Daily Independent (Lagos)
Ofonime Umanah and Yemi Akintomide
18 May 2009
Port Harcourt/Akure — Umbrella body of the militants in the Niger Delta, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has sent out a chilling signal, threatening an impending attack on the Federal Government, and particularly, Northerners who occupy prominent positions in the oil industry.
"Our message to the Northern Sultans and Emirs is this: The period of exploiting the Niger Delta is coming to an end. It is not the birth right of your people to rule the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"The war is just beginning and by the time it ends, Nigeria will practice true federalism such as fiscal federalism which will benefit the entire populace. Let your people brace themselves to develop their resources and such a bold change will be remembered," Jomo Gbomo, MEND's spokesman said in an electronic mail on Sunday.
The threat came a few hours after the Special Adviser to the Rivers State Governor on Budget, Austin Ngor, was kidnapped and moved to an unknown destination.
It was not clear what the demands of the kidnappers are, but the governor's Chief Press Secretary, Blessing Wikinaka, has warned them to free the man immediately as there was no just reason for his abduction.
Meanwhile, MEND two of the hostages in their custody killed "in the course of the war".
It said the remaining one has been relocated to an unnamed camp in Delta State.
MEND dared the security outfit, Joint Task Force (JTF), to destroy all its (MEND's) camps, which it said, were spread in many places across Niger Delta region.
The MEND's spokesman said, "The British hostage, Mr Matthew Maguire, has been relocated to Delta State and will be a guest of one of the camps there".
He added: "Nigerians should now brace up for the worst from the decisions of an incompetent leadership.
"The Niger Delta people who have endured injustice and genocide for over 50 years must be ready to fight for change as our destiny should not be in the hands of others but ourselves.
The group said it was embarrassed at the "performance of the Nigerian Armed Forces who performed like poorly trained amateurs by bombing indiscriminately into civilian communities using helicopter gunships and fighter jet planes.
"Civilians should have been allowed to leave the area before the attack. This simply has shown that the government is insensitive to the Niger Delta people.
"If the Army's mission was to also rescue the hostages, then that again was a botched and ridiculous attempt because the hostages were not at any immediate risk except for their temporary freedom.
"We regret to announce that two hostages have been killed by the indiscriminate shelling and two more are still in our custody.
"We are happy that all of them were not killed by the Army. The bodies of the dead men will be handed over to the Red Cross. MEND deeply regrets the avoidable deaths".
It denied claims that the Army captured a plane from one of its camps.
"If my memory serves me right, the plane in question is a toy remote controlled plane which can be purchased from any toy shop. It is rather shameful that they cannot distinguish the difference between a toy plane and a drone.
"As promised, we have begun nibbling again at the oil infrastructure. Already, two major trunk pipe and gas lines, which were recently repaired, have been blown up. This is just the tip of the series of attacks we plan to carry out.
"For the Nigerian government to declare victory, troops must be able to secure every inch of pipelines and eliminate the over 500 camps stretching from Ondo to Akwa Ibom.
"What the government has been successful in doing is committing genocide against the Ijaw communities whose offence, it seems, is discovering oil in their backyards," the group said.
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I have said it before, the JTF should deal with this so called criminal MEND and all the other Niger Delta criminals the same way the Sri Lanka army dealt heavy blow to the Tamil Tigers. MEND has brought too much shame to us, kidnapping for ransom, rape,armed robbery,MEND caused investments into the Niger Delta to stop. Now they want to introduce the Somalia style piracy, to bring more shame to Nigeria. They ambush and murder in cold blood military men just doing their legitimate job and made their wives widows and their children fatherless. This is one of the major reasons why the proposed amnesty would not work. You cannot murder in cold blood and expect amnesty.
All their camps and logistics must be destroyed and they and their sponsors brought to book before they can be peace. If these criminals do their sums well they would realise that Niger Delta is already getting more than 50% of the oil revenue, when you put the budgets of their States, the Ministry of the Niger Delta as well as the budgets of agencies like the NDDC. Their traditional rulers and their governors put this massive money into their private pockets.
It is not the Northerns who caused the Niger Delta not to develop, it the indigenes of the Niger Delta who head these agencies and minitries. It is people like Odili who had massive budgets but nothing to show for it.
Now I respect the capability of the Nigerian Army. They should just carry on with what they are doing to restore peace and tranquility in the area. Enough is Enough!
You are saying the soldiers should carry on what they are doing right?? why not the North come and fight with the Niger Deltans? we can't take this shit anymore from bastard like you. think about all the billions and millions stolen from this region by your Northerner people, of which about 60% of corruption are perpetuated by northerners becos you guys claim to be the only people ruling this country. if anything goes wrong in a Company who is to be held responsible the Manager or the cleaner?? of course the manager. so you and your people are the wicked and evil managers that cause Nigeria to be undeveloped till today. with your rubbish democracy we are tired of this stupid called democracy we need a military regime to take Nigeria to a next level.
