The nation may soon witness a deadlier dimension in the Niger Delta struggle as the militants have threatened to introduce suicide bombers as a new way of enforcing their demands. The militants also plan to intensify kidnaps, expanding their dragnet to enable them kidnap governors, council Chairman and other public office holders perceived to be corrupt. It is their own way of ensuring a more effective control of corruption in the region.
Audacious
This threat is coming from none other than the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group which sprang into prominence last year when Alhaji Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) was arrested by the government.
MEND, said to be the deadliest and the most organized militant group, has carried out most of the deviating attacks on strategic oil instillations in various locations of the oil rich Delta region. Many of such attacks claimed human casualties. It was also at the forefront of the practice of taking foreign oil workers in the region hostage, but it is better known for its disposition to crush anything that stands on its way during operations, including the military. In all the attacks, defiant MEND claimed responsibilities through e-mail messages dispatches to media houses.
One would naturally expect that leader of such a group would be holed up somewhere in the thick mangrove forests of the creeks, hiding from the law. But that is not the situation with Teks Olomu. The commander of the dreaded MEND freely cruises around Port Harcourt city in a Mercedes Benz car. He even stops at check-points to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with military men. While his bosom comrade in the struggle Asari Dokubo sounds like he would blow off the roof when he talks, Olomu is soft spoken and very casual in appearance. But when he speaks he pours out venom – so casually.
Those who are familiar with the antecedence of the Niger Delta militants especially MEND will attest that they hardly issue empty threats, which is why Olomu must be taken seriously when he says his group have already recruited young men and women willing to sacrifice themselves as suicide bombers in the struggle for the development of Niger Delta and fair treatment of Niger Deltans.
Even more scary is his claim that the next line of action is to step up the profile of those taken hostage by MEND. According to him, MEND wants to look beyond oil workers to politicians and top government officials, whose selfish interests, he says, continue to frustrate genuine efforts at bettering the lot of the neglected people of the Niger Delta
Olomu who has successfully avoided media attention over the years, in this exclusive interview told Saturday Sun that the Niger Delta struggle has taken another dimension. He disclosed that he has introduced suicide bombers in the struggle. According to him, members of his suicide bombers� squad who graduated two weeks ago and will be as deadly as Osama Bin Laden�s Al-queada suicide bombers, will be let loose in Nigeria if Asari Dokubo and the detained former governor of Bayelsa State DSP Alamasiegha were not released before January next year.
�MEND will now kidnap governors and council chairmen of the region�. He said, MEND took this decision due to his recent discoveries that the jumbo monthly allocation the federal government pumped into Niger Delta from 1999 to 2005 was sufficient to develop the region, but the region, according to him, �still lacks basic infrastructure, the people are still in penury and hunger stricken. Most people still live in slums and under the flyovers�. According to him this is as a result of the thieving tendencies of the governors and the council chairmen of the region. He said that any of them kidnapped will be kept until he vomits every kobo or be blown up by his suicide bombers.
He confessed that he wanted to start it big weeks ago, when he followed Governor Peter Odili�s campaign convoy all the way from Port Harcourt to Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos �where I would have attacked him with my grenades and rocket launchers� but Olomu suspended the attack because �MEND doesn�t do a thing without warning�.
He stressed that the rift between President Olusengun Obasanjo and his Vice Atiku Abubakar has exposed how corrupt the presidency is. According to him Obasanjo�s regime and his agencies have lost the moral authority to continue to detain, anyone for the same offence. He therefore warned that Alamasiegha should be released before long or Aso rock should be prepared to receive his agents of death; The suicide bombers.
He spoke about possible attack on the NLNG as well as the MASSOB Leader Ralph Uwazuruike whom he said, made the mistake of been peaceful. �In Nigeria you need to be violent to champion a struggle because Nigeria is a lawless nation�.
