The Niger Delta Question: Incubating the
Future Suicide Bombers of Nigeria
By
Hosiah Emmanuel
hosiah.emmanuel@gmail.com
Paul Bremer was the United States Administrator of Iraq after the fall of
Saddam. Angered by an attack on him in a tiny Shia muslim newspaper, he
ordered with an announcement in Arabic that the newspaper be closed. It
was closed but this immediately started the Najaf uprising and the rise of
an hitherto unknown Muqtada al-Sadr to fight the Americans. Thousands of
Americans and Iraqis have since died on account of this leaving America in
more confusion as to what to do with Iraq as ever. This is one example of
how not to use power.
Let's go to Yenagoa in Bayelsa state of Nigeria. In the desperate attempt
by Emperor Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to remove the former Governor
Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa, his military men closed the state broadcasting
corporation and chased away law-abiding citizens of Nigeria who worked
there. Unlike in Najaf, he succeeded to cow Yenagoa and removed the
Governor in a violent rape of the Constitution of the Federation of
Nigeria. However, this among other acts of state-repression of the people
of the Niger Delta in particular, has given an hitherto unknown group,
'The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)', a reason
for its recent deadly attack on oil installations in Nigeria and the
ongoing hostage-taking of four foreign oil-workers. It is almost 2 weeks
since the hostages were taken, but the almighty Federal Government of
emperor Obasanjo is yet to secure their release. The MEND demands the
release of both Alamieyeseigha and another foremost Niger Delta freedom
fighter, Alh Dokubo Asari who is in prison custody ungergoing a trumped
charge of treason as a pre-condition for the release of the hostages.
They also demand that the Anglo-Dutch oil multi-national, Shell Petroleum
Development Company honour the proclamation of the National Assembly that
$1.5 billion be paid to the Ijaws of Bayelsa as compensation for over 4
decades of oil exploration and environmental abuse. The Federal
Government on the other hand claims that the Nigerian judiciary which is
known to be one of the most corrupt and inefficient judiciaries in the
world would have to determine the fate of Alamieyeseigha and Asari. This
is the same judiciary whose orders have been flouted recklessly by the
Federal Government.
Obasanjo's government has repeatedly shown that the only language it
understands is that of violence. To be given an audience in Obasanjo's
Nigeria you need a gun. MEND has guns and so they have audience with the
powerful Obasanjo's government. When Asari had guns, he had audience with
Obasanjo but he was arm-twisted to sell his guns to Obasanjo and today he
finds himself in Obasanjo's prison. With this knowledge, it looks to me
that only militancy will resolve the Niger Delta question. But, what is
the Niger Delta Question?
The Niger Delta question dates back to Nigeria's pre-independent, colonial
days. It is the same question for which the Willink 'minorities and
Fiscal Commission' reported in mid-1958 after an exhaustive series of
hearings across the country. Though recommendations of the commission
were manipulated by the powers-that-be before the final release, there was
a somewhat bold and remarkable recommendation that:
"there is an overwhelming need for a SPECIAL IJAW AREA consisting
mainly of the Ijaw people in the Eastern region, and taking in from the
Western Region the Western Ijaws, consisting as it does mainly of the
delta of the Niger, and that it should, be regarded rather as a special
development area, requiring particular economic assistance."
Due to political expediencies of the major ethnic groups of the time, this
recommendation was not followed. The casualty figure that has arisen from
the poverty and misery of the people of this endangered region as a result
of this non-compliance is not investigated but I dare say that it is
collosal!
The Niger Delta question is the same Ogoni question: The Ogonis led by
the late playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa asked this question but were massacred
by the Nigerian central government. The chiefs, youths and their
brightest were silenced in the process, such that Ogoni today, has no
voice to continue to ask the question. The Ijaw youths took it from where
the Ken Saro-Wiwa Ogonis stopped and they have since faced brutal military
force of the Nigerian central government. There have been massacres of
children, women and the aged in Yenagoa, Odi, Odioma, Warri, PortHarcourt
and many other parts of the Delta in response to demands for a better deal
for the people of the Niger Delta in the Nigerian Federation.
To put it more concretely, the Niger Delta question is simple: that a
region which accounts for 90% of Nigeria's revenue be developed; that the
means of livelihood of its inhabitants have been greatly hampered by the
exploration activities that feed the rest of the nation. The question is
about a fair deal for some very endangered Nigerians in Nigeria.
Various millitant groups have emerged from the region at different times
and circumstances to try to compel the central government to answer this
question. The lack of will of past leaders like the Azikiwes and Awolowos
and Balewas to implement the mild recommendation in the Willink Commission
report was met with Late Major Isaac Adaka Boro's '12-day revolution' in
1966 but he was suppressed. The Ijaw Youths of the Kaiama declaration
fame in 1992 were also repressed. Asari Dokubo of the Niger Delta
People's Volunteer Force was arm-twisted, his guns taken from him and
presently in prison facing treason charge.
Today, we have a new group, The MEND. The federal security operatives are
still trying to understand the formation of this group. The MEND claims in
one of their statements to be:
"a union of all relevant militant groups in the Niger Delta. This includes
all units headed by Alhaji Asari."
When asked whom their leader was, they refused to say. This is a
remarkable development because the Niger Delta groups (I call them freedom
fighters) seem to have graduated in war stretegies. Asari was identified
as the arrow-head of NPDVF movement and so it was easy to immobilize him
and hence his group. The MEND seems to have no form. Have they read
Robert Greene's "The 48 Laws of Power"? Especially Law 48 which advised
"Formlessness" as an effective means of winning power? Robert Greene
wrote about this Law of power thus:
"By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to
attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself
adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no
law is fixed. The best way protect yourself is to be as fluid and
formless as water; net bet on stability or lasting order. Everything
changes"
If they have not, I recommend that they read the entire book.
Formlessness helped Chairman Mao's Communist group to overwhelm and defeat
the Chinese Nationalists after the end of World War II. Mao's communists
controlled only isolated areas in the countryside, lacked military
experience or training beyong mountain fighting and less sophisticated
weaponry. When the nationalists began to push towards the strongholds of
the communists, the communists dispersed to the "out-of-the-way" corners.
Their small units harassed the Nationalist armies, ambushing them here,
retreating unexpectedly there, but these dispersed units never linked up,
making them hard to attack. They would seize a town only to give it up
soon. Infact, they were never staying in one place; as elusive and
formless as ever.
Initially, the nationalists ascribed this to cowardice and inexperience
especially since the communist leader, Mao Tse-tung was more a poet and
philosopher than a military strategician whereas the Nationalist Leader
Chiang Kai-shek studied warfare in the West and was a follower of the
German military writer Carl von Clausewitz. Mao's strategy eventually
became effective as the communists allowed the Nationalists to take over
the major cities and then encircle and capture the Nationalists. The
Nationalist soldiers became terrorised and fell for the Communists.
Knowing that the Nigerian soldiers have been used repeatedly to main and
kill the poor people of the Niger Delta, what strategy will make them
think inward and say "enough is enough" and turn their weapon against
their paymaster to protect the poor citizens of the Delta? Could the MEND
strategy be effective enough to force the Soldiers to have a rethink of
their role in this mission? I guess time will tell.
But, I see a progression in sophistication of the Niger Delta millitants.
They get more and more fearless by the day; fear less of death. Are we
breeding the first set of suicide bombers for Nigeria? This is a country
that has no capability to respond to the minutest disaster. The other
day, an international airport in PortHarcourt watched helplessly as
children burnt to death when a Sosoliso aircraft caught fire. Buildings
collapse and for 48 hours, rescue mission don't arrive. How is Nigeria
prepared for the actions of the first suicide bomber from the Niger
Delta? How will Nigeria respond to a suicide bombing of a refinery, a
bank, a tall-building in Lagos, Abuja or Kaduna by a frustrated and
hopeless Niger-Deltan? Why is Nigeria making the same mistake that many
past powers made; same that Isreal continues to make, the United States
made when they entered Iraq and Afghanistan (and have not been able to
come out alive)?
I urge the MEND and other restless Niger Deltan youths and freedom
fighters to take solace in the fact that history is on their side: the
South African apatheid regime eventually lost to the anti-apartheid
movement despite the decades of support they got from world's super
powers; the British occupation of colonies in America (including the USA)
and Africa was forced to end by bloody but persistent resistance;
the peoples revolution
in Iran prevailed over the Shah; the IRA won over the British; though the
jury is still out in Iraq, the opposition has proven to be irrepressible.
I believe that victory for the people of the Niger Delta over the evil of
the majority ethnic groups is certain.
I only hope that common sense will soon prevail over the mallady of the
central government and thereby avoid the cells of future suicide bombers
from growing.
Hosiah Emmanuel
Singapore
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