Emma Amaize
21 September 2008
analysis
Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the fear-provoking militia in the Niger-Delta, has countered the announcement of the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, that the "oil war,"christened, "Hurricane Barborossa", which it declared, Sunday, September 14, was a sheer propaganda, saying "the military is deluding itself" by playing down the current cataclysm in the region.
The DHQ had, on Monday, 24 hours after the group declared fresh hostilities in the region, dismissed the "oil war" as half truths. However, barely 48 hours after the tough-talk by the military, the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike, whose visit to military formations in the region was originally postponed due to the "exigency" of duty, hurried to the theatre of war, Rivers State, to see things for himself and hold strategy-planning meetings with senior military officers. He left for Warri on Thursday to meet with the commander of the Joint Task Force, JTF, Brigadier-General Nanven Rimtip, and heads of military commands.
Ironically, the day the director of defense information, Brigadier-General Mohammed Yusuf, issued a statement in Abuja, saying the "oil war" suggested by the MEND, was a smokescreen, the militants, who started Hurricane Barborossa with sequential attacks on the Soku Gas Plant, Chevron Platform in Kula and bombing of a major crude trunk pipeline at Nembe Creek, September 14, continued with more cruel attack on the Alakiri Flow Station, operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), freely throwing explosives like dynamites and bombs on day two of the "oil war".
MEND's spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, in a reply via electronic mail to an inquiry by Sunday Vanguard said, "The minister of defence is trying to downplay an obvious calamity the same way they did when one of our camps was attacked by the Joint Task Fraud (Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta. By the way, this is how we refer to them. Anyone who continues to tell himself that this is still propaganda is greatly deluded."
"The NNPC", he said, "has finally revealed that in just five days of the Hurricane, a total of 600,000 bpd has been shut-in, bringing our export down to 1.5m bpd, and this is just in Rivers alone. Anyone who continues to deceive themselves that this is still propaganda is greatly deluded."
By the time the CDS arrived Rivers State on Wednesday, his men were able to repel an attack by militants on the Chevron Flow Station in the state but the Orubiri Flow Station and a major oil pipeline at Rumuekpe, both also in Rivers State, were blown some hours before he touched ground. Besides, the daring militants attacked the naval houseboat located near a flow station, which is operated under joint venture between the SPDC and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
"If what the military authorities meant was that the MEND is skilled in encoding information to the media on its activities or outstanding in media propagation/propaganda of its activities, that is comprehensible, but, to say that the destruction the militants have wreaked since, last Sunday, is a sheer propaganda is to stand the truth on the head", a senior citizen who preferred anonymity told Sunday Vanguard, adding, "Even if the military wants to tell us a lie, it should not be a black lie, they should at least tell us a white lie so that we can sympathize with them for their inadequacy to fence in the militants."
In fact, in spite of the statement by the military that "the oil war propaganda is just a gimmick by the militants to create fear in every law-abiding citizen, both local and foreign alike, and to provoke tension in the polity", oil companies were massively evacuating their workers from the region. The CDS' choice of Rivers State as the first port of call was strategic because the place had been on fire since he assumed office but, from information pieced together by Sunday Vanguard during his visit to Warri, it was also a morale-boosting session for the officers and men on ground. The military had maintained that it was not at war with the militants but it was learnt that the troops were, in actual fact, ill-equipped to face the militants in the kind of war they were waging in the region, particularly when it comes to battles in the swampy creeks.
Dike received on-the-spot briefing from the JTF commanders in the region on their handicaps and gave promises on the ones that he could immediately tackle and plans for the future. A dependable military source, however, said the visit of the CDS to the region was not because the military was threatened by the so-called "oil war" but, was on a familiarization and working tour for him and the service chiefs, who were all newly appointed. "You will agree with me that they need to know the military formations and their operations given their new status to be able to plan well. That was the purpose of the visit. It has nothing to do with the dexterity of the militants in their assumed oil war", the source explained.
Militants alliance: But as the JTF retooled, the militants were regrouping to fight the military, which they now regard as a common enemy. Jomo Gbomo confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that the MEND had struck a new alliance with the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF. "Every group in the region has dropped their differences and come together to fight a common enemy who has used the instrument of state and the tactics of divide and rule to oppress the region for five decades. Soldiers and oil workers are advised to abandon all oil facilities, including the off -shore rigs of Bonga and Agbami, as we want to minimize casualties before Hurricane Barbarossa arrives.
"Those who choose unwisely to remain will face the consequences of their decisions and should learn from their colleagues in the United States who evacuated ahead of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. A word is enough for the wise.If the Nigerian military is confident of its capabilities, let them be bold to take journalists and photographers to Orubiri to assess by themselves the aftermath of Barbarossa. We will, henceforth, begin documenting our raids by providing digital cameras and camcorders for each fighting unit", it said.
Oil war may escalate: As at Thursday, the fear was very rife in the region that the "oil war" would spread to the other states of the region. And indeed, the MEND confirmed that. It said: "After Rivers, the hurricane will be heading to the neighboring states in the Niger Delta. The people of Rivers State should hold the governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, accountable for allowing the state to be the first to be visited. He should resign and a state of emergency declared in Rivers State."
Continued rampage: The militant group continued with its almost roller-coaster rampage, on Thursday while the CDS was apparently in Benin City, Edo State in continuation of his Niger-Delta visit. "At 1830 hours today (Thursday), September 18, 2008, fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), using high explosives, have destroyed a major pipeline belonging to Shell Development Company at the Elem-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis in Rivers State of Nigeria", Jomo Gbomo stated in a statement sent some hours after the attack. According to him, "A gunboat patrol (team) who (that) happened to bump into the MEND fighters begged for their lives and showed their magazines to prove that they had not fired from their guns. They were spared and allowed to go but not after they had pledged loyalty to the struggle and denounced the criminality of the oil companies and the government. One of the soldiers actually defecated in his trousers. The men have returned safely to base as another team was getting set to return two South African hostages to a drop off zone. The MEND spokesman raised hopes that the rescued hostages who were caught in the crossfire would regain their freedom in due course .
Bayelsa strengthens security: The Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, was said to have contacted some Niger-Delta activists to help him in stopping the militants from Rivers State from invading his state. Already, security has been beefed up around oil facilities in the creek of the state. "As you are aware, security has been reinforced around major oil facilities in the creeks and upland locations in Bayelsa state due to the escalating tension in the creek of Rivers. Our mandate is to maintain security in the waterways and ensure the safe passage for all law-abiding citizens to go about their legitimate duties effectively policing the border area so that the fleeing militants will not infiltrate the creek of Bayelsa state, which is our area of operation", a military source hinted.
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