Olomu says he has gone beyond fear and is no longer afraid of being picked up by the security agencies. Hear him: �My status in the struggle has passed the level I will be picked any how. But if that happens, there will be total catastrophe. No government house will be standing erect again in the Niger Delta, all police stations and military barracks will be torn down, Nigeria will forget about the business of oil as all oil installation in the zone would be blown. Soldiers will face more opposition and complete holocaust will befall the region. Excerpts:
Formation
MEND was formed to emancipate the people of the Niger Delta region from the oppressive regimes of the Nigerian state and since then it has been an active force in the region. People think it was formed when Asari Dokubo was arrested but MEND has been in existence physically and spiritually right from the beginning of the struggle but we were operating quietly. But when Asari was arrested, we felt that the federal government has made a mistake because the arrest will not solve the problems. Besides, we want to show that he has millions of people behind him, so we now came up openly.
Connection with NDPVF and other militant groups
We are all fighting to achieve a common goal. That goal must one day be achieved. If you talk about an overall commander of the militants or one central body, MEND does not believe in one snake head or one lion head. We don�t believe in such things. We believe that the struggle must continue until we emancipate the people of Niger Delta and this is the basic plan of each group.
Why we kidnap expatriates
I don�t disclose my strategies. However I will tell you that we have stages of whatever we do. The kidnap of foreign oil workers is to let the Federal Government know that we can bite and also to draw the attention of the international community to the plight of the region. A lot of people are saying that we do collect money from the oil companies and the government to release them. In fact that is a big lie. We don�t do that at all. Although there could be some greedy individuals or even groups that do that, MEND does not believe in it.
We also kidnap to make the oil companies and their staff feel the pain my people have been going through since we discovered that they connive with the federal government to punish our people. Some of these oil companies operating in the region have been very funny� They have abandoned responsibilities to their host Communities inspite of the environmental hazards those communities go through as a result of their operations. Their operations greatly endanger the lives of the people of their host communities. In the next 50 years a greater portion of the Niger Delta region may sink. Already some buildings are now having problems right from their foundations, because of their constant shootings into the soil.
Our aquatic lives are been destroyed on daily basis, the road that leads to our communities are been over stressed by the heavy equipment of those oil companies. The M.O.U signed between them and our communities have been ignored. Yet in the face of all these deprivation and environmental degradation the oil companies have bluntly refused to come up with a better Environmental Impact Assessment. So with this frustration, we have no option than to kidnap their expatriates so as to expose their ill treatments, but we don�t kill anybody.
But Military Men sometimes get killed�
MEND has the right to defend itself from any external interference because if you come to me fully armed to attack me I must defend myself and in the process anyone could get killed.
Why we must kidnap our governors soon
When I stumbled unto facts and figures and saw the jumbo allocations those our state governors from the Niger Delta region receives monthly, I now agree with analysts who maintained that the government administrations of the zone were our major problems. In fact, the basic truth is that some of the governors we have are thieves and evil men without conscience. Most of our local government chairmen are common rogues while the commissioners for finance and the states� Accountants-General are parttakers of the criminality.
Take for instances, the government of Rivers State under governor Peter Odili has received the total sum of N286.395bn from 1999 to 20005. This is outside internal revenue. Delta state has received N331.2bn within the same period, Bayelsa N259.8bn, Akwa Ibom N238.5bn within the same period out side internal revenue. Allocations to the local government areas of the states go directly to them from the federal government.
They have been getting all these staggering sums on monthly basis yet you can see poverty everywhere written on the faces of the people of the Niger Delta region the region still lacks basic infrastructure that can directly impact on the lives of the people.
Now we shall kidnap our governors one by one. If they like let them use all the Nigerian soldiers or invite American soldiers for their protection, we will still kidnap them. They can go and buy all the aircraft, we will use our rocket launchers to bring them down, we will start to hold them and their accomplices hostage until they bring all the money they have stolen back to the masses.
