come out with a coordinated position that will be endorsed by the people at a regional conference.<BR/><BR/>Clark, who revealed the new position to Sunday Vanguard, in an interview, yesterday, appealed to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND), which called off the ceasefire it declared a little over two weeks ago, not to resume further hostilities in the name of God to enable the elders and leaders of the region continue with their negotiation with the government on the way out of the crisis.<BR/><BR/>He recalled that the people of the south-south walked out of the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC), which was a Nigerian Summit in 2005 and vowed not to come back to any such summit, saying that the decision had not changed and urged the government to respect the decision of the people not to attend a Nigerian Summit.<BR/><BR/>To the MEND, he reiterated, “They should still give us time, there will be no development if there is no peace, we need peace to carry on with our negotiations with the government and I am sure we will not fail, they should continue to listen to us and trust us”. An operative of the MEND, who confirmed the group received Clark’s message, said, “I am not in a position to tell you our reaction, you will hear from the hierarchy of the group later”.<BR/><BR/>The Ijaw nationalist leader quickly clarified, on the summit “For the avoidance of doubt, I am not saying that we are shifting our position. I only said that we will meet with the Federal Government, the oil companies, security agencies and other stakeholders, not at the kind of all Nigerian Summit that the Federal Government is proposing, but, at a conference of the region after a technical committee had reviewed all the reports on the Niger-Delta, harmonized them and come up with the immediate, short term and long term measures that the Federal Government and other relevant bodies should embark upon. At the meeting, they can now tell us how they want to do them; we will then deliberate and agree.<BR/><BR/><BR/>“We have been in Abuja discussing with the Federal Government on the problem of the Niger-Delta, withdrawal of Prof Ibrahim Gambari and the way forward, which is that all the reports from 1958 till date be implemented, after a technical committee would have reviewed the various reports, our position still remains that there is no need for a summit, an all Nigerian Summit like what the Federal Government has proposed. It should not even be called a summit because that is not what it is. Summit was introduced by a Russian Head of State when he met with his American counterparts, years ago”.<BR/><BR/>Pointing out that the word, summit, is more apt for meetings between countries, he said, “Nigeria is not in a state of war to demand a summit, what they should be talking about in the Niger-Delta is a regional conference of the Niger-Delta people, the Federal Government, oil companies, security agencies and other necessary parties”. Clark said the expectation of the Niger-Delta people is that the Federal Government would take the agreements that would be reached at the meeting to the National Assembly for approval of funds because we know that money would be required to execute the projects and they were not provided for in the 2008 budget. <BR/><BR/>He explained that the leaders of the Niger-Delta would not be able to negotiate and secure the understanding of the government if the freedom fighters do not keep to their ceasefire agreement, adding that they should not be provoked by the report that the British government was going to provide military support for the government to attack Niger-Deltans and that he was convinced that the British Government would not do anything like that. <BR/><BR/>On the statement by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) , he said the people of the Niger-Delta should be focused and not allow some northerners who know that the North was not contributing anything as at now to the distributable pool to distract them, pointing out that in the last constitutional conference, it was discovered that while the south-east contribute 2.3 per cent, south-west 3.5 per cent, N-Delta 90 per cent and receives only 17 per cent, the north contributes nothing to the pool. <BR/><BR/>He said it was it was an insult for the North to be challenging the propriety of the allocations to the Niger-Delta when it got 50 per cent derivation during its time. Clark also asserted, “If our governors are corrupt, that is not a reason for the Federal Government not to perform its obligations in the region. <BR/><BR/>Was it not a governor from the north that was said to have donated N10 billion to the Obasanjo aborted third term bid, the north is also corrupt, their governors would do worse under such a situation”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-759149189046810012008-07-13T02:19:00.000-07:002008-07-13T02:19:00.000-07:00Scottish militant group contacts MEND for aid W...Scottish militant group contacts MEND for aid <BR/>Written by EMMA AMAIZE <BR/>Saturday, 12 July 2008 <BR/>A BURGEONING militant group in Scotland, which shares the belief of the Scottish National Party that Scotland should be independent and assume full control of its North Sea oil resources like the exploited people of the Niger-Delta, has reportedly got in touch with the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) in Nigeria for expert assistance.