THE PUNCH (EDITORIAL)
They kill ruthlessly at the slightest provocation. Sometimes, they do not even need to be provoked. They seem to love the colour of blood. Both in the crocodile-infested creeks of the Niger Delta and the smooth high profile night clubs that litter the oil-rich cities and communities of the region, they operate with amazing ease. They are seemingly above the law. Human lives mean nothing to them. They are sophisticated in operation, intellect and ammunition. No security force can track them down, no matter how sophisticated. They are commonly referred to as the Niger Delta militants, although they generally claim to be fighting for the improvement of conditions of living in the region.
These militants, who by their modus operandi have become irritants both to Nigerians and the international community, usually don peculiar attire. Their attire comprises bullets stringed like beads around the body. Their faces covered in masks woven with dark clothing materials, they have no qualms hanging explosives ranging from petrol bombs to hand grenades on their bodies. They are ready to detonate these incendiary materials without warning; their fingers constantly set on the trigger of a sub-machine gun or AK-47.
Their job is to kill, take hostage, carry out oil bunkering and live like kings thereafter. For instance, they don�t just take anybody hostage. They have what is called high value hostages. They also have low value hostages. High value hostages include Americans, the British, Germans, Koreans, and the Russians, among others. These are citizens whose lives are valued by their countries. This means that the home governments or the oil companies would be ready to pay anything to secure release of those hostages through immediate negotiations. And usually, the ransom comes in foreign currency. The low value hostages are Nigerians whose arrest is used simply to prove a point. As it appears, it is when the military patrol teams under the Joint Task Force Command look for them in the creeks that they wreak havoc on land and vanish into thin air. And when soldiers hit the dry land to tackle them, the boys would scatter some oil facilities in the swamps and go away with some oil workers, particularly expatriates whom they consider as having more hostage value than Nigerians.
Sometimes they may pretend to be in hiding in the dangerous and impenetrable creeks. But a militant may just be the next young man sitting near you at a prestigious Internet caf� sending mails out with a pseudonym, threatening to unleash mayhem if the Federal Government fails to meet certain conditions within a time frame. He might be the beer-sipping folk you are harmlessly chatting with in the beer parlour and might be talking about hostage taking with such disgust that will leave no trace of suspicion in your imagination. They understand the moving nightclubs in the cities of Port Harcourt, Warri and Yenagoa and keep a tab on the expatriates who are the regular patrons; while some of their colleagues are either drivers or personal aides of their victims. Perhaps for fear of incurring the wrath of the people they engaged as �youth wings� or �friends of their political parties�, a smart Niger Delta politician would prefer to condemn hostage-taking and demand for ransom rather than engage in outright vilification of the �heroes� of our time.
Kimse Okoko, a professor of political science and President of Ijaw National Congress, admitted the helplessness arising from the actions of the militant youth. Okoko said in an interview in Port Harcourt that there was no particular traditional or government agency that could claim to be in total control of the militants. He said the INC would not support the kidnapping of foreign oil workers. Rather, the organisation would support non-violent agitation for the restructuring of the country to bring about true federalism and fiscal autonomy. But that is just a lonely voice in a market square of agitation.
What is, however, clear is that the militants have taken their undeclared �war� from the creeks to the streets. Their coordinating group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, has issued several messages, declaring that it would extend the �war� as far and wide as possible. Some weeks ago, MEND claimed responsibility for two bomb explosions in the Shell Petroleum Development Company�s Residential Compound in Rumuokrushi, Port Harcourt; and near the Italian-owned Nigerian Agip Oil Company�s premises in Rumueme, Mile Four in Port Harcourt. The explosions, which caused substantial damage, did not claim any life. The explosions came barely 15 minutes after MEND had sent e-mails issued by one Jomo Gbomo to media houses that it had concluded plans to shortly bomb three unspecified strategic locations in the Niger Delta. MEND announced that it halted the detonation of a third bomb because of a large concentration of civilians in the area; but barely six days after, it detonated another bomb by the fence demarcating the newly inaugurated Presidential Lodge, Port Harcourt from Williams Jumbo Street. The group said the bomb used for the attack on the facility was a mixture of commercial and military grade explosives detonated with the aid of a cell phone. Although it had earlier said through e-mail that it was detonating two bombs in two strategic Niger Delta locations, the MEND stated later that the other bomb had problems and could not go off as planned.
