AZAZI: END OF A DREAM

The remnants of former security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, were committed to mother earth yesterday at Yenegoa, Bayelsa State. That was the last station of one of the chief players in the game of Nigeria’s national insecurity during the past decade.

I knew little about the late General before the publication of a Nigerian Army Intelligence Corp (NAIC) report that indicted him in the colossal theft of weapons from the military warehouses in Kaduna and Jaji when he was the GOC 1DIV. The report was titled “Investigation Report into the Theft and Sale of Arms to Niger Delta Gunrunner by an Officer and Some Soldiers of the 1 Base Ordinance Depot Kaduna. It was submitted to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

The report was published first by Saharareporters in 2010 and on it I wrote one of my longest commentaries in 2010 (http://fridaydiscourse..com/2010/11/discourse-340-nigeria-cannot-trust.html). It was really interesting reading that article and the comments that followed it. Two years after it was leaked, Nigerian authorities have to date not denied anything about the report. Azazi was promptly sacked as the Chief of Army Staff and compulsorily retired from the army by late President Yar’adua based on his role in the theft of the weapons.

Let me recapture a paragraph that summarized the report from that article:

“Briefly, the NAIC report contains details of how close to 7000 assorted weapons were stolen between 2000 and 2007 from the ordinance depots in Kaduna and Jaji. The theft was masterminded by one Maj. SA Akubo, who sold them to Niger Delta militants through Sunday Okar, the junior brother of Henry Oka, the MEND leader. It started with the discovery of the Jaji incident in February 2007, which renewed another inquiry into the theft that has been taking place in Kaduna when Gen. Azazi was the GOC of 1 DIV. Investigations revealed that the two incidents were related. Maj Akubo, Sgt Mathias, LCpl Alexander, LCpl Moses and LCpl Nnamdi were the principal culprits in the incidents. The Kaduna theft was investigated and suppressed by SSS when Lt. KKK Are was its DG in collaboration with Azazi and one Maj Gen Adekhegba, then Director of Military Intelligence (DMI). Azazi continued to cover up the case, first in his capacity as GOC 1DIV, then later as COAS. It took the discovery of the Jaji theft in 2007 and the tenure of another DG of SSS to mount a conclusive investigation. None of the recommendations of the NAIC report were taken seriously except the court-martialling and jailing of Ma. Akubo and the soldiers involved. Sunday Okar was freed and presently aiding Jonathan in the case of the October 1 Bombings against this brother Henry.”


Payment for the stolen weapons were extracted from the state governors James Ibori and DSP Alamieyeseigha, said the report. Since the activity continued well through Jonathan’s tenure as the Governor of Bayelsa state after Alamieyeseigha was impeached, it is safe to conclude that the caches delivered during his tenure as governor were also paid by him. Only that the report fell short of mentioning his name since by the time it was submitted, he was already His Excellency, the Vice-President, but it strongly recommended that politicians involved in the scandal should be investigated to avoid a secessionist becoming the President of the country one day.

Yar’adua was not swift enough, as usual. Before he could decide to probe Jonathan and other Niger Delta governors that were involved in the scandal, his health deteriorated in a manner that remain secret. This time it was not his kidney, we were told by reports then. Rather, it was his lungs. Some alleged that he was poisoned through a microphone but the truth may never be known, as the details of his illness are yet to be declassified by the Nigerian and Saudi authorities.

What is known, however, is that the fear of the military panel that indicted Azazi came to pass, unfortunately for Nigeria. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as the President after the death of Yar’adua and the gates of the presidency and Nigerian security became automatically opened to General Azazi and his syndicate.

After General Aliyu Gusau (rtd) left the NSA office to unsuccessfully pursue his presidential ambition, Jonathan did not go fishing for an NSA. Azazi was already waiting. He appointed him the NSA in spite of the indictment, or precisely because of it. Who can be safer than the person who an Ijaw man shared the secrets of gun running activity before, the brain behind its militant struggle and the architect of its secessionist dream? And who could be a better choice of DG SSS? Guess: A Niger Delta loyalist, Ekpenyong.

