SOUTH-SOUTH, SO SLAVISH TO THE NORTH?

The Northern Union recently met with Niger Delta's South-South over the future of the current restiveness in the area. Before delving into the meat of this meeting, Icheoku wants to caution the leaders and elders of the South-South, to please not compromise the brave efforts of the youths of the Niger Delta; some of whom have already paid dearly with their lives. Their supreme sacrifice should not be be in vain or trivialized by such a meeting with an insincere North? It is because of their patriotic efforts and sacrifices, that the Northern Union ever contemplated meeting with you, their "subjugated" South-South, in the first place?

Now, in order to attempt an understanding of the intent, purpose and trajectory of the meeting, the following questions ought to be first asked and answered:- (1) Were the Northern Union at the said meeting as equal partners of the South-South or was it a case of a "subjugated" South-South being "told" what their "masters" from the Northern Union desires? (2) Did the Northern Union start the meeting by first apologising for their killing of South-South states-men, Ken Saro-Wiwa and Isaac Adaka Boro or was it with their business as usual "who are you to query our actions" mentality of the North? (3) What about the continuous detention and secret-trial of the freedom-loving Henry Okah and the incessant harassment being meted out to the other man of the people, freedom-fighter Dokubo Asari? (4) What was the real agenda of the meeting or was it simply a ploy to further isolate the South-South from their big-brothers in the South East in order to further weaken their resistance and completely emasculate them? (5) Whose initiative was the meeting anyway? If the Northern Union's, is it a sign that they are beginning to feel the heat of the Niger Delta activism and if the South-South's, was it simply an evidence of their complete capitulation, laying supine?

Where was the olive branch from the Northern Union when their thugs in army uniform were raiding the palace of a royal father in the South-South, to arrest a youth-leader who had gone to the palace in honour of an invitation for a peace-meeting? And this was concurrent to the same time the supposed "peace" meeting was going on? Icheoku knows for a fact that the palaces of the Emirs and the Sultan in the North are totally off-limit for any intruder/s. Icheoku is also aware that any intruder who breaches the "do not enter" Islamic order of "Ba Shiga" always faces a certain death in the hands of such husbands who keep and maintain those harems behind those walled-off enclosures! So why should the Northern Union's army badge into the palace of a South-South King and drag out a person who dutifully answered their King's call for a peace meeting? Or is there no reciprocity of respect between Northern Union Kings or Emirs and their South-South counterparts? Yet the meeting was between "friends" and peace-seeking?

This hobnobbing does not bode well for Nigeria, especially the Southerners and must be resisted or sabotaged forthwith! It appears that the North is cleverly manipulating the South-South into an island of weakness by effectively deploying their divide and conquer strategy masked as a "peace" meeting to completely isolate the zone from the rest of the south? Eventually, when the south is so balkanized into three weakened, isolated groups of South-this, South-that, then each of them will become a vulnerable prey for the ravenous North to devour at their pleasure. Also the Northern Union is not Arewa Consultative Forum (AFC) and could not be said to be speaking for the entire North? This is yet another example of the "use you dump you, Northern-syndrome" with which the North have been mistreating the entire Southern Nigeria, as well as the other minorities of Southern Kaduna, Benue and Plateau regions of Nigeria, ever since independence in 1960.

The only thing deductible from the meeting is that the Niger Delta agitation is working, otherwise these mallams will not bother to sit in a meeting with the people of the South-South, whom they hold in contemptible servitude? Admitted Icheoku would rather the Niger Delta activism is better organised and more target-driven, since they cannot match toe to toe, in a shoot-out war with the killing-machine which is the Nigerian armed forces. As always, in a guerrilla warfare, there is usually no theater or drawn battle-lines, the entire estate of contention or country-wide is a fair operating ground! Freedom-fighters operate ghostly and with stealth, in a hit and run schematic-fashion. They assume the position of the under-dogs and the essence of an underdog in a fight is usually not to win outright, but to wear the oppressor out! So for the South-South to declare victory, the Northern Union's enforcement apparatus must be worn out or bogged down in an impasse; which in turn will force a meaningful dialogue, during which time, the bone of contention can be settled in a peace conference brokered by an impartial third party. This is the way and the only meaningful way; no other way makes sense as trying a direct confrontational approach will be suicidal, too calamitous and consequential to the peoples of the South-South.

