Emma Amaize
9 June 2008
Lagos — SOUTH-SOUTH elders, youth leaders and organisations, weekend, described as an insult and an affront to the leaders and people of the region the plan by the Federal Government to draft one-time Minister of External Affairs and Under Secretary-General (USG) of the United Nations, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari to preside over the forthcoming summit on the Niger Delta, saying they will not accept it.
Meanwhile, the Joint Military Task Force in the Niger Delta, yesterday, attacked two alleged militants' camps in Edo State.
Former Deputy Premier of the defunct Mid Western Region and leader of the Isoko in Delta State, Chief James Otobo; ex-Biafra warlord and Secretary-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief J.O.G Achuzia; National President of the Human Rights Organisation of Nigeria (HURDON), Sir. Casley Omon-Irabor; a member of the Federal Government/Ijaw Joint Peace Committee, Chief Bello Oboko; National President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor; and chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) in Delta State, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, who spoke on the arrangement said Gambari knew little or nothing about the problems of the Niger Delta.
Nothing wrong, Orubebe, Oyegun
But the Minister for Special Duties, Office of the Presidency, Elder Godsday Orubebe, who spoke to Vanguard in Warri on the anger of the people, pleaded with them to give Gambari a chance, saying the diplomat has done Nigeria proud and would perform creditably if he is appointed to chair the summit.
His view was supported by former civilian governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who told Vanguard: "To say the honest truth, I don't see anything wrong with the choice of Gambari as the chairman of the planned summit.
Chief Odigie-Oyegun insisted that even if the Niger Delta was asked to produce a chairman from within itsr fold, the people would disagree on the person and so, Gambari should be allowed to preside over the summit if he is appointed by the government.
But erudite scholar, Prof B.I.C. Ijomah, and others said there was no need for the summit in the first instance, as so many talks had been held in the past and reports produced on the way out of the Niger Delta summit, only for government to refuse to implement them.
It's politically-silly -Otobo
Isoko leader, Chief Otobo, said: "It is politically silly and belittling of the leaders of the Niger Delta to say that Ibrahim Gambari should preside over the proposed summit, which in the first instance is unnecessary, irrelevant and uncalled for."
Otobo said what was required at this stage in the Niger Delta was not a summit but a packaged political solution by a credible leadership of the Niger Delta people.
He said the Federal Government was at a loss and that was why it had not been able to find its bearing on the Niger Delta crisis for over one year of the President Umaru Yar'Adua government, pointing out that already, "such a multi-package political solution is being put together by the elders of the region, including Ijaw leaders and would be presented as a private member Bill to the National Assembly and the Presidency to effect the much needed solutions to the Niger-Delta question."
What does Gambari know about N-Delta problem, asks Achuzia
Chief Achuzia told Vanguard: "I don't see any reason why the Gambari should be the chairman of the summit because he has been away until recently when he returned. What does he know about the Niger Delta problem?"
He said the people had not been told by the Federal Government what it did with the reports of all the previous conferences on the Niger Delta and the people were not ready for such waste of time and resources any more.
Planned summit, a farce -Omon-Irabor
Sir Omon-Irabor lamented: "The planned summit is a farce and travesty, contrived to deceive the Niger Delta and keep some people busy.
Ibrahim Gambari does not have what it takes to chair a summit on the Niger Delta. What does he even know about our sufferings? Is he not a Northerner? Are the Northerners not the reason why the Niger Delta is passing through their present ordeal? So, what solution does he want to offer?
"It is becoming clearer to me that the Federal Government is deliberately doing what it is doing. They want to continue with their deceit against the Niger Delta. What has Gambari said or done regarding the problem of the Niger Delta in the past? Is he not part of them?" He asked.
We disagree with Yar'Adua -Ikimi
Mr. Ikimi said in a statement: "We, members of the CDHR, Delta State chapter disagree in its entirety with the decision of President Yar'Adua to appoint Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari to head the Niger Delta Summit, as same is clearly an indication that the Federal Government has run out of ideas on how to tackle the Niger-Delta crisis or better still, lacks the capacity and the will to resolve the crisis in the oil-rich region.
"We have advocated in the past that all summits on the Niger Delta question be held in the creeks of the region and not in Abuja.
Furthermore, we have always advocated that for any summit on the Niger Delta crisis to succeed, same should be headed by a native from a coastal state within the region who is in tune with the developmental needs of the region and its people, as anything short of the above would not lead to the resolution of the crisis as major stakeholders would continue to be excluded from the summit while interlopers would continue to hijack such important meetings as it is the case at the moment," he said.