The return of Azazi as the NSA witnessed the beginning of one the most violent phases of Nigerian history since after the civil war. First was the Independence Day bombings that were claimed by MEND. Despite the claim, the Jonathan political syndicate roped it on some northerners, principally Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, in a move that will start a series of security blackmails to undermine the North. The nation was entertained even before any investigation would commence with this unbelievably awkward drama of the criminal on the one hand confessing “we did it” and the President on the other defending him by saying, “no you didn’t”. Raymond Dokpesi, the person at the centre of the allegation, a Niger Deltan and chief manager of Babangida’s campaign, would later be settled with a handsome payment of some billions of naira to his media AIT outfit. All the tales of the phone calls linking him to the bombings was thrown into the dustbin.

Well, the office of the NSA, Azazi, took over the matter. Today, I cannot remember what became of it. It is one of the secrets that Azazi might have carried to his grave. But it might not be the only one sharing his grave. Along with this are those of several investigations involving illegal importation of weapons into the country and many ordinary matters that are within the jurisdiction of the police or the custom to handle which the NSA emasculated into his domain of influence.

Then came the goldmine. Boko Haram. Activities of the group resumed and took a very violent form. Bombs started exploding in various places; some claimed by Boko Haram, others still remaining a mystery. Among the mysterious is the 2010 Christmas eve bombing in Jos. From some eyewitness accounts, it is still doubtful whether Boko Haram carried out that attack. But like the findings of every attack would be kept secret, nobody would be able to conclusively say what the truth is.

What is certain is how the office of the NSA became the centre of the fight against Boko Haram. Together with DG SSS, the duo would hijack the entire security operations in the country with the SSS, this time, competing with the police in claiming for arrests of Boko Haram suspects. For the first time in the history of the country, we saw the SSS holding press conferences on matters that are essentially criminal.

The whole Boko Haram saga is seen in the North as a plan orchestrated to decimate the region, which actually informed the initial apathy of the Jonathan regime to the crisis until the group started to hit Abuja. Immediately that happened, the President panicked and obliged virtually to anything that Azazi would request. I think he only turned down the suggestion to arrest Buhari, for which Azazi scolded him. We saw security share in our budget hiked to a whopping one quarter, for example, of which the office of the NSA would have the lion’s share. While the SSS itself with thousands of its operatives and branches nationwide would be allocated only N15billion, the NSA office with not more than 100 staff, most of them on secondment from different security outfits in the country, cornered N150billion.

While as the NSA, Azazi has successfully caged the President in the Villa. Hardly would the President visit anywhere in the country. Azazi has also helped to raise the alarm that the North is not a safe place, causing a number of Ambassadors to relocate to Lagos. The manner in which markets are burnt, how the military goes about extra-judicial killings of suspects and even recent assassination of Mamman Shuwa clearly indicate that there is a hidden hand behind Boko Haram in addition to the yusufiya members that are known to the public. Many believe that Azazi is the anchor of Boko Haram, though the allegation cannot be substantiated beyond the angle of inference.

Azazi tried hard to get the Americans to settle in the Niger Delta as part of its secessionist agenda. His call for strategic alliance with the Americans was politely turned down by the superpower. Judging through their long term strategic interest in the region, the Americans understood that an independent Banana republic of Niger Delta would not be a better secured place for Nigerian oil nor would their presence in the Chad Basin add any value to its strategic interest at a time it is trying to extricate itself from Afghanistan and other areas that brings its troops into direct contact with terrorists. It even refused to list Boko Haram among terrorist organizations, preferring to declare only three of its top leaders as terrorists. America did not stop there in punching Azazi’s balloon. It blamed the crisis on how the north is becoming increasingly alienated in the political and economic schemes of the country. On its part, America opened a cultural centre in the old city of Kano as a confidence building measure after the February 20 attacks by Boko Haram.

By early this year, the way Azazi was messing up was becoming very evident. Jonathan came under pressure to sack him especially after he publicly accused the ruling PDP of causing the Boko Haram crisis. The President sought to reassure the North by appointing Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) as the new NSA. I did not hide my reservations when I negatively commented on the appointment then. Now my point is clear because after his initial tour of the crises-ridden states of Borno, Yobe and Plateau, nothing is heard from the new NSA again.

