*** It’s long overdue — Asuni, Briggs, Uranta, Beks
***Fresh crisis looms as Avengers break truce By Emma Amaize &
Perez Brisibe WEEKS after it wrote off the Pan Niger Delta Forum,
PANDEF, umbrella body of monarchs, leaders and stakeholders of the
coastal states of Niger Delta, the Presidency has constituted a
fact-finding team, headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi
Osinbajo, to traverse the beleaguered area and obtain first-hand
information from the people on the problems and reasons for the frequent
conflicts between the region and government.
The team will start its
job at Oporoza, traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta
State and home base of ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias
Tompolo, which is the heartbeat of the current agitation. File:
Osinbajo, Kachikwu PANDEF, convened and led by former Federal
Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, had, November 1, last
year, submitted a 16-point dialogue issues to President Muhammadu Buhari
at a meeting in Abuja, but barely two months after the ice-breaking
parley, the Presidency indicated its unwillingness to discuss with the
group, saying it was searching for credible leaders of the region. Home
base of ex-militant leader A source told NDV: “The Osinbajo team is not
the much-expected Federal Government dialogue team, but a body put in
place to go round the communities in the region to ascertain and assess
what actually happened. The Federal Government wants to know exactly
what the problems are from the horse’s mouth, after which it will
determine the way forward; probably a dialogue team can now be set up
and all that. “For now, the Federal Government is in the dark about the
real issues at stake, that is the reason for travelling around.”
Besides, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate, NDGJM, which is
still opposed to PANDEF, the most fearsome militant groups in the
region, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA; Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, MEND; Reformed Egbesu Boys; Adaka Boro Avengers and Niger
Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, gave PANDEF the mandate to dialogue
with the Federal Government. Professor Osinbajo’s team was supposed to
have commenced the tour in the first week of this month, but it was
shifted to today, January 10. However, at press time, NDV gathered that
the date has been rescheduled again. Looming trouble: However, the
Federal Government’s decision to sidetrack PANDEF in the dialogue
process could be tricky, as Avengers, which gave the body the mandate to
negotiate with government last August, announced resumption of
hostilities, last Saturday, on account of government’s bungling of the
dialogue process by refusing to dialogue with Niger Delta leaders. Other
militant groups, which also ceased bombing, are likely to join soon, a
development that could possibly hinder the assessment tour by Osinbajo
and his team. Welcome development: Executive Director of Academic Peace
Associates Peace Works and facilitator of Niger Delta Dialogue Contact
Group, NDDCG, Chief (Dr.) Judith Burdin Asuni, aka Mama Niger Delta,
told NDV: “We have been waiting for senior government officials to come
to the Niger Delta for one and a half years. We welcome such a visit and
hope that it is a sign of genuine political will. Tompolo “On June 29,
2016, HRM King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo and I met with
President Muhammadu Buhari to present the report of our June 10 Niger
Delta Dialogue. The President ordered the Chief of Staff to set up a
team to study and implement the report. We heard nothing further. “On
November 1, 2016, another team, PANDEF, met with the President, who
again said that government would look into the issues of the Niger
Delta. We hope that the government is now ready to engage the people of
the Niger Delta in genuine dialogue and mutual efforts at addressing the
issues. We all need to get out of this recession and seek peace and
security.” FG can’t decide forN’Delta leaders Environmental and human
rights activist, Ann-Kio Briggs on his part, asserted: “He is the Vice
President of this country, as such he is free to go wherever he wants
and needs to go to, Oporoza, being one of such places in the Niger Delta
region. “It amazes me when Nigerian officials talk about peace in the
Niger Delta; there is no war in the Niger Delta. Rather, what we have in
the Niger Delta is reaction to over 50 years of abuse, neglect,
disrespect, environmental devastation, injustice and oppression of the
people and region of the Niger Delta. “It is, therefore, a wrong
impression bordering on deceit or lies to say the Federal Government is
seeking for peace. As a stakeholder, I expect the Federal Government to
accept the responsibility it owes Nigeria and the Niger Delta region and
people by listening to our long-term demands for justice and equity. “I
started with leaders as far back 1958: late Harold Dappa Biriye, Adaka
Boro, Ken Saro-wiwa, to the Kaiama Declaration, Ogoni, Itsekiris,
Urhobo, Ibibio, etc bill of rights, the demands made by MEND in
2004/2005 before Tompolo, Dokubo-Asari, Boyloaf, Ateke Tom, Fara, John
Togo, Shoot at Sight, etc, accepted amnesty as then offered by the late
President Yar’Adua. “It is rather unfortunate and insincere for the
Federal Government to say it is looking for credible leaders. It is
another way of running away from the reality it must face. Niger Delta
is made up of over 30 different nationalities and it is these
nationalities and only they that have the sole rights to determine who
is a credible leader to them, from their nationalities. “For instance,
in Rivers State we have different nationalities from all the six Niger
Delta States (South-South geo-political zone). Every state has different
nationalities, except in Bayelsa where all are Ijaw. Therefore, in
Delta for instance, will the Ijaw man speak for the Isoko man? Will the
Urhobo man speak for the Itsekiri man? In my own beloved Rivers State,
will the Ijaw man speak for the Ikwerre man, or will the Ogoni man speak
for the Egi man. Demands for equity and justice “The question is if the
Federal Government is credible or sincere in its quest to finding a
solution to the Niger Delta peoples demands for equity and justice or it
is just attempting its usual deceit so they can access oil and gas
quickly to fund its budgets? “As a stakeholder, we can only listen and
watch the government and the people they want to discuss with. If it is
what we want, we the people will say yes. If it is not, we will say no.”