We can no longer be dying in poverty, hunger and starvation and they will be using public fund to live in affluence, use public fund to buy private aircraft. We can not take that any longer. So the governors, their finance commissioners and accountants-general and the local government chairmen of the region, we will start kidnapping them. When we kidnap them, we will naked them (strip them naked) and invite you to come and snap them and publish�We will begin in January 2007�
Obasanjo is right on some issues concerning some of the administrators of the region. I have never met with him and I don�t even want to meet with him because he has played a lot of wicked roles in the Niger Delta region but to speak the truth what the federal government is saying about our governors, here is the basis truth, because they are real thieves.
Imagine, we are getting report that over N300m was discovered in the house of (identity of state withheld by us) Commissioner for Finance. When I had that I was shocked. I am still investigating. We don�t do anything without proper investigation. After investigation, if it is true then we will deal with him. We must make sure that he vomits that money back to the masses. Yes, since we are out to emancipate the suffering people of the Niger Delta we have the right to investigate him properly and deal with him if he is found guilty.
Today, Alameseigha was detained because he was accused of corruption but he is not the only thief. We have worst thieves than Alameseigha – after all, how many air planes did he buy? O.K lets call a spade a spade. Take the case of Obasanjo and Atiku� God heard the cries and prayers of the masses and punished them and he made them have quarrels and expose themselves how they have been looting the Nation.
How the allocated oil blocks to themselves: how they established business empires with looted public funds and how they have been buying flashy cars to their girlfriends. Even when the two men chose to do so by themselves, to expose how they have been squandering our money, yet EFCC kept silent on the issue. For this reason I am giving the Federal Government between this period to release Alamaseigha and Asari Dokubo immediately unless if Obasanjo and Atiku will also be detained for corruption. No oil company will operate again in this region.
Suicide bombers
We have gone to another stage in the struggle. Since the birds are now flying without perching the hunter has learnt how to shoot without missing. Now I have a suicide bombers� squad which I am one of them. I want the federal government to know that anything they do against us will not work. If Asari and Alamaseigha are not released within the given period, then we will start suicide bombing and we know our targets. We can not live to see our people been oppressed that way and keep quite. We will be ready to sacrifice our lives because we don�t fear death – what we fear is poverty. And if any body thinks he can come and pick me or arrest me I am 24 hours ready. I am not scared. I am everywhere. But picking me will not solve the problem because if you pick me, you pick big trouble.
Do you mean you have trained suicide bombers and you will let them loose in Nigeria?
Yes I have to do that and they have graduated two weeks ago. I did that because that is the only way we are going to solve the problem. You see, freedom is not freely given. I believed in dialogue and none violence and we have tried all we could in that direction and it did not work. For some years now it has been dialogue! dialogue! it did not work. O.K. lets try our might doing this too.
By the time my suicide bombers will start you will know how deadly they will be. You will know if they will be as deadly as the Al -queda. Suicide bomber or not when they start, you will know where they were trained and you will know if they are Nigerians.
A rocket launcher for Gov. Odili
I pity those Niger Delta Governors who go about campaigning for presidency because they have forgotten that MEND will decide on who will represent the Niger Delta people in the presidential race. Our candidates are not going to be rogues not physical and spiritual thieves. We are going to choose some one who is reliable and trustworthy. If you like go and buy an aircraft and start using it for campaign like what ***** is doing, he should keep on doing that.
I monitored Odili up to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, some weeks ago during one of his campaign tours. I was behind a bus carrying some women. The women were also following him. At a point, all those Okada boys were displaying with Odili�s T-shirt and caps. I would have used my grenade and rocket launcher to handle him at that time. What people would say is that there was a bomb explosion at Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos and a governor, who is a presidential candidate was affected. I can, likewise, die there with him no problems. We have to take care of our house properly.
Why single out Odili?
I don�t hate Odili. He is not my enemy, for Christ sake. He is a son of the Niger Delta so he is not my enemy. But I want him to realize that people are not happy with some of the things they are doing.