The reason for the inaction of the new NSA had to do with the continuous presence of Azazi around the President. Until his death, Azazi was the de facto NSA; some would even say the de facto President. Jonathan could not extricate himself from him because of the elaborate network of Niger Delta terrorists and beneficiaries that have long held the President hostage. At the disposal of Azazi even after his sack were the privileges accorded every member of the President’s kitchen cabinet, a fact that became clear after the helicopter crash that terminated his life and security schemes. A retired person offered an executive governor a lift on a naval helicopter. Even with his demise, it is doubtful if the new NSA will have much say on the security of the country. The situation room of our internal security has long shifted from the NSA to the army headquarters.

Azazi has died as one of the richest generals in the country. He successfully made a number of leading militants his partners in multibillion-naira security contracts, including the concessioning of our maritime security. With his death too the allegations of his multibillion-naira properties in Abuja and elsewhere may be substantiated. Sadly, he did not live long to enjoy them.

He has also left behind the legacy of a conflict that only he understood. The Boko Haram insurgency will continue so long as it represents another tunnel through which our treasury would be looted massively, regardless of whom the bombs would kill – soldiers or civilians, Muslims or Christians. Despite its destructive nature, however, it can never break the North.

Azazi has also left behind a dream of building an independent Ijaw nation unaccomplished, though there still remains its army of ‘pardoned’ and ‘rehabilitated’ militants, many of whom received additional military training officially under the amnesty program only to abscond thereafter. His departure has undoubtedly created a vacuum that few Ijaw would fill, more so if the roadmap to the realization of that dream was only in the custody of his brain.

However, that is not the end of the story. He is leaving behind Nigeria – and the North that he worked so much to destroy. Both the country and the region have survived greater machinations in the past. Both of them will survive Boko Haram, the mutual hate induced crises in Plateau and Kaduna states, etc. The sun has set on Azazi but never will it set on this country the way some people think.

Azazi might have died a hero of his people, understandably. He was buried at Ijaw Heroes Park in Yenogoa. In the military and post-Jonathan Nigeria, however, little of him would be remembered better than his criminal record as an accomplice in Okar’s gunrunning activity that led to his compulsory retirement, his anchor of Niger Delta terrorism, his manipulation of Boko Haram, the unguarded utterances that led to his vacation of the NSA office, and then, his violent end in a helicopter crash.

Bye Azazi. Long Live Nigeria.

30 December 2012

"THERE WAS A COUNTRY";THERE IS A COUNTRY ;THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A COUNTRY - NIGERIA, until the end of time.Gradually the youths are coming to terms with reality...!

You will always hear more about Boko haram, because it is an Industry where a lot of security vote of Billions of Naira will be misappro priated. Peoples yearnins and demands will be suprressed, political opponents will be checkmated by accusations of belonging to Boko Haram.

You should just sharpen you eyes and clean yours ears. Despite all the so call phone calls, Dokpesi was rewarded with GEJ's campaign manager after "walking along",

NO? Keep decieving fools. Again, why is IBB free men, even after showing us the text massages implicating him in those twin bombings that killed 26 people in abuja? IBB WALKED AWAY TOO BY ABANDONING HIS PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION.

Why is Timipreye Sylva free, even after threatening to mobilised boko haram to bayelsa to kill jonathan and his entire family if he prevented from re contesting?

I believe this 100%!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's just pray the North will not react on this. They may decide to kill Jonathan and others involved but let them not take it out on the Ijaw population!

If they do, Ijaw will vanish because they won't be able to get pity from any section of the country and the North will manipulate that very well.

Wow!!! just wow!!! I knew Northerners were cruel but I never knew and never believed for a second that they will start killing their own people anyhow.

Jonathan has to resign or not contest the 2015 election else Nigeria will not know peace for another 20 years. Wow!! This are serious allegations and Jonathan really has to just humble himself and give up.

Ijaws are on the verge of self destruction. Not every matter is settled with guns and threats. Your militants are not up to Northern military men. Infact your entire tribe are not upto Northerners in the military.

Gunrunning byt government official? Wow!! This is massive! Really massive!!!!