Now,now Yar A'Dua. when will u learn about the heart of man. Look at your own maybe a light will go off somewhere in that... of yours. How much longer must my people endure the greed of oil companies and dirty filthy politicians? I'm trapped in the USA and no one wants to come for me. I could very easily solve your oil problem if u wish.
About a month ago, the civilian govts of a few Niger Delta States “indicted” a former military General, now retired but former President Obasanjo for his efforts to dialogue with the so-called “militant” (freedom fighters) during his administration. These heartless but deeply corrupt civilian governors claimed that OBJ’s effort at peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta issue has emboldened the locals to demand their rights. As a follow up, Gov Amaechi had the temerity to declare that he would impose capital punishment kidnapers instead of trying to resolve the symptom that drove these locals (including market women who now turn to occupying-by-force oil platforms) to such desperate behavior. The point that I am trying to make here is that – it was the civilian politicians' un-civilized actions that led to the first coup-de-tat in 1966 which eventually led to the Civil War from 1967 thru 1970. For about 40 years of military rule, there were no wars but since the arrival of these undisciplined and greedy civilian politicians, starting with this corrupt, spineless, and visionless administration of Yar Adua, the same wanton actions of todays' politicians are geared towards another civil war that only another military coup can avoid. One would think that they have learned from the mistakes of the past and conduct themselves in a democratic manner. Bottom-line is, if Emperor Yar thinks that the Yorubas (West) will, once again, side with the North to gang up against the East if another civil war breaks out, he better think again. Given what we all know now, there SHOULD NOT have been a United Nigeria in 1970, we all would've been better off today. Therefore, enough of this exploitation of the South-South by the North and enough of this JTF attacks on the locals, to please the current Nigerian govt’s external masters. A word should be enough for the wise. It is becoming obvious that the military regimes of the past are not as wicked as this civilian one – democracy my foot.
This clearly shows that neither the militants nor the Nigerian government care about its citizens. So, why would the militant target Northerners? Isn't it a silly excuse to accuse all northerners in the oil sector of being in cohort with the government? Let's face it, in any other civilized country any group making such a threat would be considered a terrorist group.
MEND should send some of their members to the North to see for themselves how bad the state of things are in the North. Yes, politicians steal, but they are not all from the North, are they? I dear say that southern politicians have failed the south more than northern politicians have. Charity begins at home. Lawlessness is never a solution to any problem. When MEND started its kidnapping business, it start with foreigners; however, things have move on and they have expanded their targets to include any person they can kidnap for a ransom. Let the face-off continue. As the saying goes, evil thrive when good men do nothing.
Now the so called MEND's agenda is coming to light.It is an ethnic thing obviously. After committing a progrom against the Itsekiris and a failed attempt at doing a similar thing at the Ilajes, you are now targetting northerners in the oil industry for whatever perceived exploitation eh? My only regret is that the government in the name of restraint failed to deal decisively with these criminals when they were attacking Itsekiris. So the northerner in the oil industry told you not to go to school eh? Or he told your so called leaders to make selfish deals with the oil companies out of which you were excluded. Well for those who had been sympathetic to the plight of the Niger Delta, it is now becoming obvious what the MEND is pursuing.It cares zero about the poor Ijaw fisherman in the creeks nor the other ethnic groups that make up the Niger Delta. The group is made up of a bunch of criminals who are using that as a cloak to shield their illegal bunkering activities (believe me I know as I have lived in the Niger Delta for a season). This is a wake up call. It is time we all saw these criminals for what they are.
It is not the right solution to the present crossroad in the Niger delta region. The problem we have here is that we tend to forget about history very easily. Does it means that the advocates of this devilish plans have easily forgotten Obasanjo and his cohorts who almost milk the Nigerian state including Niger Delta to the coffin? The greatest problem facing Nigeria is high level corruption.Instead of taking the bull by his wicked horn, people are seen pursuing shadows.When there are courts cases in Nigeria that eventually lead to imprisonment, find out.Its either the culprit stole someone fowl or he eat in the buka at credit level -an aftermath of poverty! Why on earth should the air waves be filled with reported cases of corruption involving million and billions of dollars meant for Nigerians and yet not even a finger is raised on these big thieves at the corridors of power? Who is fooling who? Some one should find out from our big brother Jerry Rawlings of Ghana the right formula to apply when anti-generational cleansing is required as a substitute to good governance, peace and sustainable development.Let the proponent of this evil plan learn to think with their heads!
The high level of ignorance displayed by some of these posts is simply amazing. Emancipators suppose to target their enemy; but these Ransom-hunting Niger Delta Militants have NO such discrimination. They kidnap even their kins and men, so they are only murderers. As a professional maritime historian, I note that sea terrorism /piracy has never been eradicated until the safe haven is dealt with either by invasion, or any other means. Casualties are often part of the solution. Therefore all these camps, from so called camp 5 to camp 9/11 should be wiped out and all hard ware suppliers whom we know them among the prominent politicians and retired Generals should be brought to book. JTF KEEP ON, DON’T NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS!