Nigeria’s two-week military offensive in the Niger Delta has dealt a significant blow to attempts by politicians to persuade one of the region’s most formidable militant leaders and thousands of his gunmen to accept a presidential offer of amnesty.
Emmanuel Uduaghan, governor of Delta State, said he feared the militry’s decision to smash camps belonging to Government Ekpemupolo – known by the nickname Tompolo – had fuelled a sense of betrayal that would lead to further retaliation against the oil industry.
“For me it was very disheartening,” he told the Financial Times in an interview in Warri, the state capital. “That has been my fear all along – that a military action might trigger reprisal attacks on oil facilities.”
Mr Uduaghan’s comments underline the mismatch in strategies pursued by federal government, state authorities and the military in seeking to tackle the insecurity in the three main oil-producing states of the delta, where attacks have cut Nigeria’s oil production to about half of its installed capacity of an estimated 3.2m barrels a day.
Restoring security to Delta State is particularly important to Royal Dutch Shell , which bore the brunt of a whirlwind of raids on oil facilities in 2006. The tightly co-ordinated attacks marked the emergence of a group known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and cut off more than 500,000 b/d of output.
Umaru Yar’Adua, president of Nigeria, has repeatedly pledged to use dialogue and development policies to heal the Niger Delta’s sense of alienation since he came to power two years ago. This year he offered to work towards a formal amnesty offer for militants.
Delta State has, however, this month witnessed one of the largest military operations staged in the Niger Delta, involving gunboats, attack helicopters and troops. The military began the offensive by razing Camp 5, a key base belonging to Mr Ekpemupolo, following what it said was an unprovoked attack on its men.
Militants have since retaliated with attacks including a raid on Chevron pipelines, shutting a further 100,000 b/d of oil production. An unknown number of people have fled their homes, fuelling increased resentment against the federal government and military among the large Ijaw community.
Sarkin-Yaki Bello, the major-general in charge of the offensive, describes Mr Ekpemupolo as a “kingpin” of the region’s multi-million dollar oil theft industry. Handing out grainy black and white mugshots to journalists this week, the general said his taskforce of considered him a wanted man.
Mr Uduaghan, by contrast, said he had been speaking to Mr Ekpemupolo by phone just a few days before the military razed his camp. “I think he has started missing normal life,” Mr Uduaghan said. “He was keen on coming to town but was afraid of arrest.” The governor estimates that some 20,000 youths in Delta State answer to the militant leader.
Critics accuse Mr Uduaghan of in effect buying a temporary peace during his two years in office by indulging in the practice known locally as “settling the boys” – in other words, making large amounts of state funds available to armed groups in return for peace. Sceptics argue that militants would be loath to give up the lucrative business of colluding with military officers and politicians in the industrial-scale theft of crude oil to return to humdrum lives in Warri.
Supporters of Mr Uduaghan’s approach say it had led to a big improvement in security in Delta State and provided a realistic chance of persuading Mr Ekpemupolo to leave the creeks in favour of expanding his legitimate businesses
West Africa Correspondent
Financial Times