Let's pray the North will forgive this but I doubt they will. One day, they will revenge which I will totally understand. I will not pity the Ijaws but it'll be sad for Nigeria should the North decide to go to war with the Ijaws. They will bring everything to the open first before they strike.

Once the North start exposing the secrets of what happened, people need to be prepared for a civil war or extreme violence in Niger Delta.

Keep your boko republic but hands off our Biafra. Anyone that died for one niGGAria what a waste of life.

Even GEJ,if he dies for one niGGaria he surely wasted his life.

13volts: You will always hear more about Boko haram, because it is an Industry where a lot of security vote of Billions of Naira will be misappro priated. Peoples yearnins and demands will be suprressed, political opponents will be checkmated by accusations of belonging to Boko Haram.

You should just sharpen you eyes and clean yours ears. Despite all the so call phone calls, Dokpesi was rewarded with GEJ's campaign manager after "walking along",

NO? Keep decieving fools. Again, why is IBB free men, even after showing us the text massages implicating him in those twin bombings that killed 26 people in abuja? IBB WALKED AWAY TOO BY ABANDONING HIS PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION.

Why is Timipreye Sylva free, even after threatening to mobilised boko haram to bayelsa to kill jonathan and his entire family if he prevented from re contesting?

Bro, my fear is revenge of the North. It is their people that Boko Haram is killing the most. And should they decide to act on the fact that Boko Haram is an Ijaw manipulation, it will be really bad for Nigeria. Jonathan has to resign!!

Should i call this a conspiracy theory? But i somehow believe it

And whats wowing you about this? WOW!!!!! Push the north to war against the Ijaws, what are you waiting for,go on campaigning for war between the north and other ethnic groups, it's what people from your side do best.

0lumide: I believe this 100%!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's just pray the North will not react on this. They may decide to kill Jonathan and others involved but let them not take it out on the Ijaw population!

If they do, Ijaw will vanish because they won't be able to get pity from any section of the country and the North will manipulate that very well.

Wow!!! just wow!!! I knew Northerners were cruel but I never knew and never believed for a second that they will start killing their own people anyhow.

Jonathan has to resign or not contest the 2015 election else Nigeria will not know peace for another 20 years. Wow!! This are serious allegations and Jonathan really has to just humble himself and give up.

Ijaws are on the verge of self destruction. Not every matter is settled with guns and threats. Your militants are not up to Northern military men. Infact your entire tribe are not upto Northerners in the military.

Gunrunning byt government official? Wow!! This is massive! Really massive!!!!

Let's pray the North will forgive this but I doubt they will. One day, they will revenge which I will totally understand. I will not pity the Ijaws but it'll be sad for Nigeria should the North decide to go to war with the Ijaws. They will bring everything to the open first before they strike.

Once the North start exposing the secrets of what happened, people need to be prepared for a civil war or extreme violence in Niger Delta.

Noiseless2: And whats wowing you about this? WOW!!!!! Push the north to war against the Ijaws, what are you waiting for,go on campaigning for war between the north and other ethnic groups, it's what people from your side do best.

Odelomo!!! You are a fool!! Aren't the Ijaws the ones asking for it?

If you want to secede do you have to unleash tamed beast?

You think Northerners don't know what's going on? At least their top military officers and recently, Jonathan just retired some of them

It's best for Ijaws to handle business and eliminate the culprits themselves to avoid war!! It's northerners Boko Haram is killing everyday.

They first thought Igbos will join their secession bid by using Boko Haram to kill Igbos in the North but no. Now they turn the heat on Northerners themselves.

The killing of Igbos that happened recently in the North was a enough to lead to civil war but I guess the MASSOB leaders knew what was going on and decided to let the snakes bite their own tails.


Ijaws asked for it. They lost that "our oil" pity everyone had for them.

Green snakes hidden in a green grass! That's what you and anyone you maybe representing are, in your eyes the victims must always be seen as the offenders.
But one thing not many people would doubt is that Azazi has become once again one of countless human heads which their blood must be used for sacrifice to the cultist blood thirsty shrine(niGGAria) just to keep it one,for the selfish interest of others.

0lumide:

Odelomo!!! You are a fool!! Aren't the Ijaws the ones asking for it?