Ikimi, nevertheless said: "We have no qualms with Professor Gambari as a person or as an accomplished diplomat but we make bold to say that the Niger Delta crisis is beyond the act of mere diplomacy as the problems within the region, particularly those within the coastal states are a peculiar one that needs peculiar solutions with the active contribution of all stakeholders within the region.
"We opine that since the solutions to the Niger Delta question can be found within the region, we call on the Federal Government to engage the people of the region, particularly those from the coastal states in genuine and sincere dialogue while the leader and venue of such peace meetings are not imposed on the people of the region, as such development would eliminate any incidence of mistrust, avarice and malice between the people on one hand and government on the other hand and thereby restoring the confidence and peace that would help to boost or fast track the much needed development in the Niger-Delta region," he added.
It's miscarriage of justice -Oboko
President of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), Chief Oboko, who is the Vice Chairman, Rehabilitation Sub-Committee of the Federal Government/Ijaw Joint Peace Committee said:
"To the extent that the primary object of the proposed national summit is to find reconciliation on fundamental issues causing conflicts between the Nigerian nation state, represented by the Federal Government on one hand and the various ethnic nationalities of the NigerDelta region on the other hand, the Federal Government is a culpable party to the contested issues yearning for reconciliation.
"It would invariably amount to miscarriage of justice," Oboko posited, "for the Federal Government to continue to portray itself as single-handedly planning a summit to redress crises, largely perpetrated by it, without due regards to genuine inputs from concerned ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta . This could be a vice called 'drum major instinct,' according to Martin Luther King Jnr.
"The true national summit on the Niger Delta is more of a product of meetings of the Federal Government/Ijaw Joint Committee on Road Map to Peace in the Ijaw Areas of the Niger Delta and more so, as a result of government's consultation with other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta, rather than a product of sole efforts of the Federal Government.
"Including amnesty, rehabilitation developmental emergency and presidential visit to devastated communities in the Niger Delta, there are already agreed conditions prerequisite to the true and genuine national summit proposed by the FG/Ijaw Joint Committee, which the government is now not showing adequate commitment to and the widespread fears of the genuineness of intention of the Presidential Peace Process on the Niger Delta.
"At the moment, the lackluster conduct of the Federal Government goes a long way to undermine the sensibilities of the good peoples of the Niger Delta and particularly, their respected representatives dialoguing with the Presidency.
"For the outcome of any national summit to be acceptable to all well-meaning Nigerians and binding on majority of Niger Deltans, the summit must consider both the thesis (interests of the ethnic nationalities) and anti-thesis (interest of the Federal Government) in seeking and synthesizing reconciliation on the Niger-Delta crisis," he said.
Gambari not acceptable -IYC
But the IYC national president was unequivocal that Gambari was not acceptable.
His words: "You may recall that as part of the road map to peace, the Federal Government made commitment to certain preconditions, which we all took very serious especially when it came from the President himself.
Twelve months after. there is still nothing to show that this government is committed to doing anything for the Niger Delta, rather they talk much about the summit.
"The government right now is not alive to its responsibility and the people in the creeks are beginning to lose faith in the process, we put our life on the line to manage to get to this point.
The Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger Delta almost killed me in my bid to get to the creeks to institute peace, no new project has been awarded, the President is yet to visit as agreed in the roadmap to peace, funds meant for development of the region through the NDDC are being withheld, even up till now the 2008 budget is being toyed with, then in December they tell you the fund has expired, this kind of behaviour calls to question the sincerity on the part of Yar'Adua, everything is kept on hold as if development depends on the summit.
"More annoying is the fact that we requested international mediation, the government disagreed and now, it's talking of a Gambari.
That is nonsense. Gambari is not different from the other Nigerians here who have perpetually kept us poor over the years because he kept mute all this while. He didn't see the injustice then. Only recently in Port Harcourt, he said the Federal Government should give the Niger Delta states 50 per cent for one month.
This amounts to an insult on the sensibility of the Niger Delta leaders who did not take him up on that.
"Let me tell you, this administration has lost the confidence of millions of Nigerian especially since the excess crude oil account fund that the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, introduced, and this government is continuing with it and nobody knows how much the managers of the funds are siphoning from it," he said.
Ekiyor added: "If government wants a chairman from the UN, then a neutral fellow should be considered. I also think that a cabal of the old brigade has taken the Yar'Adua government t hostage.
They are the men behind the mask. Imagine a bag of rice selling at N12,000. This is worth $3 in the United States.