According to report reaching Icheoku, the South-South presented a ten-point prayer request, soliciting the understanding and support of the Northern states, regarding some pertinent issues affecting them. Icheoku asks, why should the South-South condescend so low to beg the Northern Union for what is rightfully theirs? The land of the South-South and all that is on it and underneath it belongs to the people who own the land. The people of South-South do not need the permission of the Northern Union to harness what is theirs! All they need to do is to stand firm and be supportive of the effort of the Niger Delta youths to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

The North will not voluntarily let go the goose that lays the golden eggs, which the bowels of the South-South has become. So the only viable, meaningful and feasible alternative "sea route to India" is for the South-South to rise up and take back their possession! All it demands is a today's sacrifice so that the future of their children and children's children shall be finally and fully secured in a settled-Nigeria or a Republic of Niger Delta, which ever comes first? The hallowing poverty of today's South-South must and should be forever forsworn! Northern Ireland did it! Tamil Tigers are on course! Kuwait was formerly part of Iraq! Palestine could be heard today, despite being faced-down by one of the mightiest army on the face of the earth; and digging 20 feet deep-below the ground tunnels through hard desert soil for thorough-fare? So why not Nigeria's South-South with their open access to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and also an international airport? The South-South should just show some seriousness of purpose and the world will take sides! Their God-given oil resources can always serve as collateral?

To Chief Edwin K. Clark, Icheoku says, the Northern Union is not your friend! They are just using the aegis of the meeting to put a lid on the Niger Delta agitation and by extension, maintain their stranglehold on your oil! Please quit whining or complaining, rather reclaim your oil and with it you can solve all the enumerated problems. With a direct fund South-South can tackle all collateral damage from oil exploration activities including oil-spills, oil-pollution, environmental-degradation, gas-flaring and other concomitant problems militating against your region. Icheoku queries, how can the pangs of poverty be severest in your area when it provides all the money that Nigeria spends to build and transform the arid North? Have you been to Abuja lately? The life-blood of Nigeria, oil, is located in the deep bowels of your earth, yet your people have been debased into the pan-handling Nigerians, now begging the North for some hand-outs? This is abhorable and shameful indeed! You deserve better and must earn the respect of the North, convincingly, in order to make a headway; as without respect, no Northerner will ever take you seriously! It is only through a proven-conviction, that any man begins to respect a fellow man! So know ye, South-South, that you cannot beg yourself to relevance in the Northern Union controlled Nigeria! If you desire something so bad, fight like you mean it! In fact, you do not need to beg for positions for your sons and daughters in your oil-backed ministries or parastatal; just take back your oil and your problems are solved! You can then do with it whatever you please including indigenizing NNPC, NLNG, PTDF, PPMC and what have you! But to go cap-in-hand to the Northern Union for their understanding, is simply outrageous and a sign of weakness on your part; which the very crafty Northern Union is all too aware of and so will never take you guys seriously.

Icheoku, while concurring with an aspect of Olusola Saraki's remark that the Nigerian people want peace, wish to add, with the exception of the North who by their wanton actions and comments have arrogated to themselves the right to every position that is golden and juicy in Nigeria! Such selfishness and arrogance of the North is what breeds the resentment being expressed by the entire South. The Northern Union is afraid of an imminent major conflict in Nigeria and hurriedly convened the meeting to sooth frayed nerves and douse the raging fire of disgust. Paradoxically, the Northern Union suddenly realised their several decades-long discrimination against the people of South-South and is now holding a meeting of peace? Icheoku says, all the subterfuge notwithstanding, the meeting is but a sign that the North is beginning to feel the heat of the Niger Delta activism! Otherwise, why wait all these years since Nigeria's independence in 1960, to suddenly realise the need for peace and call for a meeting; after-all the South-South have been under Northern bondage ever since? Icheoku says, the North is not sincere in their stated objective, otherwise they would have made it a wider, more encompassing meeting, which should have involved the entire Southern Nigeria. Why would the North be organising a so-called "peace-meeting" in Nigeria and limit it to the North and the South-South while excluding other Southern nationalities of Igbo and Yoruba from it? Icheoku says, the real intent of the meeting was to find a way to corner the South-South for an easier finish-off; and regrettably, the South-South is so naive to think they have suddenly become very important in the eyes of the North! Why did the South-South not ask the Northern Union the pertinent question of why they came to the meeting with representative drawn across the entire Northern Nigeria whereas the South-South was restricted to only their tiny self? This single omission by the South-South exposes their naivete in political grandstanding!

Icheoku identifies strongly with the position of Asari-Dokubo, that the issue of resources-control cannot be resolved through an ordinary meeting of "friends"? Such an issue is so fundamental and foundational to the success or failure of the Nigerian-experiment that only a Sovereign National Conference can conclusively resolve it! The leaders and elders of the South-South are called upon not to jeopardize the regional freedom-struggle by cavorting with the enemy, as the end to their suffering is very near! They need to become more resolute and push a little harder; as always the hour closest to dawn is usually the darkest! The last miles of a marathon is also usually the toughest, so why give up now? To the people of the South-South, Icheoku says, you shall overcome! At least the North should have shown some good intentions and made a good-will gesture towards the South-South by appointing an area person either the Minister of petroleum resources or the Managing Director of the petroleum corporation, NNPC? But no way, as only two Northern-mallams are good enough for both Nigeria's topmost gold-mines? Yet they are holding a meeting of "friends" to find solution to the "oil-crisis" in the South-South?

Former Senator Francis Okpozo of the South-South succinctly expressed the sentiment of these "friends" when he said that "the action of President Umaru Yar’Adua in appointing another northerner, Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo as NNPC group managing director after his appointment of Alhaji Rilwan Lukman as oil minister may trigger another conflagration in the Niger Delta". Icheoku says, we are in solidarity with this warning! To John Odeige Oyegun, Icheoku says, no amount of meeting and deliberation will ever persuade the North to be reasonable and do right for and by the South-South; the only language such hydra-headed people as the North understands, is reciprocity in kind! The North has always been very insensitive to the feelings of the entire Southern Nigeria, including their newly discovered bride of comfort - the South-South; and so, ride the donkey they shall until forcibly stopped. When in doubt, take a look at the last ministerial appointments made by President Umaru Yar'Adua and see the lopsidedness of it in favour of the North, likewise so many other of his filled federal positions? Also suing the Federal government for redress should not be an option as such will not resolve the matter because the North has commandeered and now controls the judiciary too! Both the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the court of Appeal are from the North. The only real and meaningful option for the South-South is to galvanize the entire splintered Niger Delta agitations-groups into one coalesced, formidable, robust entity. Then re-constitute the struggle into a military wing and a political wing with identifiable leaders and a common purpose; so collectively they can push forcefully on two fronts for their desired goal of resource-control and/or a fair distribution of oil-income, in lieu. They must also avoid the kidnapping of their own fellow South-South people as this festers division and animosity amongst the people - remember, a house divided is bound to fall!

The Northern agenda as always, remains one indivisible north that appropriates what belongs to all Nigerians for themselves only! They preserve and maintain their Northern Oligarchs at the back of every other Nigerian, reserving every "juicy" positions in Nigeria for themselves while those who naturally "owns" the resources are subjugated into ordinary surrogates, destitute and beggars? Icheoku says, to the people of the South-South, desist from such meetings with the Northern Union since you cannot genuflect your way into power with the Northern Union! You should be man enough to say enough is enough and rise up and take back your God's given possession. As you may know, power does not easily yield or concede; it has to be yanked away! Power can only be taken from its' custodian/s, peacefully in a reasonable environment and otherwise, where stubborn people are the clingers! Icheoku concludes that the meeting between the South-SOuth and the Northern Union was a mistake and should not have taken place; and must be discontinued. The South-South should rather explore how to coalesce the splintered Niger Delta activism into an army of one force to make their agitation more punchy!