If you want to secede do you have to unleash tamed beast?

You think Northerners don't know what's going on? At least their top military officers and recently, Jonathan just retired some of them

It's best for Ijaws to handle business and eliminate the culprits themselves to avoid war!! It's northerners Boko Haram is killing everyday.

They first thought Igbos will join their secession bid by using Boko Haram to kill Igbos in the North but no. Now they turn the heat on Northerners themselves.

The killing of Igbos that happened recently in the North was a enough to lead to civil war but I guess the MASSOB leaders knew what was going on and decided to let the snakes bite their own tails.


Ijaws asked for it. They lost that "our oil" pity everyone had for them.

Noiseless2: Green snakes hidden in a green grass! That's what you and anyone you maybe representing are, in your eyes the victims must always be seen as the offenders.
But one thing not many people would doubt is that Azazi has become once again one of countless human heads which their blood must be used for sacrifice to the cultist blood thirsty shrine(niGGAria) just to keep it one,for the selfish interest of others.

NO! Azazi has caused the death of innocent kids in the North! Gun running for militants? Dude even if you want Nigeria to divide, a violent atmosphere while talking secession is nothing but civil war!

I won't be surprised if the Niger Delta militants are the ones responsible for Boko Haram. Even western media has stopped calling Boko Haram attacks as Islamist attack, they have started calling it militant attacks..

When the victim tries to cunningly manipulate his/her situation, he or she loses the right to retribution simple!

GOSH!

In as much as i am too skeptical about Gej's performance as president of nigeria, i seriously have pity on nigerians. Nigerianns are just gullible and docile to believe anything, that is why some set of people have continue to manipulate nigerians since independence. I am not in anyway in support of azazzi's so-called indictment on gun-running, if at all is true, but i am just shocked that there is a big conspiracy by northeners to take over power by all means albeit all these their schemings through all these blame-shift theory to justify their self destruction.

These is not a matter of opposition or Gej's supporters, but it is a matter of how can all the south come together to stop these northerners from these part they are about to toe, before they strike. It is no longer about kaduna nzeogwu and igbos killing northern leaders, it is now about the ijaws trying to destabilaze the north. God, every person in the country knows that the sudden violent nature of boko haram is simply because the north lost out of power after the death of late yaradua. Now they are saying that the ijaws want to destabilize the and decimate the north. How many northern leaders have come out openly to condemn boko haram, but we have seen how some of their senators have since been involved in the boko haram activities. How many northerners have condemned the killikng of innocent people and christains through series of bombing by boko haram, but they have consistently condemned the able work of the JTF whenever the retaliate with sorts of propaganda that they kill innocent people and are even pressing for their removal from these zones. HYPOCRITES.

I am igbo, yes, the north decieved the whole world and gullible nigerians to wage a war against the igbos and all the ethnic groups in nigeria fought against the igbos even the south south. I laugh in ijaw. Now, here is another conspiracy theory flying about to decimate the ijaws, so that the north can get back power. It wont be funny this time, not at all, because nigerians are now wiser. Now, it is now the ijaws that want to wipe out the north, not more biafrans killing their leaders. I laugh in ijaw. I am not a Gej a supporter and i am not an opposition and i will calmly sit back as i watch as event unfold in the nearest future. I pity nigerians, many will come online and start to swallow all this conspiracy hook, line and sinker without looking at th bigger picture.

I SIP MY HOLlANDIS YOUGHOURT AS I WATCH MORE EVENTS UNFOLD. WHICH WAY FORWARD MY PEOPLE.

donchris369: GOSH!

In as much as i am too skeptical about Gej's performance as president of nigeria, i seriously have pity on nigerians. Nigerianns are just gullible and docile to believe anything, that is why some set of people have continue to manipulate nigerians since independence. I am not in anyway in support of azazzi's so-called indictment on gun-running, if at all is true, but i am just shocked that there is a big conspiracy by northeners to take over power by all means albeit all these their schemings through all these blame-shift theory to justify their self destruction.

