SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
3. Militant Raid and Kidnapping. Armed Militants raided an offshore oil rig in Nigeria before dawn on Friday, abducting eight (08) foreign oil workers which include six (06) Britons, one (01) American and one (01) Canadian. No group as yet claimed responsibility and no demands have yet been made.
The rig named Bulford Dolphin, operated by Norway firm Fred Olsen on behalf of Peak Petroleum Industries of Nigeria, was located some 50 -60 kilometres offshore.
Drilling operations have been temporarily suspended and all service company personnel have left. The company stated that it was working with the Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the seized workers.
Note: Since the beginning of the year militia attacks have forced operators in Nigeria to cut oil production of 2.5 million barrels a day by more than 20 percent.
Militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have claimed responsibility for previous hostage takings, but so far no group has claimed the latest attack. In recent years decades of restiveness in the impoverished Niger Delta, where inhabitants feel cheated out of the oil wealth produced in their area, has transformed into a new armed militancy represented by groups like MEND.
In addition to local control of oil wealth the group is also demanding the release of ethnic Ijaw militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari of the Niger Delta People�s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) held by President Olusegun Obasanjo�s government of treason charges.
NIGERIA SITUATION
4. Succession Crisis. After the Nigerian parliament threw out a bid to change the constitution and enable President Olusegun Obasanjo to stay in office for a third consecutive term, uncertainty is growing over who may succeed him in less than 12 months. Presidential elections are due in April 2007 and until parliament turned down the amendment last month, Obasanjo had been widely perceived as the leading candidate for the forthcoming poll despite never confirming any third term ambitions in public. Vice President Atiku Abubakar has his eye on the top job and last week launched his campaign to win the presidential ticket of the ruling People�s Democratic Party (PDP). However Abubakar does not have all the PDP�s � nor Obasanjo�s – backing and the issue is widening cracks within the party ranks.
Note: The coming months are likely to unfold a bitter political struggle in Africa�s most populous country of 126 million people who are starkly divided along ethnic, religious and regional lines. Northern politicians and military leaders dominated power for most of Nigeria�s years following independence from Britain in 1960 and Obasanjo � a southern Christian – owes much of his presidential success in 1999 to the support he received from the north. Top politicians from the mainly Muslim north claim there was a gentleman�s agreement in 1999 to hand power to a northern candidate at the end of Obasanjo�s tenure in the interest of peace and national unity.
5. Governors convoy attacked. The armed convoy of Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was attacked by armed mobile policemen (MOPOL) at Ikire on the Ibadan – Ife expressway. The Mobile Policemen numbering about 64 attacked Governor Oyinlola�s convoy while returning to Osogbo the state capital from Ibadan. It was gathered that trouble started when the policemen who were in two Nissan buses on their way to Gworza in Borno State for mobile training allegedly prevented the Governor�s convoy from overtaking them. In the ensuing melee, the Governor�s pilot car was hit by one of the buses carrying the mobile policemen forcing the convoy to stop. The MOPOL immediately blocked the convoy of the governor and descended on the pilot driver and the security men attached to the governor. The situation led to a heated argument between Governor Oyinlola security men and the policemen and about seven policemen in the governor�s convoy were seriously injured by the armed mobile policemen who also attempted to disarm the security agents. The scuffle forced Oyinlola to come down from his official vehicle and personally prevented the melee from seriously degenerating. The conflict was finally settled by the intervention of senior Police officers.
6. Soldier killed by Militants Gunmen suspected to be members of Niger Delta Vigilante group apparently on vengeance mission to avenge the deaths of their colleagues in last weekends invasion of Okochiri (small island in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State), killed a soldier attached to the Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Hope. However, Leader of the group, Mr. Ateke Tom, managed to escape into the surrounding mangrove forest, while no fewer than five members of his group were killed. The Joint Task Force, headed by Brigadier- General Elias Zamani, took 10 others into custody. Since last weekend invasion, security operatives have taken over Okrika, with residents deserting their homes for fear of being caught in the cross-fire. The operation was carried out by the Second Amphibious Brigade, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt. Extra deployment of troops to the area, Sagir were still searching for Tom who had been declared wanted in connection with several bank robberies in Port Harcourt. Items recovered during the raid on Okochiri Island, said to be the stronghold of Tom, included one AK47, one pump action gun, one pistol, one double barreled gun, six single barreled guns, 1,034 rounds of 9mm live ammunition, 67 rounds of NATO ammunition, 97 rounds of 7.70mm special ammunition and one MC-SMG magazine..
8. MASSOB members, security threat �Police AIG Assistant Inspector General of police in charge of zone nine, Umuahia, stated that members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) are posing a real threat to security in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, adding that from a recent survey conducted in the area, the ratio of MASSOB to the population is one to twenty persons. The AIG who spoke in his office while commenting on the security in the four states that make up the zone observed that because of the security threat, the popular fish market located in the town has moved to the nearby Asaba, the Delta State capital. According to him, the Hausa traders in the market felt that they could no longer bear the threats from MASSOB and had to relocate, warning that if MASSOB succeeds in taking over Onitsha, it is the people that will suffer it at the long run. He said that traders who decided to leave the town should not be blamed because nobody wants to die. The AIG however commended the state governments in the zone for their assistance to the police but insisted that they need to do more to help the police save lives and property in the zone.
9. Aba banks protest robbery attacks Banks in the commercial city of Aba have closed their offices in protest against the increasing wave of armed robbery in the city over the past months. The deteriorating situation also threatens members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and is threatening to close their filing stations in view of the increasing menace in the state. Luxury bus robberies are too on the increase in Aba during which seven people lost their lives, including four police men and three armed robbery suspects. The banks have become the target of the robbers in the past few months with some bank staff and security operatives attached to them losing their lives as the daring robbers attempted robbing the banks or the bullion vans conveying cash to the banks.