IT may take the Federal Government sufficient demonstration of its commitment to the development of the Niger Delta before militants operating in the region can lay down arms.
A dominant militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which reviewed the recent overtures of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to the region, said it was at pain to trust the government.
The group therefore vowed to continue with the kidnapping of foreign oil workers and attacks on oil facilities until their demands for resource control and justice for the Niger Delta people were met.
In an Internet-conducted interview, MEND said that even the government’s recent release of the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari from detention was not sufficient to make it trade off its activities.
MEND said that it does not trust Yar’Adua because of the antecedents of his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The release of Dokubo-Asari was one of the demands of militants for the cessation of hostage-taking and blowing up of pipelines and platforms in the oil-rich region.
MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo said the group would also not cede the leadership of all militant bodies to Dokubo-Asari so that he could actualise his plans to reciprocate Yar’Adua’s gesture in releasing him.
Gbomo said: “We view the release of Dokubo-Asari by the Yar’Adua government as a sign of the intention of this government to adopt a different approach to resolving the conflict in the Niger Delta. In the same vein, we urge the new government to release all held unjustly by the Obasanjo regime”.
It also rejected the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) demanded by Dokubo-Asari and other prominent Nigerians.
He said: “Dokubo-Asari is entitled to his opinion. However, we do not share this view. MEND stands by the constitution, which brought the people of the Niger Delta into Nigeria. This is the contract we signed with our former colonial masters of which all sections of the country were co-signatories. If that contract is negated without our consent, we will likewise seek our exit from Nigeria.”
Gbomo stated that “MEND represents the interests of the entire people of the Niger Delta and not only the Ijaws. We have no interest in a conference of any sort.”
He said Dokubo-Asari has not reached the group on his plans to stamp out militant activities in the region.
“If Dokubo-Asari says he would stamp out militant activities in the Niger Delta, he probably has plans no one else is aware of. Hostage-taking and sabotage of pipelines are classic tactics employed by guerrilla groups across the world in fighting against more advantaged conventional armies. We will continue to employ these tactics until we achieve our goal for the Delta. We have had no contact with Dokubo-Asari since his release.”
On the headship of all the militant groups, Gbomo said: “In answering this question, I will refer you to a recent interview granted by Prof. Kimse Okoko (President, National Federation of Ijaw) to one of the national dailies. He stated a mostly unknown fact. Before the emergence of Dokubo-Asari’s NDPVF, there have existed in the Delta, very heavily armed, disciplined militia groups, which to this day prefer to remain silent. MEND encompasses all such groups and we have a structure. Ceding leadership of that structure to Dokubo-Asari is impossible.”
The group would not even touch the President with a long pole.
MEND was asked if with the steps Yar’Adua had taken so far, especially on the release of Dokubo-Asari, the Supreme Court ruling on the Anambra State Governor’s tenure, among others, wouldn’t militants give the President breathing space to address other problems of the Niger Delta?
Gbomo replied: “Yar’Adua indicated his willingness to try a different approach to solving the unrest in the Delta by releasing Dokubo-Asari. We are watching to see what next. Dokubo-Asari is just one of several Nigerians held unjustly by the government.”
But wouldn’t MEND trust President Yar’Adua?
“It is difficult to trust a government known for breaking promises. We must be given good reason to think differently and so far, we have little cause to think Yar’Adua will be entirely different from other bad rulers Nigeria has been plagued with. It is too early for him to be trusted.”
MEND emphatically said it had no intention of deterring hostage takers in the Delta without good cause. “It is only criminality when the oil companies offer ransom as is usually the case. The person offering and that receiving are guilty of the same offence. When the Nigerian government attends to the problems of the Niger Delta, we will call to order, all directly under our control, and chase out all criminal gangs in the Delta who are hiding beneath our cloak.”
Gbomo equally spoke on the relocation of oil companies from the Niger Delta.
According to him, it was good riddance to rubbish: “If it were possible for these oil companies to relocate their installations to other parts of the country, it would have been good riddance to rubbish. As long as the oil remains on our land, we will eventually find more responsible companies to mine this resource. Companies which will show respect for those, whose lands have been stolen for the enrichment of a few. Companies in Warri (Delta State) relocated to Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and now to Lagos.
“There is an operational base under construction, intended to accommodate all oil companies. We will show how useless this is in future should the Nigerian government not show a genuine commitment to justice in the Delta.”.
How would the militants swarming the zone now be reined in, in the future?
“When the Nigerian government satisfies the yearnings of the people of the Delta for justice, militant groups will reciprocate by ridding the region of criminal gangs. Something, which the Joint Task Force (JTF) will be incapable of achieving in a hundred years.” Gbomo said.
Insisting on the minimum demands to guarantee cessation of hostilities, Gbomo said: “The focal point of our struggle against the Nigerian government and their collaborators – the oil companies – is resource control for the people of the Niger Delta. This will ensure a permanent end to militancy in the Delta and this remains our condition for a cessation of hostilities against the Nigerian government and its collaborators in the theft and enslavement of the people of the Niger Delta, the oil companies.”
The MEND leader said it was impossible for all the weapons to be mopped up immediately after a final settlement may have been reached between the government and the militants. “Whatever weapons are hidden away will gradually re-surface for mostly criminal activities and will be mopped up in time. We will go after such criminals, ensuring safety in the Delta and the eventual mop up of most weapons presently in circulation in the Delta.”
The group said it would not turn its attention to the malfeasance of governors and local council chairmen in the region because:
“When we decide to act as a policing agency in the Delta, we will surely lose focus of our goal. The government headed by sections of Nigeria and aided by oil companies have plundered the Delta for 50 years. Our aim is to stop this plunder, return what is left to the rightful owners and seek compensation for 50 years of atrocities committed by the oil companies against the people of the Niger Delta. This in a few words is our mission statement. How the wealth of the Niger Delta is used or misused by its elected leaders for now is of little concern to us. At the right time, these corrupt leaders will be made to account for their stewardship,” he said.