These is not a matter of opposition or Gej's supporters, but it is a matter of how can all the south come together to stop these northerners from these part they are about to toe, before they strike. It is no longer about kaduna nzeogwu and igbos killing northern leaders, it is now about the ijaws trying to destabilaze the north. God, every person in the country knows that the sudden violent nature of boko haram is simply because the north lost out of power after the death of late yaradua. Now they are saying that the ijaws want to destabilize the and decimate the north. How many northern leaders have come out openly to condemn boko haram, but we have seen how some of their senators have since been involved in the boko haram activities. How many northerners have condemned the killikng of innocent people and christains through series of bombing by boko haram, but they have consistently condemned the able work of the JTF whenever the retaliate with sorts of propaganda that they kill innocent people and are even pressing for their removal from these zones. HYPOCRITES.

I am igbo, yes, the north decieved the whole world and gullible nigerians to wage a war against the igbos and all the ethnic groups in nigeria fought against the igbos even the south south. I laugh in ijaw. Now, here is another conspiracy theory flying about to decimate the ijaws, so that the north can get back power. It wont be funny this time, not at all, because nigerians are now wiser. Now, it is now the ijaws that want to wipe out the north, not more biafrans killing their leaders. I laugh in ijaw. I am not a Gej a supporter and i am not an opposition and i will calmly sit back as i watch as event unfold in the nearest future. I pity nigerians, many will come online and start to swallow all this conspiracy hook, line and sinker without looking at th bigger picture.

I SIP MY HOLlANDIS YOUGHOURT AS I WATCH MORE EVENTS UNFOLD. WHICH WAY FORWARD MY PEOPLE.

There is no South again! South died when Ijaws tried to claim Itsekiri land. Yorubas don't want South again. We are for whatever is best for our people and not some Southern solidarity crap.

Southern unity politically died! PDP is a nest of Northern elites but guess which people vote for PDP the most? Hahahaha South ko, unknown pole ni.

Southern solidarity is dead! All man answer your papa name. In the name of some imaginary super mighty "one" north, we have become the oppressors of the different tribes in the imaginary north.

@Moderator front page

Nawa o, I think this is just a story, a false and manipulated one, and I just hope and pray that my thoughts are right and true else 'gongo aso' soon.

By the way, folding of hands and watching on as events unfold is the best for now.

This is jst calling a dog a bad name to hang it.the ijaw nation doesn't hv d might to distabilise d north.remember d north is d military nd d military is d north.do u knw d resourses nd logistics required for such a venture.simply put azazi cannot ,I repeat cannot pull it off.THIS IS CHANGE OF TACTICS.they want to shift focus from d north to d ijaws.I shiver for what's gonna come.

So was Azazi killed by the North?

13volts: AZAZI: END OF A DREAM

The remnants of former security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, were committed to mother earth yesterday at Yenegoa, Bayelsa State. That was the last station of one of the chief players in the game of Nigeria’s national insecurity during the past decade.

I knew little about the late General before the publication of a Nigerian Army Intelligence Corp (NAIC) report that indicted him in the colossal theft of weapons from the military warehouses in Kaduna and Jaji when he was the GOC 1DIV. The report was titled “Investigation Report into the Theft and Sale of Arms to Niger Delta Gunrunner by an Officer and Some Soldiers of the 1 Base Ordinance Depot Kaduna. It was submitted to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

The report was published first by Saharareporters in 2010 and on it I wrote one of my longest commentaries in 2010 (http://fridaydiscourse..com/2010/11/discourse-340-nigeria-cannot-trust.html). It was really interesting reading that article and the comments that followed it. Two years after it was leaked, Nigerian authorities have to date not denied anything about the report. Azazi was promptly sacked as the Chief of Army Staff and compulsorily retired from the army by late President Yar’adua based on his role in the theft of the weapons.

