|
Urhobo Historical Society |
Reflections on Historical and Political Dimensions of
the Federal Government�s Second Military Invasion of
|
|
Urhobo Historical Society
Web sites: http://waado.org;
http://urhobo.kinsfolk.com
E-mail: UrhoboHistory@waado.org
Fax: (716)
566-5889 |
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
Head of
Aso Rock,
June 10, 2009
Your Excellency Umaru Musa Yar' Adua:
We salute you as
In this letter, we want to make several observations about the
ongoing invasion of portions of the Niger Delta by the military forces
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We understand that the
commencement of the invasion by the multiplex military formation named
Joint Task Force, following events of May 13, 2009, was authorized by
Your Excellency as Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. In
addition to the following observations, please permit us to draw our
own conclusions on this matter as Nigerian citizens who hail from the
besieged Niger Delta. We will conclude our petition by urging you to
halt this domestic war against the people of the Niger Delta because
we consider it to be illegitimate. Because these issues are
fundamental and because they are consequential for the type of
existence
It is noteworthy that
Indeed,
Aside from the Civil War,
President Olusegun Obasanjo�s Invasion of
President Olusegun Obasanjo�s controversial decision to invade
The story can probably be started from the elections in early 1999
that brought President Olusegun Obasanjo into power. He and his ruling
party, People's Democratic Party, won decisively in
It is important to indicate here that Ken Niweigha and his men were
not part of the leadership of the struggle for Ijaw rights that
several youth organizations had mounted. He was a criminal who was
nurtured by the largesse of the ruling People's Democratic Party, that
is, President Obasanjo's party. Nor was this the only criminal gang
operating in
The rest of the story is fairly well documented: (1) President
Olusegun Obasanjo gave an ultimatum to the Governor of Bayelsa State
on November 10, 1999, to arrest Ken Niweigha's gang and try its
members within fourteen days, failing which he would declare a state
of emergency and take over the state. (2) Four days before the
expiration of the ultimatum, President Olusegun Obasanjo sent in an
invasion army of more than three thousand well-armed men into
It is significant that the thugs, whose capture was the announced
reason for the military invasion, had fled in their speed boats before
the military forces arrived at Odi. It was the hapless fishermen, palm
wine tappers, and palm-nut collectors and their families � including
the native Ijaw population as well as Urhobo and Isoko immigrants �
who could not escape the bombardment of the Federal Government
warriors. The residents of Odi suffered unspeakable brutality from the
hands and armament of the invading army -- an army whose mission
appeared to be the wanton destruction of a town that had been ruled by
force and intimidation by the very thugs that the ruling PDP had
nurtured.
Federal Government of Nigeria�s Second Invasion of Niger Delta,
May-June 2009
The causes of the current military action in the Niger Delta are
painfully similar to those of the invasion of Odi, almost ten years
ago. They are rooted in a protected economic evil that torments
Coupled with political thugs, a class of youth employed by political
parties and politicians to intimidate their opponents and to rig
elections in their favour, these militants have wreaked much damage on
numerous communities in the Niger Delta. They are well armed with
sophisticated weapons, including the notorious Russian AK47. From
where do they get these weapons? They obtain them from corrupt
political parties, politicians, and bunkerers. With these weapons in
their hands, many of these thugs have turned to crimes and their easy
targets are ordinary communities of the Niger Delta. What is so
aggravating in the circumstances of the Niger Delta is the absence of
Government protection for Nigerian citizens who call these communities
home and who are habitually victimized by these militants and thugs in
acts of robbery and kidnapping. The only time the Federal Government
of Nigeria gets agitated is whenever oil resources -- or the Police or
Military who protect the oil companies and their assets � are
threatened. Thus, the immediate cause of the recent invasion was on
account of the loss of military personnel in a clash between so-called
militants and military forces protecting oil resources.
It is a grievous mistake to confuse these thugs with worthy youth
leaders who have done so much good for suffering communities in the
Niger Delta. Sadly, from the distance of far-away
There is an area of clear similarity between Odi and Gbaramatu that
deserves to be emphasized. In 1999, Nigerian military forces deemed
the entire town of
The victims of the 1999 bombardment of Odi were largely unrecognized.
Their names have not been published anywhere. They were buried in mass
graves, without the honour of individual identification and without
the knowledge and participation of their families. We fear that the
same fate awaits the VICTIMS of the massacre of Gbaramatu. We are sure
that if the Nigerian Armed Forces had killed so many persons and
tossed them into mass graves in the course of a modern foreign war,
there would be a call for an investigation for war crimes. It appears
that when unarmed Nigerians in the Niger Delta are killed by the
military, they who unjustly kill and they who order them to kill
unarmed citizens are unaccountable to any form of justice or
restraint. There are indeed some Nigerians who would want the nation to decorate
and brand as heroes those military officers who murdered hundreds of
innocent and unarmed Nigerian citizens.
Two Key Players in the Two Invasions of
In the events of the two instances of domestic warfare embarked on by
the Nigerian Military Forces in the Niger Delta, two Nigerian
institutions played major roles in urging on the invasion or else in
influencing its termination. These are (a)
House of Representatives and Senate of the National
Assembly. Characteristically, the 1999 decision to invade
The visit to Odi by Senator Okadigbo�s team was a show of
parliamentary maturity in 1999 that seems to be absent from our body
politic and our National Assembly in 2009. It bravely visited Odi to
see the carnage and its report helped to put an end to a destructive
domestic war that made no sense. As Vanguard (Saturday,
December 4, 1999) reported, "Never in the history of
The response of the House of Representatives to the invasion of Odi
was more mixed. As The Comet (Wednesday, November 24, 1999)
reported it, �The House of Representatives was yesterday divided
over government deployment of troops to
The responses of the Nigerian National Assembly in May 2009 to
President Umaru Yar� Adua�s invasion of Gbaramatu in Delta State
contrast sharply with such demonstration of parliamentary prowess that
cut short President Obasanjo�s ill-advised invasion of Odi in Bayelsa
State in 1999. In the current invasion, only one voice has been
allowed to emerge from the National Assembly: a call to war against
Nigerian communities in the Niger Delta. The House of Representatives
was guided by a war-monger and an Arewa militant, Representative Bala
Ibn N'Allah of
The sharper contrast is in the Senate. Gone are the days of Dr. Chuba
Okadigbo. The Senate has remained silent while Nigerian Armed Forces
are being used to wage an unjust war against unarmed Nigerian
communities in the Niger Delta.
