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Nigeria: Gambari Not Acceptable, Niger Delta Leaders Cry Out

Emma Amaize

9 June 2008

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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.

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