<BR/><BR/>Confirming the move in a statement, yesterday, signed by Jomo Gbomo, the MEND said, “Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been approached for its expertise by an emerging militant group in Scotland who share the sentiments of the Scottish National Party who believe that Scotland should be independent and have full control over its North Sea oil resources like the oppressed people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria..<BR/><BR/>“Scotland would be one of the richest countries in the world if it was allowed to keep all its oil revenues - worth around $112 billion over the next six years.<BR/><BR/><BR/>“Although Scotland is still relatively better off compared to many African countries, they still have among the worst health, poverty, crime and life expectancy records in the developed world - while the huge profits which could help tackle these problems go to the oil companies and Gordon Brown’s government in London.<BR/><BR/>“MEND supports the Scottish people’s fight for independence and the right to profit from their natural resources, rather than see it drained away by a ‘foreign’ country. We share the same pain and sentiments and together we will work with freedom fighters in Scotland to emancipate its people from the similar bondage the people of the Niger Delta face.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-35677945978889458402008-07-13T02:03:00.000-07:002008-07-13T02:03:00.000-07:00Foreign Intervention Call: Clark, Activists Flay Y...Foreign Intervention Call: Clark, Activists Flay Yar'Adua<BR/>By Emma Chukwuanukwu (Lagos)and Augustine Madu-West (Kano)<BR/><BR/>Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Edwin Clark, human rights lawyers and activists, Festus Keyamo, Mike Igini, Bamidele Aturu and Yinka Odumakin are among Nigerians who have expressed dismay over President Umaru Yar'Adua's call for international military assistance in curbing the activities of militants and oil bunkerers in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta. <BR/><BR/>President Yar'Adua, during his recent international tour of Japan for the meeting of the world's richest group of nations, G-8, had solicited international military assistance to dismantle militant groups and protect oil installations in Nigeria's oil-rich delta. <BR/><BR/>The Nigerian president told members of the G-8 that the criminal aspect of the Niger Delta agitations had adversely affected Nigeria's total crude oil output as millions of barrels are lost to oil thieves supported and armed by international cartels. <BR/><BR/>"I appeal to you and through you to all other G8 leaders to support my new proposal which I will also discuss with United Nations Secretary General at my meeting with him, that stolen crude should be treated like stolen diamonds because they both generate blood money. Like what is now known as "blood diamond," stolen crude also aids corruption and violence and can provoke war," the President told the Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda and World Bank President, Robert Zoellick at a meeting in Japan. <BR/><BR/>But in separate reactions, the activists described Yar'Adua's statements as unwarranted and uncalled for. Elder statesman, Clark told Sunday Independent that President Yar'Adua has got so many things wrong concerning the Niger Delta issue, including the proposed summit. <BR/><BR/>"We have had a lot of conferences, we have had a lot of commissions, a lot of committees, a lot of expert consultants on Niger Delta. And we think that from 1958 to this day, there are over ten reports or even up to a dozen. All that needs to be done is for a committee of experts to be set up. <BR/><BR/>"All the elders of the Niger Delta met two Sundays ago and unanimously agreed that there was no need for any summit, no need for Gambari. Why do you want another conference? Is it a conference of all Nigerians like the one of 2005 or do we need a conference of Niger Delta people by Niger Delta people?"<BR/><BR/>On the criminal dimension of the crises, Clark said criminality should be separated from the genuine agitations of the Niger Delta people. <BR/><BR/>"Let me tell you, the criminals should be differentiated from the genuine militants who are fighting for their own survival, who are fighting for the development of the area. In a situation like this, you must have some criminals. But it is not enough to call every militant in the Niger Delta criminals. We object to that.<BR/><BR/>As far as I amconcerned, what is going on is a political issue. Only discussions, only dialogue can solve it. Apart from that, only dvelopment, real development of the area can bring peace." <BR/><BR/>On his part, Keyamo said Yar'Adua's statement is tantamount to abandoning his authority as president. "It is also selling off Nigeria's sovereignty to the outside world. It will further escalate the crises. It means exposing Nigeria's security to the outside world, because before they can come to our help, they have to tell them the strength of our military, they have to work with our military, they have to work with our security agencies and that will expose our security lapses.<BR/><BR/>Igini decried the president's penchant for making policy statements in foreign countries.