Leadership (Abuja)
Sam Nda-Isaiah
7 July 2008
column
Abuja — The Guardian of Friday, July 4, 2008, reports in its lead story that the group that calls itself The Patriots has condemned President Umaru Yar'Adua for declaring war on the militants of the Niger Delta. Mr. Ladi Williams, the general secretary of The Patriots, in an interview with the newspaper, was reported to have said that his group was disturbed by Yar'Adua's decision to be "a sworn enemy of the people of the Niger Delta by sending troops to crush a popular campaign".
For those who may instantly dismiss Ladi Williams as a ne'er-do-well charlatan who should best be ignored, it will be important to remind everyone that Williams is not only a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) but a scion of the very well regarded Chief Rotimi Williams household. Rotimi Williams himself was a founder and in fact the face of The Patriots in the twilight of his life. The Patriots prides itself on being an amalgam of elders and eminent Nigerians whose opinion should be respected by all.
The Patriots has obviously come full circle. If Ladi Williams could utter that nonsense, then he does not deserve to bear his well-respected surname. The president should also now appreciate the futility of his appeasement style in handling the crisis, if there are people who would proclaim that kind of silly statement. The president needs no further proof that his pacifist approach to a national issue that is clearly a treasonable felony only breeds vagabonds from all directions. Yar'Adua will need to alter his mindset regarding the Niger Delta crisis quickly and stop listening to some of his friends and simply go crush and flatten the rebellion in the shortest possible time, or, better still, get a new set of friends who would guide him aright.
Anyone who says that deploying troops against militants who steal oil, kidnap, kill and maim innocent people including their own people is tantamount to the federal government declaring war against a section of the country will need to get his head examined. Does Ladi Williams and the clowns who make up The Patriots expect a responsible leader to simply watch as oil thieves and murderers take over the region in the name of freedom fighting? And, what the hell (pardon my French) does he mean by "popular campaign"? What is popular about raping, kidnapping and killing their own people? Last week, the militants shot and killed a permanent secretary in the Bayelsa State Government House. At the weekend, they successfully effected several kidnappings including taking the younger brother of Joseph Yobo, Nigeria's international professional footballer, captive in Port Harcourt. For all the banditry, The Patriots has been cheering and expects the federal government to cheer also or simply sit and watch. Clearly, all the members of that group do not qualify for high office.
In spite of the military offensive in the creeks a few days ago, there are still many Nigerians who think Yar'Adua has not been decisive enough. He still has not declared a full-scale war against a group of well-armed oil thieves who have openly declared war against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In all his actions and utterances, the president still behaves as if the Niger Delta militants work for him. Not too long ago, the NNPC, with presidential consent, had to bribe the militants with $60 million (more than N7 billion) in order for them to allow the Warri Refinery to work. In fact, during the president's May 29 interview with the media, he spoke exactly as if he was a fee-paying and card-carrying member of The Patriots, when he said fighting a full-scale war against the militants was wrong since the nation was not at war. Of course, that was the week before the Bonga Oil Field, which is nearly 200km offshore, was attacked by the rogues.
As this column has repeatedly declared, the solution to the Niger Delta debacle is simple and very straightforward: All that any serious and sincere president needs to do is deal with the two kinds of crooks that have held the region and consequently the nation to ransom. The first problem to deal with should be the so-called militants who steal Nigeria's oil, kidnap and murder people. This problem is even the simpler one. The solution is as simple as dealing with any other thief, armed robber or murderer. All the government needs to do in this particular case is start by razing and carpet-bombing all the ships and barges that queue up on the high seas to buy the stolen oil. An aerial view of the Niger Delta from the high seas, two years ago, confirmed that more than 50 ships queued up every day to take delivery of their own share of Nigeria's stolen oil from these crooks. These oil merchants who are worse than armed robbers also supply the militants with weapons to continue to wage war against the nation. The only difficulty here, of course, will be to assemble members of our armed forces who have not yet been suborned into the illegal business – and there are many of such men. After clearing the buyers, it will only be a matter of days before the entire area is rid of militants, or "misguided children" as Lt.Gen. Luka Yusuf prefers to refer to them.
The other thieves, some of them "elected" and political appointees who steal the 13% derivation and the NDDC funds allocated for the development of the area, have so far been treated like sacred cows who are free to graze in the family vegetable garden with impunity. If the Yar'Adua government does not find a sure-fire pathway of dealing with these white-collar thieves, a million summits on the Niger Delta will only be a waste of time and resources that would have otherwise been used to develop the area. Thirteen per cent derivation is huge and the development this can bring to the Niger Delta could only be imagined if only the corruption could be reduced by 50%. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo took advantage of the corruption in the area and shared the money with some of his friends and cronies in the region, and this made things difficult for everyone there. But just like Yar'Adua himself recently said, the gangsterism in the area has shot up the cost of executing projects there by more than 300% and the private investments and developments which should have naturally gravitated to the area as a result of the economic activity of oil exploration and production (just like Texas in the United States) are being scared away.
Now is the moment of truth in the Niger Delta. Nigeria needs a government that can swiftly reclaim the area from the militants and start the process of development. The government will have to defeat anyone that stands in its way to achieving this, including even the fake elders who constitute The Patriots and their ilk. There is a legitimate demand for development in the area, but even this, as the vice president said last week, has been hijacked by the oil thieves.
But if Yar'Adua will allow himself to succumb to the blackmail of The Patriots, and consequently not bring order to the region, then he should not waste the time of the militants and our own also. He should simply invite the Niger Delta militants and their cheer leaders and give them a befitting send-off party. Nigeria should then allow the Ijaws, Itsekiris, Urhobos, Andonis, Ikweres, Igbos in the area, the Kalabaris and scores of other tribes who make up the Niger Delta to go and form their own country. Let every state in Nigeria start developing their gold, uranium, iron ore, columbite, precious stones, bauxite, baryte, tantalite, and indeed agriculture. In spite of today's over-the-top international price of crude, the oil-producing countries are still not the richest countries of the world. Just look at the map of the richest countries of the world. Even South Africa doesn't produce oil. It is now clear that oil has become a curse and an albatross that we should aim to live without.
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