‘Freedom is not cheap. But it is

A people’s right to live it and be

At peace in their own God-given land.

It is worth fighting and dying for’

-------------Author Unknown

Like the classic mindset of old generals, Obasanjo seems to have internalized the belief that military force with over whelming fire-power alone is the best solution in the Niger-delta. So, he can not help but use every public fora in recent times to drumbeat his love for this tested, yet worn-out gunboat doctrine.

In a meeting with the so-called stakeholders of the Niger-delta, he bemoaned the rising phenomenon of hostage taking and warned about using the Armed Forces to sub due the militants, whom paid agents of the oil corporations would like to call terrorists. However, Obasanjo’s veiled reference to using military force to massacre defenseless villagers and communities in the Niger-delta and elsewhere has become too predictable and familiar.

Well, it is sad and unfortunate that the president of Nigeria is yet to learn the bitter lessons of conflict resolutions in the past and those unfolding now in other parts of the world. Obasanjo ought to know but seems to have ignored the lessons of Southern Africa, nor the on-going war in Iraq where military force and over whelming fire-power is yet to solve the conflict and the larger Middle East political imbroglio. It seems strange that Obasanjo, as a retired military general and student of military history, would forget so soon the recent war in Lebanon, all that fire-power and the aftermath.

Given Obasanjo’s selective memory and the federal government’s seeming lack of fully understanding the dynamics that drive the militants in the region, it becomes imperative here, to once again surmarise the history of the struggle.

In this context, one must return to names like late Maj. Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro and Ken. Saro-Wiwa who need no long introduction in the struggle for self emancipation in the Niger-delta. After more than fifty years of crude-oil discovery in the region, the socio-economic and political gains of the black gold has yet to trickle down to the region. The prevailing abject poverty and unraveling tragedy of the Niger-delta is nauseating as it is unimaginable. Unable to stem the tide of the scorched-earth policies of the giant oil corporations and systematic neglect by the federal government for decades, it was late Major Adaka Boro who first declared for the creation of the federal Republic of the Niger-delta. His rag-tag army or a motley crew of rebels called the revolutinaries of the Niger-delta was the first to take up arms to confront the federal government in the struggle for freedom and justice in the region. Many years later, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the internationally acclaimed playwright, journalist and human rights activist would be murdered for his efforts to give the tragedy in the region a human face on the international stage by Gen. Sani Abacha, the Nigerian military strong man at the time.

So, the history of the struggle for self emancipation in the Niger-delta has been a long one. And it is on-going in large part because peaceful resolution and dialogue with the federal government and the oil corporations for years have yielded little or nothing at all. Extinuating circumstances made more painful by large scale degradation of the eco-system and lack of meaningful jobs in its place has created an envirroment where the competing needs of survival and existence is getting more and more desperate. With these dire conditions looking to be unchanged any time soon, the rise of MEND and other militant groups in the Niger-delta is imperative.

While hostage taking is abhorred in its strongest terms, the militants and indeed the people of the Niger-delta feel that they have been pushed to a corner with little room to wiggle, leaving them with no choice but to fight with the best way they can. For long, the federal government and the oil corporations have being calling the shots. The militants now want the age long conflict solved on their terms.

In the main time, the strategy of the militants seem to be working and Obasanjo’s threat to use over whelming fire-power is a sign of desperation that can only escalate the conflict.Obasanjo’s tough talk without any immediate, practical, meaningful and reassuring strategies on the ground to emiolorate and redress the poverty and associated ramifications appears to be all sound and fury, signifying nothing! From the federal government’s standpoint, the people of the Niger-delta must stoop or crawl with cap in hand to beg for what is their right. On the other hand, the militants see the long and continuing injustice meted to the region as a cancer in the body of Nigeria that must be surgically extricated through an invasive procedure ; regardless the trauma and its cost. It is only logical, therefore to infer that the battle lines have been drawn, the rules of engagement complicated and the creeks and rivers of fire will be ugly and reminiscent of the dog days of the Nigerian civil war. In the dense mangrove jungles of the Niger-delta, the terrain of meandering rivers, creeks and swamps is intimidating, to say the least. Here, the Nigerian Armed Forces will not be fighting a conventional war fare. Sure, the militants will be over manned interms of numbers, but their superior knowledge of the battle field and the fact that they are more mobile and working in small groups should give them some advantage. Unlike the rag-tag revolutionaries of Maj. Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, these militants are going to be better funded, equipped and far more prudent in managing all aspects of the effort to liberate the whole Niger-delta from federal government tyranny and oppression. The federal government’s thinking that the militants are all jobless and uneducated youths with criminal intent who can be apprehended in a few weeks of overwhelming fire-power will be unfortunate, if not a tactical and strategic miscalculation.

After all is said and done, the federal government may realize too late that the cost of winning the war in the Niger-delta can not upstage that of winning the peace and the trust of the people of the region.Because peace is a long road guarded by the fundamental principles of justice and fair play. From the on-going, it is eminent that the federal government’s resolve to crush the crisis militarily and the militants’ avowed determination to further stoke the fires of revolution are both headed for a collision course. As a result, the prospects for long time peace in the region appears to dim faster than its eco-system is being polluted and destroyed daily. Complicating all of this, is MEND’s demand from the government to release Asari Doukubo and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa state. As far as yours sincerely is concerned, it is an open secret to all and sundry, that Alamieyeseigha was one of the most corrupt governors of the Niger-delta, if not in the country. He misappropriated the huge opportunity given him to transform the state but ended up transforming himself into a bloated ego-maniac and disgraced politician like the rest of them ought to be. He left the state as destitute as it can ever be. Therefore, MEND’s bizarre demand for his release point to a credibility deficit that will continue to undermine her otherwise noble war on injustice, discrimination and tyranny. For MEND to be taken seriously, it must widen the war to include all the local political leaders who are shamelessly corrupt and have become the cog in the wheel of the region’s progress. For instance, Jonathan Goodluck is declaring the award of thousands of contracts in Bayelsa state, just like Alamieyeseigha before him, yet nothing to show for it on the ground calls for it to be the target of the militancy in the Niger-delta. However, the rest of the civilized world must continue to stand with the people of the Niger-delta as the sanctuary of poverty and hopelessness. Where the drama of existence is harrowing, tragic and sub- human at best. All people of goodwill must pray that from the crisis will come a haven of prosperity, progress and peace. The region is rich enough to sustain the people’s dream of good roads, beautiful cities, constant electricity, functioning quality education, affordable health- care, thriving economies, the Paradise of tourism and the good life. Nigerians need not leave Nigeria to live these normal dreams. And as Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Coalition will like to say, “ let’s keep hope alive, let’s keep hope alive.”

Ebasain@yahoo.com

Minnesota, USA

Robot  # 1 | 04.02.2007 06:50

‘Freedom is not cheap. But it is A people’s right to live it and b...Read the full article.