Also we have continue to pay lip service to the petroleum downstream sector hence, government can mute the idea of sending our crude to a small country like Venezuela to help us refine, yet we have $65 billion foreign reserve and over 80 per cent of the people live below the poverty line in squalor and penury.
Bad roads poor health facility so maternal death rate is alarming, the IYC just lost it National Women Leader to the cruel hands of death during child birth due to government negligence.
"There is outright madness being displaced in governance at all levels. Let it be known that there will be no summit if the preconditions are not met," he warned.
JTF overruns two militant camps
However, the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the NigerDelta yesterday attacked two alleged militant camps in a dawn operation in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State.
But the Ijaw in Edo State said the JTF attacked five Ijaw fishing communities.
The Commander of the JTF, David Ejoor Barracks, Effurun, Delta State, Brigadier-General Nanven Rimtip, said he sent out his men to recover weapons that were stolen by militants who attacked his personnel, some months ago, at a Chevron oil facility in Delta State.
He said he was yet to get a report on the operation from his Commander who led the team on the crackdown and was, therefore, not in a position to give full details.
Leader of the Niger Delta Freedom Fighters (NDDF), popularly known as Egbema One, told Vanguard on phone, yesterday, that his men and the JTF troops were engaged in a shootout for four hours yesterday.
He said the JTF wanted to capture him but they would not succeed, adding: "Now that they have decided to attack us even when we are peaceful and waiting for the Federal Government to actualise its peace agenda, we are going to fight back."
Egbema One said his group would no longer spare any soldier found in the creeks because the Federal Government was not sincere on its peace process.
A former chairman of the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), Western Zone, Mr. David Reje, told Vanguard that information available to him indicated that the soldiers were in search of the arms seized from his men by militants during a previous attack, but, he said they should direct their attack on those that carried out the operation.
He said the soldiers went in a different direction and attacked and maimed people who knew nothing about their seized arms.
Reje asked why the JTF did not contact the Delta Waterways and Security Committee, which helped it to recover the General Purpose Machine Guns and other weapons that were seized by the Deadly Underdogs, which carried out the attack.
However, spokesman for the Ijaw in Edo State, Mr. Robison Egite, told newsmen in Benin that no fewer than five Ijaw fishing communities in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State were razed and property worth millions of naira destroyed by the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) who were said to be in search of militants.
Besides, an unspecified number of persons were said have been to killed during the raid on Safaragbo and Simughan camps inhabited by the Ijaw.
Mr. Esite said at about 7 a.m yesterday, they received a telephone call from their kinsmen in the area that the JTF invaded the area from Koko in Warri North local government area of Delta State with four machine gun boats.
"We sought to know why they attacked and they told us in clear terms that there was no provocation of any sort from the Ijaw of Edo State to warrant any such military attack. By noon today (yesterday) we received further calls that about five villages had been razed down, property worth millions of naira destroyed with several casualties.
"The source said the JTF went there from Koko, headquarters of Warri North local government area of Delta State. Our concern is that this is a designed attempt by the military for total militarisation of Ijaw territories in Nigeria which is completely unacceptable to the Ijaw nation.
"In the first place, Edo State has been very peaceful and it has never witnessed any crisis peculiar to the Niger Delta region. We believe that the JTF is acting the script of somebody. We, therefore, call on the Edo State government to please protect the lives and properties of the Ijaw living in Edo State and call the JTF to order immediately.
"The JTF should know that any attack on the Ijaw communities in Edo state is a direct attack on the Ijaw nation. If the JTF is in search of any criminal, they should alert the Edo state government who has the security means to fetch out such criminals without causing mayhem, destruction and killing of innocent souls."
Contacted for his reaction, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police Zone Five, Prince Udom Ekpoudom, said he was not aware of such attack. Also, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Osunbor, Mr. Dan Aigbavboa, said the state has not been briefed of such attack.
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Ibrahim Gambari is from the north he know nothing about the niger delta and he can not represent any good judgement for our people leting mr Gambari know he is not welcome in portharcourt over these issue because he was their when Kenule sarowiwa was kill what did he do?or does he come to represent Shell,exxon mobile,Eff,Agip,and the corrupt federal government of Nigeria and he is a diplomat living in the united state what is he doing for image of nigeria all over the world seen us as criminal and fruadster to some extent some nigerian denying they are from nigeria just to save their life.The most all thank you Chief James Otobo for standing tall to defend our unity and leting people know they can't force any one on us. lenu kirika