Divide and rule tactics: Secretary General of the United Niger Delta
Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, Mr. Tony Uranta, told
NDV: “I laugh; who does the Vice President believe he will be holding
any talks with? Maybe he will visit Okrika, Eket and Kalabari next.
“Personally, I believe this visit by the Vice President will just create
good optics for him and the Presidency, whilst adding even less value
to the development, security or peace processes regarding the Niger
Delta than did the same Vice President’s farcical flagging-off, over
eight months ago, of the environmental remediation of Ogoniland, which
the whole world knows has not been followed up on till date. It is a
shame that this administration is more intent on show than on substance.
“This is nothing more than a puerile attempt to institutionalise the
divide-and-conquer tactics that have dominated feudal-style politics and
created more motion than movement. “All citizens of Gbaramatu Kingdom
are part of PANDEF, so PANDEF will be present when the VP arrives, but I
can foresee that the reception may not be as pleasant as the Villa may
have been misled into thinking it will be.
“The VP has the right to
visit any part of the country, but the continuing attempt by the Federal
Government to ignore the urgent need to announce its team and sincerely
commence dialogue with the Niger Delta as represented by PANDEF, as
evinced by all this empty show-boating for photo-ops will soon backfire
to the chagrin of all Nigerians.” Time for change: President,
South-South Media Professionals, Elder Asu Beks, who spoke to our
reporter, said: “We need to replace this set of commercial activists,
who themselves, have become part of the problem in the region. They have
nothing to offer except their selfish interests and greed. “All of them
have failed to realise that the music has changed and so there should
be new dance steps. Our problems in the region are profoundly huge and
cannot be tied to the payment of hand outs to former armed agitators.
Where is the Niger Delta master plan? Where’s the Mitee report? Where
are the cottage industries? “Where are the model cities? How has the 13
per cent derivation to the oil bearing communities been managed? How do
we remove the NDDC from being a cash cow of the Presidency? How do we
ensure that the Federal Character Commission does not give out our
places in job recruitment? How do we stop gas flaring? How do we
commence the clean-up of our region? “All these are questions begging
for answers, which our current commercial activists are not interested
in asking. The time for a new rhetoric in the region is now.” Osinbajo
should travel by boat Chief of Staff to the Delta State Government, Tam
Brisibe, asserted: “It is definitely a welcome development that the Vice
President is visiting Oporoza and I hope he would travel by boat from
Warri, so he can get a feel of how the people live. The demands of the
Ijaw are straightforward; a sense of understanding of their plight by
the Federal Government. “I am not too sure it is the responsibility of
the Federal Government to determine who should negotiate for us; they
should be prepared to dialogue with anybody we send. As far as I can
tell, everyone we send is a credible leader.” President of the Ijaw
Youth Council, IYC, Udengs Eradiri, vowed: “They (Vice President and his
men) are moving round circles. Oporoza visit is not the issue: the
Nigerian Maritime University, NMU, Okerenkoko, resumption date does not
require visits or meetings.” Better to jaw jaw Member representing
Patani constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon Timi
Tonye, said: “It is a step in the right direction. What is needed in the
agitations coming out of the Niger Delta is jaw-jaw and not war-war.
Dialogue as an instrument of resolving conflict in a democracy cannot be
over emphasised. I support this over-delayed movement. Speaking on the
proposed visit, President, Niger Delta Security Watch Organisation of
Nigeria, NDSWON, Dickson Bekederemo, said: “The Vice President coming to
Niger Delta region is a good omen to the most neglected and
economically-battered region. We have been wailing that the Presidency
should come and see the conditions of the inhabitants of the environment
that is feeding the rest of country for it to appreciate the
circumstances and issues that always triggered violent agitation. “His
coming will, therefore, create a window for the Presidency to appreciate
the yearnings of the people and the need to return to the people their
God-given resources in order to enable them develop their region at
their own pace. It is also my expectation that the needless and
unjustifiable pursuit of some persons whose only sin is a valid
contractual relationship they executed with Federal Government, will be
addressed.” Declare state of emergency: Environmental activist, Morris
Alagoa, also declared: “While the move is a welcome development, it is
not new. Jonathan did go to the creeks as Vice President too before
amnesty was eventually offered, as recommended by the Ledum Mitee-led
Technical Committee on the Niger Delta. “If it is another move to treat
the Niger Delta problematic as a movie, then it would be too bad and
most unfortunate. There is practically nothing new to be suggested to
the FG as there are reports with far-reaching recommendations about the
Niger Delta just gathering dust in the drawers of the FG. “It would be
fine if the Vice President would be able and sincerely convince those he
will meet in the creeks that the Federal Government has the political
will and ready to squarely address the issues of development and
environmental degradation in the region. “For instance, there is need to
apologise to the people of Gbaramatu/Oporoza and restore damages done
to property and pay for lives lost. Then, the Federal Government should
declare a state of emergency to develop the Niger Delta. “The issue of
true federalism is very important, and he should tell stakeholders why
Nigeria is running a unitary system instead of a federal one.”
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