Let me recapture a paragraph that summarized the report from that article:

“Briefly, the NAIC report contains details of how close to 7000 assorted weapons were stolen between 2000 and 2007 from the ordinance depots in Kaduna and Jaji. The theft was masterminded by one Maj. SA Akubo, who sold them to Niger Delta militants through Sunday Okar, the junior brother of Henry Oka, the MEND leader. It started with the discovery of the Jaji incident in February 2007, which renewed another inquiry into the theft that has been taking place in Kaduna when Gen. Azazi was the GOC of 1 DIV. Investigations revealed that the two incidents were related. Maj Akubo, Sgt Mathias, LCpl Alexander, LCpl Moses and LCpl Nnamdi were the principal culprits in the incidents. The Kaduna theft was investigated and suppressed by SSS when Lt. KKK Are was its DG in collaboration with Azazi and one Maj Gen Adekhegba, then Director of Military Intelligence (DMI). Azazi continued to cover up the case, first in his capacity as GOC 1DIV, then later as COAS. It took the discovery of the Jaji theft in 2007 and the tenure of another DG of SSS to mount a conclusive investigation. None of the recommendations of the NAIC report were taken seriously except the court-martialling and jailing of Ma. Akubo and the soldiers involved. Sunday Okar was freed and presently aiding Jonathan in the case of the October 1 Bombings against this brother Henry.”


Payment for the stolen weapons were extracted from the state governors James Ibori and DSP Alamieyeseigha, said the report. Since the activity continued well through Jonathan’s tenure as the Governor of Bayelsa state after Alamieyeseigha was impeached, it is safe to conclude that the caches delivered during his tenure as governor were also paid by him. Only that the report fell short of mentioning his name since by the time it was submitted, he was already His Excellency, the Vice-President, but it strongly recommended that politicians involved in the scandal should be investigated to avoid a secessionist becoming the President of the country one day.

Yar’adua was not swift enough, as usual. Before he could decide to probe Jonathan and other Niger Delta governors that were involved in the scandal, his health deteriorated in a manner that remain secret. This time it was not his kidney, we were told by reports then. Rather, it was his lungs. Some alleged that he was poisoned through a microphone but the truth may never be known, as the details of his illness are yet to be declassified by the Nigerian and Saudi authorities.

What is known, however, is that the fear of the military panel that indicted Azazi came to pass, unfortunately for Nigeria. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as the President after the death of Yar’adua and the gates of the presidency and Nigerian security became automatically opened to General Azazi and his syndicate.

After General Aliyu Gusau (rtd) left the NSA office to unsuccessfully pursue his presidential ambition, Jonathan did not go fishing for an NSA. Azazi was already waiting. He appointed him the NSA in spite of the indictment, or precisely because of it. Who can be safer than the person who an Ijaw man shared the secrets of gun running activity before, the brain behind its militant struggle and the architect of its secessionist dream? And who could be a better choice of DG SSS? Guess: A Niger Delta loyalist, Ekpenyong.

The return of Azazi as the NSA witnessed the beginning of one the most violent phases of Nigerian history since after the civil war. First was the Independence Day bombings that were claimed by MEND. Despite the claim, the Jonathan political syndicate roped it on some northerners, principally Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, in a move that will start a series of security blackmails to undermine the North. The nation was entertained even before any investigation would commence with this unbelievably awkward drama of the criminal on the one hand confessing “we did it” and the President on the other defending him by saying, “no you didn’t”. Raymond Dokpesi, the person at the centre of the allegation, a Niger Deltan and chief manager of Babangida’s campaign, would later be settled with a handsome payment of some billions of naira to his media AIT outfit. All the tales of the phone calls linking him to the bombings was thrown into the dustbin.

Well, the office of the NSA, Azazi, took over the matter. Today, I cannot remember what became of it. It is one of the secrets that Azazi might have carried to his grave. But it might not be the only one sharing his grave. Along with this are those of several investigations involving illegal importation of weapons into the country and many ordinary matters that are within the jurisdiction of the police or the custom to handle which the NSA emasculated into his domain of influence.

Then came the goldmine. Boko Haram. Activities of the group resumed and took a very violent form. Bombs started exploding in various places; some claimed by Boko Haram, others still remaining a mystery. Among the mysterious is the 2010 Christmas eve bombing in Jos. From some eyewitness accounts, it is still doubtful whether Boko Haram carried out that attack. But like the findings of every attack would be kept secret, nobody would be able to conclusively say what the truth is.

