Olubunmi A. Thomas
8 July 2009
opinion
Lagos — I am greatly concerned that in a democracy, harvest cannot bring joy when death is the crop. Right from the days of Isaac Adaka Boro through the dark hours of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa to our present myopic civil experiment called democracy, it appears to me that the shedding of citizens' blood with arms bought from taxes paid by citizens has become and remained a lucrative business to our federal government.
History has recorded the judicial abortion of resources control and the executive murder of the NDDC, but today we are faced with an executive melodrama of a Ministry of Niger Delta to the cacophony of an insensitive and irresponsible government of Umaru Yar'Adua.
Notwithstanding, there seems to be a naked truth irrevocable that the whole of federal might and the presidential marching order cannot and can never kill the spirit and the ideals of ethnic nationalism and this truth has ever since been hurting the peace and security of Nigeria as a nation.
Since there is an absolutely unethical standard of oil exploration, political injustice and blatant corruption ravaging our land, where citizens are suffering in the midst of plenty and are everyday of their lives exposed to pollution and avoidable heath hazards, violence and crime are inevitable. It is therefore my considered opinion that the ongoing military occupation of he Niger Delta should NOT be viewed by the international community as a war justified against the armed insurrectionists, this is because the Niger Delta is nakedly milked to her own detriment for the interest of a few power-clique.
It is self-evident that to every action there will be a reaction, and to every reaction there will be a counter-reaction. The militancy in the Niger Delta is the fallout of our callous government, and as such the Federal Government has no moral justification for military option. So the continued federal shooting of the Niger Delta militants is genocidal in intent and should be considered as a state crime.
Only an irresponsible government will decide to disregard the values and dignity of the human life and choose to kill her citizens with the view to protect the nation's oil field. Now that our President has chosen that ugly path to follow, I wish to call on the international community and Pro-Life activists to pencil-down Mr. President for charges of War Crime and genocide and be tried after his tenure in office.
Finally, as we continue to mourn the death of hundreds of Nigerians who have fallen to he bullet, be it militants or our Federal troops, lets see there spilled bloods as seeds sown in the evening that is hoped will spring forth in the morrow a down of a responsible government whose approach to the Niger Delta will bring justice to the dead and the living so that, there will be an end to the shedding of blood to sell oil.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