<BR/><BR/>"It is most unfortunate that Mr. President chose the venue of the G-8 meeting, far away in Japan to announce to the whole world and indeed to Nigerians that the Niger Delta problem has over-whelmed him and his government and thus, needs badly, the support of the international community to come to his rescue. The president seems to have preference for international fora whenever he wants to discuss very challenging domestic issues. <BR/><BR/>"The president's call in Japan for rescue is a clear admission of the failure of government and its total surrender to criminal activities of a few elements that have introduced outright criminality into the genuine quest of majority of the people of the Niger-Delta region.<BR/><BR/>"It is unfortunate that Brown cannot see the injustice in Niger Delta, the environment degradation and the social concerns of the peoples of the region.<BR/><BR/>The military aid offer is a sad reminder of the Ango-Nigeria Defence Pact of 1961 which pressures from patriotic Nigerians forced the Balewa Government from signing.<BR/><BR/>"But 47 years after, Yar'Adua is planning to visit London next week on what "has been dubbed historic visit" to ask for arms to kill fellow Nigerians.<BR/><BR/>This is another attempt to flush the pipes with the blood of our own people so that oil can flow. <BR/><BR/>"We call on the president to immediately call off the visit to the UK and stay home to find the Niger Delta problem. Or are we to believe that if Niger Delta were to be Katsina, the President will go and seek arms from Britain to resolve a problem there?<BR/><BR/>"Should the President be adamant and insist on the visit, we call on patriotic Nigerians in UK to make it clear to President Yar'Adua and his hosts that Nigerians do not want British tanks in Nigeria," he said.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, a former senator in Kano has called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the Niger Delta following the inability of leaders in the area to control the activities of militants and criminals. <BR/><BR/>In an interview with Sunday Independent in Kano, Senator Isa Kachako said President Yar'Adua should not allow common criminals to hold his government to ransom. <BR/><BR/>His words: "If the respective governments and the elective representatives of the people in the oil rich region can not save Nigeria further embarrassment arising from the atrocious activities of the militant groups which is adversely affecting the Nigeria nation, then the president should have no choice but to declare a state-of-emergency in the Niger-Delta area."<BR/><BR/>Kachaco who served the Nigerian Army for 47 years believed that if the government and the people of the troubled area including elected members had shown serious commitment towards tackling the problem, the crisis would have by now shown signs of abatement.<BR/><BR/>"We all agree that the situation in the region has some kind of international connection especially from International oil bunkering syndicates but we still believe that the governments and the people's representatives in the states and National Assembly as well as Local Government have not invested enough energy in addressing the situation."<BR/><BR/>He said military option is no solution to the problem as the civilian population would be the one to suffer in the process.<BR/><BR/>He also blamed political leaders in the South South region for failing to resolve the crises with the federal government.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-43700489526331412572008-07-11T19:36:00.000-07:002008-07-11T19:36:00.000-07:00Afenifere advises Yar’Adua to cancel UK trip By Em...Afenifere advises Yar’Adua to cancel UK trip <BR/>By Emeka Madunagu<BR/>Published: Saturday, 12 Jul 2008<BR/>Apex Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Friday, advised President Umaru Yar’Adua to cancel his next week’s trip to the United Kingdom.<BR/><BR/>Skip to next paragraph <BR/> <BR/>Photo file<BR/>President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua<BR/><BR/>Afenifere said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, titled, “Yar’Adua must call off visit to Britain,” that the visit would do Nigeria no good. The statement lamented that the planned visit was being overshadowed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s offer of military aid to the Federal Government to tackle the crisis in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>It also lamented that as a result, the “fragile peace” in the Niger Delta was at the risk of being shattered with the decision of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to call off its ceasefire in response to Brown’s offer.<BR/><BR/>Afenifere said Brown’s comments demonstrated the “mindset of a ruler who still sees in Nigeria the milking cow that was granted flag independence in 1960 so that indirect exploitation can replace colonialism. It is unfortunate that Brown cannot see the injustice in Niger Delta, the environment degradation and the social concerns of the peoples of the region. The military aid offer is a sad reminder of the Ango-Nigeria Defence Pact of 1961 which pressures from patriotic Nigerians forced the Balewa Government from signing.<BR/><BR/>”But 47 years after, Yar’Adua is planning to visit London next week on what ‘has been dubbed historic visit’ to ask for arms to kill fellow Nigerians. This is another attempt to flush the pipes with the blood of our own people so that oil can flow.”<BR/><BR/>Afenifere called on Yar’Adua to immediately call off the visit and “stay at home to find solutions to the Niger Delta problem. Or are we to believe that if Niger Delta were to be Katsina, the President will go and seek arms from Britain to resolve a problem there? Should the President be adamant and insist on the visit, we call on patriotic Nigerians in the UK to make it clear to President Yar’Adua and his hosts that Nigerians do not want British tanks in Nigeria. Finally, we warn Britain, not to turn Nigeria to another Iraq or Afghanistan. Britain has enough blood on its hands from those places.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-90528103605593649142008-07-10T22:13:00.000-07:002008-07-10T22:13:00.000-07:00Fire-for-fire!We’ll attack British interests –MEND...Fire-for-fire!<BR/><BR/>We’ll attack British interests –MEND<BR/><BR/>OKEY ONWUCHEKWA, <BR/>Deputy News Editor<BR/><BR/><BR/>MILITANT group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), yesterday vowed to attack British interests in Nigeria if it provided military or logistic support to its former colony.<BR/><BR/>MEND also called off its ceasefire effective tomorrow (July 12) to protest British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown’s offer to assist the Nigerian government to combat attacks on oil facilities by militants in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>The PM on Wednesday had assured Nigeria that Britain was ready to help combat the lawlessness that has disrupted oil production in the Niger Delta region.<BR/><BR/>"We stand ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve the levels of production that Nigeria is capable of, but because of the law and order problems has not been able to achieve," Britain’s head of government had told a news conference at the G8 Summit in Japan.<BR/><BR/>Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier written to the United States of America (USA) to help secure oil and gas industry in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>Similarly, Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, had at the just-concluded World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, Spain, urged the United Kingdom, the US to help tackle militancy in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>Reacting to the MEND’s threat, the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), an outfit saddled with responsibility to ensure peace in the troubled oil-rich region, Lt Col Musa Sagir, said there was no cause for alarm over the militant group’s threat.<BR/><BR/>Speaking in a telephone interview with Daily Champion Sagir also urged Nigerians, Britons and other foreigners not to panic over the fresh MEND’s threat, as security is assured.<BR/><BR/>"We will do our maximum best to ensure that lives and property are well protected. We therefore appeal to all the people to go about their activities without fear of molestation. We are mindful of our responsibility to Nigerians and foreigners, he said.<BR/><BR/>Brown’s offer of help drew the ire of MEND, which in an e-mail statement obtained by Daily Champion warned Britain to steer clear of the Niger Delta matter.<BR/><BR/>MEND leader Jomo Gbomo’s statement reads:<BR/><BR/>"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wishes to sound a stern warning to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, over his recent statement offering to provide military support to the illegal government of Umaru Yar’Adua in further oppressing the impoverished people of the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>"To demonstrate our seriousness to the UK support of an injustice, MEND will be calling off its unilateral ceasefire with effect from midnight, Saturday July 12, 2008.<BR/><BR/>"Mr. Yar’Adua in a fraudulent appeal to the G8 leaders in Japan misled the international community into believing that the unrest and agitation in the region is due to oil theft which encourages "blood oil". <BR/><BR/>"The international community and independent researchers are very well aware that the unrest in the region is as a result of over five decades of oil exploration that has developed other parts of Nigeria to the detriment of the environment and people of the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>"The United Kingdom is part of this problem with the politics it played pre-independence that gave leverage to some sections of the country to marginalize and exploit the region today.<BR/><BR/>"Should Gordon Brown make good his threat to support this criminality for the sake of oil, UK citizens and interests in Nigeria will suffer the consequences."<BR/><BR/>Brown did not, however, mention military support to combat militancy in Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>It is not yet clear, if President Yar’Adua would still hold talks with Brown next week in London over the militancy upsurge in Niger Delta in view of the fresh threat by MEND.<BR/><BR/>MEND had since 2006 been disrupting oil production in the Niger Delta as part of its campaign for control of resources by people of the area.<BR/><BR/>Besides disrupting oil production, kidnapping of foreigners has been on the increase following MEND’s violent campaign. The group has, however, clarified that it was not behind most of the hostage-takings involving the payment of ransom.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, the planned Niger Delta Summit to tackle the menace ran into a hitch Wednesday with Ibrahim Gambari pulling out of the chairmanship of the steering committee of the proposed summit following the groundswell of opposition against his chairmanship.