A plea to Niger Delta Elders

The growing tension in the Niger Delta, and the increasing apprehension among Nigerians, occasioned by the blowing up of oil and gas pipelines within the last one week by the Niger Delta Avengers, a newly formed militant group that says its goal is to wreak Nigeria’s economy, should be of serious concern to all those who love Nigeria and want her peace and prosperity.  And there’s very strong reason for holding and ventilating this position.

As a country, another round of militancy and insurrection in the Niger Delta is something we don’t need at this time or any other. Moreover, if care is not taken, we may be confronting another monster that would be difficult to tame more so when the Boko Haram terror group yet remains to be completely annihilated.

For some citizens who think Nigeria is perhaps under the yoke of some form of curse for being in perpetual conflict-mode, they might even be pardoned. The reality of our country which cannot be denied, and sadly so, is that we seem to be under tension and pressure virtually most of the time because when one conflict ends, another seems to start almost immediately. Yet, we need peace for any meaningful development to take place!

Of course, due to the under-development of the Niger Delta despite its oil wealth, there is no doubt that the federal government has carried out great injustice against the oil-producing Niger Delta area. But great efforts, especially after the late former President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, took over power in 2007, have been made to find different ways of correcting this national errors and atoning for Nigeria’s ‘sins’ against the people of the Niger Delta.

But it seems despite the federal government’s sincere efforts at developing the area through the creation of a whole ministry to attend to its affairs, and setting up the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), aside putting in place the Amnesty Programme for former militants, committing funds to cleaning years of up oil pollution, and empowering youths in the Niger Delta, all these are still not enough to the group.

On Thursday, Well D25 in Abiteye, a major gas facility owned by Chevron, was blown up and the Niger Delta Avengers duly claimed responsibility in a statement released by Mudoch Agbinibo, its spokesman. The group also blew up major pipelines in Alero, Dibi, Otunana and Makaraba flow stations, which feed the Chevron tank farm, putting it out of operation.

It further claimed responsibility for blowing up pipelines linking the Warri and Kaduna refineries, and in the process, crippling Nigeria’s ability to refine some four million gallons of gasoline per day aside damaging the gas line that feeds the Lagos and Abuja electricity power supply. “With this development, the Warri and Kaduna refineries will be shut down and all cities that depend on the gas line for power will all be in total darkness, like the creeks of the Niger Delta.”

Of course, these are not mere claims as the adverse effects of the group’s actions are being felt with the absence of electricity in most parts of the country as I type this article.

The group’s attacks have completed disrupted Chevron’s operations in the Niger Delta. Even Shell has also started the evacuation of most of its staff from Eja OML 79, one of its production facilities where production of 90,000 barrels of oil per day has been halted.

That these oil companies have started evacuating their staff speaks to the type of confidence they have in the Nigerian military in offering them adequate protection. Really, it’s an embarrassment that the group was still able to carry out its attacks despite the presence of military personnel around the affected pipelines stationed there for protection.

It’s also a shame that despite the injection of billions of naira into the Niger Delta and the Amnesty programme by the federal government, this hasn’t really translated into infrastructure development in the area or widespread prosperity for the people who can no longer carry out their fishing and farming activities due to oil pollution and environmental degradation of their ancestral lands.

It’s even more heart-rending that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a son of the Niger Delta, was not able to make a distinctive difference on the area while in office. As a son of the soil, I believe there were ways Jonathan could have ensured the oil wealth of the people added more value to the lives of citizens in the area without in any way making other parts of the country feel cheated or slighted. It was a Presidency that was clearly not maximised for the utmost good of the people. This is why groups like the Niger Delta Avengers can now be blackmailing the country and holding everyone to ransom.

The federal government and Nigeria’s security forces sure have a lot to do in curbing these attacks. But using force alone, as various experiences have shown, cannot be the way out. Dialogue is key. And a visible development of the Niger Delta is sacrosanct. People in the Niger Delta also need to demand more accountability from their state governors.

That is why I want to make this plea to all leaders in the Niger Delta to not sit still and watch the situation degenerate. Now is the time for them to speak out and appeal to the youths to calm down and give peace a chance. We don’t need the tensed peace of the graveyard in the Niger Delta in particular or the country as a whole.

Now is the time for the King Alfred Diete-Spiffs, the Edwin Clarks, the Annkio Briggs, the Ledum Mitees, the Joseph Evahs, and other leaders of the Niger Delta, to speak out and ask these ‘Avengers’ to sheath their swords and listen to reason. What really is the sense in crippling oil operations and further compounding the economic woes of the country and the wellbeing of all Nigerians including their own kith and kin in the Niger Delta? Whose cause does blowing up oil and gas pipelines further? Nigerians? Niger Deltans? Or their own cause? Even, what cause are they really fighting for?  If it is to cripple the Nigerian economy like its spokesman has said, it is a goal that must never be allowed to see the light of day.

Even though the group has expressly made it clear that it isn’t ready to listen to any of the leaders in the Niger Delta, and has in fact, asked all Niger Delta politicians, traditional rulers, and community leaders to mind their business and leave the liberation of the Niger Delta people to them, even as they are also threatening to take the fight to the doorstep of any leader who dares interfere in what they are doing, I believe these leaders should not and must not allow themselves to be cowed into silence. They must ask the Avengers to forego the plans of extending attacks to Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Calabar like it has already threatened to do.

That is why I find it heart-warming and commendable that the Pere (traditional ruler) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, HRM Oboro-Gbaraun II, Aketekpe Agadaba, has offered to mediate in the face-off between the federal government, Tompolo and the militants despite his dissatisfaction about the neglect of his kingdom by government. I urge other leaders to join the royal monarch in carrying out this patriotic assignment.

Blowing up oil pipelines to refineries like the Niger Delta Avengers are doing will only compound the economic distress in the land. We don’t need it. And it’s necessary to remind these so-called avengers that those who choose to take the laws into the hands don’t quite escape justice no matter how long they run, or where they hide. This is a conflict whose cost will be too expensive for all parties involved. It is thus important that the federal government, state governors and elders in the Niger Delta, and all stakeholders in the country, as a matter of urgency and necessity, do everything humanly possible to quell the situation before it escalates any further.

Kolawole is an award-winning journalist and author. You can follow him on twitter: @ofemigan