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Urhobo Historical Society |
Reflections on Historical and
Political
Dimensions of
the Federal Government’s Second
Military
Invasion of
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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
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