Arewa�s Campaign against the Niger Delta. Long before the current invasion of Delta State by Nigeria�s Armed
Forces, several Deltan writers had expressed fears that Arewa, the
privileged Northern consortium, was spoiling for a fight with the
region and that it was likely poised to use Nigeria�s military forces
in its bid to rule and control the resources of the region. We will
cite two perceptive paragraphs from one such expression of concern in
an essay written in July 2008 by Sabella Ogbobode Abidde (�The Arewa
Consultative Forum and the Niger Delta Conflict� see
Nigerians in America, published 07/9/2008,
http://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/articles/2726/1/The-Arewa-Consultative-Forum-and-the-Niger-Delta-Conflict/Page1.html):
Latent and offensive primordial feelings are bubbling. Silent
whispers are becoming audible. Even if other Nigerians are oblivious
to such sound and fury, those of us in the Niger Delta can hear it
loud and clear -- more so in the last couple of weeks when
decision-makers from
The position of the likes of Alhaji Tanko Yakassai seems to be the
position of the ACF. Their thoughts and disposition could be a natural
tendency, a sign of frustration, or a signal to Aso Rock to unleash
government�s instrument of brutality on the region. It could be all
three. No matter. Still, it should be noted that when the day comes
when the Federal Government decides to obey the ACF to go to war with
the Niger Delta region�
Such war-mongering threats against fellow Nigerians from Arewa have
been compounded by flagrant incitement to genocide from its privileged
ranks. The most notable of such goading to full-scale genocide has
been spurred by a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives,
Bala Ibn N'Allah of
�What is happening in the Niger Delta is pure criminality of the
highest order, arising from total disregard for constituted authority.
In
Of course, this Arewa militant would not hesitate to use the Nigerian
military to curb other Nigerian nationalities if Arewa were to succeed
in its intentions in the Niger Delta. Indeed, it appears to be the
case that a leading segment of thought in Arewa Consultative Forum
regards politics as a game of conquest in which it is legitimate to
employ
We must press the point that statements such as Bala Ibn N'Allah�s
incitement to genocide were always precursors to appalling incidents
of genocide in
In the light of these statements, we are compelled to object to one
particular aspect of the Federal Government�s ongoing invasion of the
Niger Delta. In the face of these serious threats of war and genocide
from those who bear Arewa�s insignia, it does not help to make Maj-Gen
Sarkin Bello and Col. Rabe Abubakar the Commander and Spokesman,
respectively, of the invasion, thus flashing them as the
standard-bearers for the invaders of the Niger Delta. Are there no
Nigerian military officers from other regions of
Key Issues to be Resolved in Nigeria�s Management of the Niger
Delta Crisis
We know that there are numerous recommendations for solving the
problems of the Niger Delta. The recommendations outlined in the
recent
Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta
(November 2008) are especially worthy of the nation�s attention.
Beyond them, however, there are three fundamental issues, all of which
will help to avoid a repetition of the grave missteps that the Federal
Government has taken in its bad decision to invade the Niger Delta and
subdue it with military force.
Bunkering. This is an economic evil that must be stopped. Most of those
who engage in it are far away from the Niger Delta and are usually
resident in
Electoral Malpractices. During the last General Elections, violence with sophisticated
guns, and thugs hired by political parties to use them, made for the
violent environment in which the elections were conducted. Need we add
that the farcical �elections� were neither free nor fair? Following the elections, public security of the Niger Delta region
was handicapped by the thugs and the guns which the politicians left
behind. We understand that much of such violence was sponsored from
Domestic Warfare.
The deployment of military forces for domestic law and order is rare
and exceptional in most civilized polities. Sadly, in
In any case, this is a serious matter that deserves the attention of
the National Assembly. It is important that
We thank you for reading our petition. We hope you will act in the
best interest of all Nigerians in weighing the issues that we have
raised in this letter.
We remain,
Your Fellow Citizens
Members of Editorial & Management Committee, Urhobo Historical
Society:
Peter P. Ekeh, Ph.D., Chairman
Isaac James Mowoe, J.D., Ph.D., Deputy Chairman
Onoawarie Edevbie, M.A.; M.Sc., Secretary
Edirin Erhiaganoma, M.Sc.
Joseph E. Inikori, Ph.D.
Francis Odemerho, Ph.D.
Omokere E. Odje, Ph.D.
Aruegodore Oyiborhoro, Ed.D.
Ufuoma Scott, LLM
Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor, M.D., Ph.D.
Cc:
President, The Senate, National Assembly,
Speaker, House of Representative, National Assembly,
Governors � Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo and
Speakers � Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo and
Secretary General, United Nations
Secretary for the Commonwealth
Secretary-General, African
President, European Union
United States Secretary of State
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
President-General, Urhobo Progress
President, Ahaneze
President, Afenifere
President, Arewa Consultative Forum
Chief E. K. Clark, Ijaw Leader
RETURN TO CONTENTS | RETURN TO SECOND INVASION PAGE