Barely 24 hours to a meeting between the federal government and state governors over the list of people allegedly sponsoring militants’ activities in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the insurgents have ordered oil companies to quit the region or face attacks.In an email sent to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY by the group’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, entitled “Hurricane Alert”, MEND said: “This is a final warning from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to local and foreign workers in the oil services and exploration companies to vacate the region within the next 48 hours due to an imminent attack.”The warning also applies to greedy individuals from oil communities tempted to carry out repair contracts on pipelines already destroyed.”Some may wonder if this warning is not the case of ‘crying wolf’ when an element of surprise will make more sense. Unlike the Nigerian military, MEND is careful to avoid civilian casualties.”Hurricane Piper Alpha will not discriminate on tribe, nationality, or race when it sweeps across the region.”The MEND, which is the most organised of all the militant organisations in the region, further advised the government and other interested companies in the region to urgently end their occupation of the region before its planned attack as, according to the statement, “No one can tell the gravity of what we are going to do”.Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF), Col. Rabe Abubakar, according to a report made available to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, said it would not arrest militants that accept the amnesty extended to them by the government and lay down their weapons.”JTF will not go out and arrest anybody who comes for amnesty…. Whoever wants to lay down weapons, he is welcome on board,” he said. The government on Thursday unveiled its plans to release a comprehensive policy on the modalities and conditions for granting amnesty to the gunmen.President Umaru Yar’Adua, who described the “Search and Rescue” mission of the military as targeted at removing elements which have used criminality to hijack the genuine agitation of the Niger Delta people, added that “the criminal elements have constituted themselves into a real threat to Nigeria’s security and survival”.He stressed that the provision of the necessary infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the region was dependent on an enduring atmosphere of peace and security.The president spoke when he received the report of the Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of Militants in the Niger Delta at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.He said: “Developments in the nation’s Niger Delta region over the past few weeks have necessitated the federal government’s decisive action against armed criminal elements who have hijacked genuine agitations in the region and constituted themselves into very real threats to Nigeria’s national security and economic survival.”Our agenda for resolving the lingering development challenges in the Niger Delta is still very much on course.”Towards this, the president reiterated the government’s “commitment to granting amnesty to all militants who are ready to lay down their arms and return to being law-abiding citizens of our fatherland.”He, therefore, urged “all militants in the region to take advantage of this offer, and lay down their arms and cease all acts of disobedience to law and order. All law-abiding citizens should go about their lawful duties without let or hindrance.”Barely 24 hours to the planned meeting of President Umaru Yar’Adua, the leadership of the National Assembly and key Niger Delta governors, Nigerians have intensified calls for the federal government to make public the names of government officials, prominent politicians, security agents as well as top officials of corporate organisations allegedly bankrolling the militants.LEADERSHIP SUNDAY learnt that the chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike, and commanders of the military JTF in the Niger Delta met with President Yar’Adua and gave him shocking details of the operations of the militants as well as documents disclosing the identities of the key sponsors of the militants.In a swift reaction, Nigerians from all walks of life have called on the federal government to disclose the identities of all whose covert or overt actions have fostered the activities of the militants. Their call comes against the backdrop of fears that since those likely to be indicted are influential, the list might be swept under the carpet.Feelers coming from the presidency reveal that pressure is already being put on the president not to make the list public since, according to the advisers, making the list public may negatively impact on the polity. But many are of the opinion that delaying making the list public could give the indicted sponsors enough room to fine-tune their plans to escape the long arms of the law Constitutional lawyer and coordinator of the Africa Egalitarian Mission, Chief Kayode Ajulo, who spoke with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, said that the government cannot afford not to make the list public because, according to him, concealing the list would further indict the government for the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta.He said: “The question you should be asking is, who are all those sponsoring the militants? Government cannot tell us that they don’t know them. The first culprit, of course, is the federal government. Who are those paying the militants to return their arms? It is the federal government. Who are those using their security votes to fund militants? It is the various state governments. They should not think that the people are not aware of their criminal romancing with the militants. “Remember the days of President Obasanjo when he would call the militant leaders and be wining and dining with them. But the government of President Yar’Adua is busy killing innocent civilians. Even those oil companies that have allowed themselves to be sponsoring militants by various means, their activities are not hidden; so the government has no reason not to make the names of the sponsors public unless they want us to continue to point accusing fingers at them.” The chairman of the House Committee on Media, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, in a chat with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, affirmed that the federal government has a responsibility to make public the names of those mentioned as sponsors of Niger Delta militants. “It is very clear, just like in the commission of any crime, their identities should not be concealed. They should be given opportunity to be heard, they must be heard so that they could face the law,” said Hon. Eseme who described the uncovering of the list as a plus to the country’s intelligence network. He pointed out that the proactive actions of the National Assembly actually gave rise to the recent development.Former vice president of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Biakpara, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the federal government’s attempt to bring out a list of sponsors of the militants may be ambiguous, stressing that government at all levels has always been relating with the militants either directly or by sending emissaries.He said: “I’m sure, they might implicate one or two, but at the end of the day it’s not going to be as loud as it’s sounding right now. Because right from time this chap whose camp they raided has been relating with everybody, high and low. He has been relating with government officials of the highest order, right from the president to the local government chairman and all in between, including governors. So, if you are talking about those who have been relating with him, of course you are bound to find everybody’s name in there. Government himself has sent me, together with other elders. I have been there twice myself. Government, the federal and state government, sent me there twice, in search of peace.Hon. Biakpara, a former special adviser to the Delta State government, said that there must have been a laid-down plan by the federal government to bombard the Niger Delta, pointing out that the government’s approach may not bring the desired effect of lasting peace in the region.The minister of state for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Chief Godwin Orubebe, declined to comment on the issue.
Jun72009