<BR/><BR/>Eminent Nigerians including Prof. Wole Soyinka opposed Gambari’s nomination for defending the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa at the United Nations.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujihad Asari-Dokubo, stated that if British soldiers step into the region Niger Delta would be another Waterloo for them.<BR/><BR/>Dokubo-Asari said that the British should remember that originally the Niger Delta region was known as the Whiteman grave.<BR/><BR/>He accused Britain of offering Northern Nigeria oligarchy the support to oppress and exploit the Niger Delta people and vowed that the people are battle-ready to resist any neocolonial incursion of the region.<BR/><BR/>"If they think they can come and take our oil resources by force, we wish them well. They should come," Dokubo-Asari said.<BR/><BR/>Dokubo-Asari questioned what the British forces have been able to achieve in Afghanistan and Iraq since they arrived there and observed that if the English think the Niger Delta would provide another battle field for them to sell arms and ammunition, their desires would fail.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, oil prices jumped nearly $6 to above $141 a barrel yesterday amid threats to production in Nigeria and Brazil and an additional missile test by Iran that escalated tensions with the West.<BR/><BR/>Further support came from the weak dollar, which fell on renewed credit worries after capital concerns dragged down shares in major mortgage finance sources Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.<BR/><BR/>U.S. crude settled up $5.60 at $141.65 a barrel, off a session high of $142.10 a barrel. London Brent crude settled $5.45 higher at $142.03 a barrel.<BR/><BR/>The MEND, the main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, said it was abandoning a cease-fire to protest a British offer to help tackle lawlessness in the region, raising concern of further disruptions to the OPEC nation’s exporters.<BR/><BR/>"The cease-fire in Nigeria is ending on the 12th, and that’s creating some jitters as far as supply is concerned," said Rob Kurzatkowski, futures analyst with optionsXpress.<BR/><BR/>Rebel attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria, the world’s No. 8 exporter, have helped push crude prices to record highs over $145 this month, adding to a nearly 50 percent rise in prices this year.<BR/><BR/>Concerns that tensions between Iran, another OPEC member, and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program could lead to an oil supply disruption have added to bullish sentiment.<BR/><BR/>Iran tested more missiles in the Gulf on Thursday, state media said, and the United States reminded Tehran that it was ready to defend its allies.<BR/><BR/>But a U.S. official said there was no information of a rumored third Iran missile test late Thursday. There was no mention of a third test on Iranian satellite channels Press TV or Al Alam on their broadcast Thursday evening.<BR/><BR/>Workers at Brazil’s Petrobras threatened to launch a five-day strike for next week that would affect all 42 Campos basin offshore platforms, which account for more than 80 percent of Brazil’s oil output of around 1.8 million barrels per day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-55501088540701212342008-07-10T00:14:00.000-07:002008-07-10T00:14:00.000-07:00The Patriots warns on FG's threat of war in N-Delt...The Patriots warns on FG's threat of war in N-Delta <BR/>Written by Olasunkanmi Akoni & Adeyemi Ogundele <BR/>Thursday, 10 July 2008 <BR/> The Patriots yesterday condemned threats by the Federal Government to declare war on militants in the Niger Delta region, saying the real militants were fighting for justice which is genuine cause. <BR/>Chairman of the group, Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN), told newsmen in Lagos that there was no need for such a war and asked government to encourage and employ dialogue in resolving the matter.<BR/><BR/>He read from a prepared text entitled: “Statement on the State of the Nation,” saying the Niger Delta was being unfairly treated in the scheme of things, hence the people should be adequately taken care of.<BR/><BR/>The text: “The Patriots are deeply concerned that the crisis in the Niger Delta is escalating rather than abating. This is apparently what has led to the recent announcement of the government’s decision to declare war on the militants.<BR/><BR/>“But war in the circumstances indicates desperation and is an acknowledgment of failure. For it is not addressed to the causes of the crisis and is therefore unlikely to resolve it.<BR/><BR/>“The Niger Delta militants are fighting for justice. War is an inappropriate response to the demand for justice. It only aggravates the injustice complained of and arouses the aggrieved citizens to a deeper feeling of disaffection and alienation.<BR/><BR/>“The demand for justice calls for understanding and dialogue not war. The government must not relent in its efforts to engage the militants in dialogue aimed at finding a negotiated settlement of their grievances without of course abandoning its duty to maintain law and order in the region. But war goes far beyond the legitimate requirements of law and order.”<BR/><BR/>“People of the Niger Delta have been unfairly, unjustly treated. Go to the area and you will see what is happening, the devastation being caused by oil production. You will see share waste of human resources, human rights, everything,” Professor Nwabueze said.