If there is any governor I admire in the region, it is Donald Duke of Cross Rivers State, considering what he has achieved with N75.472bn about four times less than some of the Niger Delta governors received at the same period. I think he is a super star. I saw what Attah has done when Obasanjo went to Akwa Ibom to commission some of his projects I deliberately went on my own for inspection. Ibori constructed bridge to Bomadi and roads to the hinterland in Delta State and Jonathan is trying to transform Bayelsa.
NLNG plants In Bonny
Attacks on the NLNG plants in Bonny is imminent. We have warned about that. MEND does not believe in talks without doing. MEND is not a toothless bulldog, it does not issue empty threats. Whatever MEND has spoken is like that. If you go to the NLNG in Bonny you hardly see Niger Delta person working there. They only pick one or two management staff and that�s all. You hardly see any Bonny indigene working there. How many core Ijaw men do we have in NLNG none. Why must NLNG have their head quarters in Lagos State instead of Rivers State or any of the Niger Delta States.
While they milk our oil and gas worth millions of dollars every day yet their headquarters is in far away Lagos. I have not seen anything done in Bonny Island by the NLNG that is worth their hazards, rather what we see there is the intimidation of the people with heavy military presence which they are still sending on daily bases. I want to emphasize that Bonny is an integral part of Niger Delta. In fact Bonny is the Bight of Biafra and we have the right to protect the people from intimidation. The military men are just been used by the federal government. The soldiers are the poorest human beings in Nigeria today. They don�t have anything if you go to their barracks or their homes you will pity them. They are been used for nothing.
More dangerous than Dokubo
Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, was once quoted as saying that if he is incaserated or killed that some one by far more dangerous than him will spring up. Is Olomu that person?
�I don�t know if it is me Asari talked about. I don�t know who is more dangerous but the basic truth is that we fight on to defend our people. If Dokubo and Alamasiegha are not released by the period we talk about, Nigeria should forget about oil, Shell and other oil companies should pack and go. Most of the oil blocks we have are owned by other people, but the federal government is busy threatening our son Dan Etete, the only person from our zone who has oil block and they said they will seize his license. Let them try it and see what will happen. We know all the oil blocks owned by � and � and some of the retired generals that are not our people.
Cultism
MEND does not believe in cultism. We are not cultists. The cult members we have in this region are the politicians. They are the people sponsoring cultism for their selfish interests. This is the basic truth. Cult has nothing to do with the struggle. Activism does not practice stealing, cultism and other negative vices.
Activism is purely for the Salvation and emancipation of our people anything concerning cultism in this region. MEND has nothing to do with it at all. We also don�t believe in truancy and hooliganism we are above that level and we will no longer allow that to continue in our region.
The mistake Uwazurike made:
The mistake Uwazurike leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was being peaceful. To lead a struggle one must imbibe some atom of violence. I warned him I told him everyday that freedom is not picked in a platter of gold. You must be violent to achieve success in a struggle in Nigeria. I told him time and time again that you don�t need peace to carry a struggle in Nigeria because Nigeria is a lawless nation.
Look at what he got for being peaceful: MOPOL and soldiers constantly raid his boys, kill some, jail some and they don�t fight back for a struggle they were right. Now they picked him and jailed him so easily. Even as he is in detention they still raid his home town almost on a daily basis. Any way, that is the price he is paying for been peaceful.
Should he be arrested�
Let them come. anyone who comes to arrest me will die with me because I am a suicide bomber (laughs). On a more seriously note, if anyone arrests me, there will be no government house standing erect again in the Delta region. There will be no police station again in the region. There will be no SSS office. The military will face a lot of opposition. No oil company will remain again in the Delta region, neither will there be any oil well that will be functional in the region again.
So I move freely because of my status in the struggle. In fact, I am ready to die that is the basic truth why I am not afraid. As some one who is ready to die, how can I fear death again? In fact I have warned all youths in the region that there is no way any of them should allow himself to be intimidated or stand and fold their hands while Asari and Alamaseigha are languishing in jail.
Source: Daily Sun