Curiously, when the same group claimed that it was responsible for the April 19, 2006 bombing of the headquarters of the 2nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt which killed three persons and injured six others, the authorities dismissed the claim as a mere attempt by the militants to gain undue attention. Then it was reasoned, by the military that it was impossible for the rag-tag group to amass bomb-making capability and be able to strike with a high level of precision at a secure military facility. On October 2, 2006, the militants killed five soldiers at Cawthorne Channels Oil Field in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers. While the nation was still mourning the dead, militants struck an Exxon Mobil compound at Eket, in Akwa Ibom State, on October 3, 2006 and made away with seven foreign oil workers, killing two Nigerian security guards in a cross-fire.
The militants have also succeeded in creating fear and tension in the oil-producing communities of Nigeria through numerous kidnappings of local and foreign oil workers. They have also forced oil companies to either shut down their production facilities or scale down operations, leading to a significant cut in Nigeria�s ability to pump oil to the international market. There are fears that the situation may badly damage the industry if ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government on the security situation in the area fail. The kidnappings began in earnest on January 10, 2006, when gunmen abducted four Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria�s workers from the EA Oilfield and cut production by 115, 000 bpd. The four foreign workers were freed after 20 days in captivity. Same day, the attackers blew up a major oil pipeline in the Forcados, cutting crude supplies to the export terminal by 100,000 bpd. In the month of February alone, the militants struck on oil facilities in the Niger Delta twice, taking nine expatriates hostage. The nine workers were taken when the militants stormed an American barge operated by Wilbros on February 18, 2006 but were all set free at different times in March. The spate of attacks have continued since then, netting no fewer than 80 foreign oil workers of various nationalities as at the end of 2006. Some foreign oil workers, Nigerian civilians and security personnel have also lost their lives since the spate of kidnappings began, and the orgy of kidnappings has continued in 2007.
Human rights groups in the Niger Delta blame the federal and state governments for the descent into destruction. They accuse the Federal Government of conniving with oil multinationals to heighten poverty and destruction of the oil-bearing communities without providing a commensurate benefit for the natives. The Executive Director of the Port Harcourt-based Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, argues that the transmutation of the militants from hostage-takers to car bombers is a dangerous development for the Nigerian society. Nsirimovu, who is also the chairman of the Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition, while accusing unnamed governors and politicians of being responsible for the rise of militancy in the region, says, �This new dynamic is sustained by widespread poverty, non-committal approach by oil companies, political and economic exclusion, environmental and cultural dislocation and destruction and absence of participatory democracy.�
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, which has also been involved in the crusade for resource control and had lost 13 of its finest men in the process, including environmentalist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, accuses government of insincerity in addressing the agitations of the Niger Delta. MOSOP�s Information Officer, Mr. Baria-ala Kpalap, in reacting to the car bombings in Port Harcourt , observes that government has been more interested in attacking the Niger Delta than in proffering solutions to its problems. Kpalap states, �MOSOP would want to warn that the Niger Delta question will refuse to go away until it is addressed. We also want to state that the demands of the Niger Delta are legitimate and within the reach of the government to meet. What is needed is the political will to do so by the government and the time to act is now.�
The whipping of the government appears to have heightened since the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo, was arrested on September 20, 2005 and arraigned in Abuja for alleged on treason charges. Annkio Briggs, a close ally of Dokubo and spokesperson of the Free Asari Campaign Organisation, said at a press conference in Port Harcourt that it was unacceptable for the Federal Government to clamp the militant leader into prison without trying him for the alleged offence, adding that only the release of Dokubo could bring about peace to the Niger Delta.
Penultimate Friday, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Owoeye Azazi, a native of Bayelsa State, summoned courage and called the militants to a dialogue on how to stem the spate of hostage-taking and disruption of oil production in the region. The militants responded quickly and assembled in a large number at the headquarters of the 2nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt. Azazi watched with shock as the youth used verbal expletives to vent their anger, not minding that they were in a military base. Although they gave various appellations as their names, they insisted on freedom for the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and Dokubo, as the condition for the genuine discussion. While Alamieyeseigha is standing trial for alleged involvement in money laundering and corrupt practices, Dokubo is being tried for terrorism. The militants accused the Federal Government of displaying favouritism towards Obasanjo�s kinsmen such as former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, and the leaders of the Odua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun and Gani Adams. According to Nigeria�s Finance Minister, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, Nigeria lost at least 600, 000 barrels of oil and N570 billion to attacks by the militants in the Niger Delta in 2006 alone.