<BR/><BR/>The constitutional law expert noted that because of these developments, the people of the region needed to be compensated.<BR/>“There is strong case that these people should be compensated for all these. People have been displaced from their homes because of devastation, their natural occupation which is their means of livelihood is being destroyed because of the oil pollution. These people have a genuine case,” he said.<BR/><BR/>While stating that Nigerians must all share and understand the sufferings of the people of the region and their demands for justice, the group posed a question: “Are they getting justice?”<BR/><BR/>Chairman of the group added further that in any society where there is no justice, what it gets is disaffection, alienation; people are alienated from the state.<BR/><BR/>“Justice is the foundation of every society. Without justice, we cannot have peace; we cannot have harmony,” he said, adding that the Federal Government must find a way of meeting the demand of the Deltans.<BR/><BR/>While appealing to the Federal Government not to abandon its responsibility of law and order in the region, the group maintained that government must try to understand the demands of the genuine people in the region for justice, stressing that this is the only antidote to the problem confronting it.<BR/><BR/>“Our appeal to the government, appeal of The Patriots, to government is to say don’t abandon your responsibility of law and order, try to understand the demand of the Delta people for justice and find a way of doing justice to them. Until you do that, the problem will not end. The cause of the trouble is the denial of justice.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-61197160958982167282008-07-10T00:04:00.000-07:002008-07-10T00:04:00.000-07:00FG Considers Anyaoku, KukahFrom Ike Abonyi in Abuj...FG Considers Anyaoku, Kukah<BR/>From Ike Abonyi in Abuja, 07.09.2008<BR/><BR/> Add To Favorites <BR/> Print This Article <BR/> Post Comment <BR/> <BR/>Niger Delta Summit<BR/><BR/>Following staunch opposition to the choice of Prof. Ibrahim Gambari as head of the steering committee of the proposed Niger Delta Summit of Stakeholders, the search for a replacement may have been narrowed down to four persons. <BR/>THISDAY gathered that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who is insisting that the summit should take place in the face of mounting criticism, has directed a search for an immediate replacement.<BR/>Those being considered include two foremost African diplomats, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, ex-Commo-nwealth Secretary General, and Mr. Kofi Annan, immediate past Secretary General of the United Nations who is a Ghanaian.<BR/>Anyaoku, one of the most respected statesmen in Nigeria, was Secretary General of the Commo-nwealth between 1989 and 1998. <BR/>His lack of involvement in partisan politics and his international stature are also said to count in his favour.<BR/>Annan, in addition to his credential as former UN scribe, was central to the resolution of the Kenyan crisis after the acrimonious elections led to violence and an estimated 1000 deaths.<BR/>The crisis was eventually resolved with the formation of a government of national unity to accommodate the opposition party in a power-sharing arrangement.<BR/>The Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Kaduna, Monsignor Matthew Hassan Kukah, is said to be getting a favourable consideration. <BR/>The Catholic priest, who was the Co-Secretary of the defunct National Political Conference, is being mentioned because of his previous involvement in the reconciliation of Shell and the Ogoni in Rivers State after a protracted animosity. He is seen as very familiar with the terrain.<BR/>Ex-US President, Mr. Jimmy Carter, who is held in high esteem by some militant groups, is also being considered for some involvement.<BR/>The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) had earlier in the year announced that Carter, who has been very familiar with the political terrain of Nigeria for decades, had agreed to mediate in the crisis – a claim swiftly denied by Carter.<BR/>THISDAY gathered that many Niger Delta leaders, including the militants, are now disposed to Annan but officials of the Federal Government planning the summit want a Nigerian, thereby narrowing the choice down to either Anyaoku or Kukah.<BR/>Yar’Adua had himself told a foreign news agency that the Niger Delta crisis was a Nigerian challenge which should be handled by Nigerians – effectively ruling out Carter and Annan, although they may still play some role.<BR/>THISDAY’s source could not confirm last night if any of these persons had been definitely pencilled down for the job or if any contact had been made with them.<BR/>Meanwhile, the role of some Niger Delta governors in frustrating the choice of Gambari may not have gone down well with the Presidency.<BR/>THISDAY gathered that the attitude of the governors in not supporting Vice-President Goodluck Jon-athan to push through the first choice displeased the Presidency.<BR/>The Vice-President had nominated Gambari and had personally written to the UN, where Gambari is Special Envoy, seeking his release.<BR/>Opposition to Gambari is based on his past actions and pronouncements on the Niger Delta, some dating back to 1995 when Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged by the then government of Gen. Sani Abacha.<BR/>Gambari was then Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, a position he held at the instance of the Nigerian government.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2730596987387960387.post-35178066024310323962008-07-09T23:55:00.000-07:002008-07-09T23:55:00.000-07:00U.S. Moves To Stop Arms Inflow To Niger DeltaBy Ch...U.S. Moves To Stop Arms Inflow To Niger Delta<BR/>By Chinedu Offor (Washington DC), Rafiu Ajakaye and Olawale Salami (Lagos)<BR/><BR/>America has promised to assist Nigeria to curb the inflow of arms into the Niger Delta, but has ruled out the use of its military personnel to achieve the objective.<BR/><BR/>The White House said it is considering sanctions against American firms which provide cash and arms to militant groups but would "have no boots on the ground."<BR/><BR/>Spokesperson Dana Perino said there are already laws against doing business with armed groups and that the administration would enforce them while seeking other means to prevent the inflow of arms.<BR/><BR/>The administration also asked the Federal Government to remove troops from the Niger Delta to encourage all stakeholders to come up with a permanent peaceful means to resolve the crisis.<BR/><BR/>Perino was reacting to calls by President Umaru Yar'Adua for international assistance to end the conflict in the Niger Delta, the country's gold basin. He made the comment on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan.<BR/><BR/>Yar'Adua reportedly accused international crude oil cartel smugglers of sponsoring militant activities in the Niger Delta and called for an international clampdown.<BR/><BR/>"Stolen crude should be treated like stolen diamonds because they both generate blood money," Yar'Adua argued. "Like what is now known as 'blood diamonds,' stolen crude also aids corruption, violence and can provoke war."<BR/><BR/>But critics have blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of arming the militants to intimidate opposition parties during last year's elections.<BR/><BR/>Chudi Chukwuani, an economist, said Yar' Adua's international call for help to resolve the crisis is misplaced.<BR/><BR/>His words: "The reaction here is that we are at a loss. The call is a clear failure on the part of the government to properly secure our national assets, to protect our sovereignty and our territorial waters.<BR/><BR/>"All of us know that the origin of the so-called Niger Delta militancy started from political thuggery. Most of the so-called militants were associates of the ruling party, and the ruling party was using them, and arming them in order to fight opposition parties.<BR/><BR/>"If you recall some years and months back, people like Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo have alleged that they were not properly settled after they had helped the PDP to win the election. And in order to fight back they decided to go into kidnapping and all sorts of extortionists measures.<BR/><BR/>"The genesis of the whole militancy actually arose from this political thuggery, which was carried out by the major party, which is the PDP."<BR/><BR/>Chukwuani said there are various options available to the government to resolve the problems in the Niger Delta.<BR/><BR/>"The solution is very clear and direct; everybody can see it. What they need in the Niger Delta is shelter, housing; the youths need to be gainfully employed and be productive.<BR/><BR/>"All these are things that can be provided by a government that is well focused, that has a well-defined objective, and the will to implement the social responsibilities to the society."<BR/><BR/>Chukwuani noted that previous talks to find ways to resolve the problems in the Niger Delta region have not yielded any positive results.<BR/><BR/>"We've been in these talking workshops for a very long time. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo went through his own rounds of workshops, but at the end of the eight years he could not point to one single primary school anywhere in the Niger Delta that he built.<BR/><BR/>"So, we have had a series of governments which believe in talk shops instead of actually going up to the field and implementing social programs."<BR/><BR/>Chukwuani said the PDP could help end the conflict by stopping financial and political support for the rebel groups.<BR/><BR/>"Since (Yar'Adua) is the leader of the PDP, we can agree with him that if they stop funding political thuggery, using the militants as political thugs in order to fight opponents, that is one major way of stopping Niger Delta militancy.<BR/><BR/>"Most of the weapons they are talking about were bought by politicians and given to the youths to use against their political opponents. If they, as a political party, have decided to put a stop to that, then that goes a long way in trying to curtail militancy in the Niger Delta."<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, disclosed on Wednesday that Britain is ready to help Nigeria to tackle the problem that has hit its oil output. <BR/><BR/>"We stand ready to give help to Nigerians to deal with lawlessness that exists in (the Niger Delta) and to achieve the levels of production that Nigeria is capable of," Brown told a news conference at the G8 Summit in Japan.<BR/><BR/>He said he would meet with Yar'Adua in London next week.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com