What is certain is how the office of the NSA became the centre of the fight against Boko Haram. Together with DG SSS, the duo would hijack the entire security operations in the country with the SSS, this time, competing with the police in claiming for arrests of Boko Haram suspects. For the first time in the history of the country, we saw the SSS holding press conferences on matters that are essentially criminal.

The whole Boko Haram saga is seen in the North as a plan orchestrated to decimate the region, which actually informed the initial apathy of the Jonathan regime to the crisis until the group started to hit Abuja. Immediately that happened, the President panicked and obliged virtually to anything that Azazi would request. I think he only turned down the suggestion to arrest Buhari, for which Azazi scolded him. We saw security share in our budget hiked to a whopping one quarter, for example, of which the office of the NSA would have the lion’s share. While the SSS itself with thousands of its operatives and branches nationwide would be allocated only N15billion, the NSA office with not more than 100 staff, most of them on secondment from different security outfits in the country, cornered N150billion.

While as the NSA, Azazi has successfully caged the President in the Villa. Hardly would the President visit anywhere in the country. Azazi has also helped to raise the alarm that the North is not a safe place, causing a number of Ambassadors to relocate to Lagos. The manner in which markets are burnt, how the military goes about extra-judicial killings of suspects and even recent assassination of Mamman Shuwa clearly indicate that there is a hidden hand behind Boko Haram in addition to the yusufiya members that are known to the public. Many believe that Azazi is the anchor of Boko Haram, though the allegation cannot be substantiated beyond the angle of inference.

Azazi tried hard to get the Americans to settle in the Niger Delta as part of its secessionist agenda. His call for strategic alliance with the Americans was politely turned down by the superpower. Judging through their long term strategic interest in the region, the Americans understood that an independent Banana republic of Niger Delta would not be a better secured place for Nigerian oil nor would their presence in the Chad Basin add any value to its strategic interest at a time it is trying to extricate itself from Afghanistan and other areas that brings its troops into direct contact with terrorists. It even refused to list Boko Haram among terrorist organizations, preferring to declare only three of its top leaders as terrorists. America did not stop there in punching Azazi’s balloon. It blamed the crisis on how the north is becoming increasingly alienated in the political and economic schemes of the country. On its part, America opened a cultural centre in the old city of Kano as a confidence building measure after the February 20 attacks by Boko Haram.

By early this year, the way Azazi was messing up was becoming very evident. Jonathan came under pressure to sack him especially after he publicly accused the ruling PDP of causing the Boko Haram crisis. The President sought to reassure the North by appointing Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) as the new NSA. I did not hide my reservations when I negatively commented on the appointment then. Now my point is clear because after his initial tour of the crises-ridden states of Borno, Yobe and Plateau, nothing is heard from the new NSA again.

The reason for the inaction of the new NSA had to do with the continuous presence of Azazi around the President. Until his death, Azazi was the de facto NSA; some would even say the de facto President. Jonathan could not extricate himself from him because of the elaborate network of Niger Delta terrorists and beneficiaries that have long held the President hostage. At the disposal of Azazi even after his sack were the privileges accorded every member of the President’s kitchen cabinet, a fact that became clear after the helicopter crash that terminated his life and security schemes. A retired person offered an executive governor a lift on a naval helicopter. Even with his demise, it is doubtful if the new NSA will have much say on the security of the country. The situation room of our internal security has long shifted from the NSA to the army headquarters.

Azazi has died as one of the richest generals in the country. He successfully made a number of leading militants his partners in multibillion-naira security contracts, including the concessioning of our maritime security. With his death too the allegations of his multibillion-naira properties in Abuja and elsewhere may be substantiated. Sadly, he did not live long to enjoy them.

He has also left behind the legacy of a conflict that only he understood. The Boko Haram insurgency will continue so long as it represents another tunnel through which our treasury would be looted massively, regardless of whom the bombs would kill – soldiers or civilians, Muslims or Christians. Despite its destructive nature, however, it can never break the North.

Azazi has also left behind a dream of building an independent Ijaw nation unaccomplished, though there still remains its army of ‘pardoned’ and ‘rehabilitated’ militants, many of whom received additional military training officially under the amnesty program only to abscond thereafter. His departure has undoubtedly created a vacuum that few Ijaw would fill, more so if the roadmap to the realization of that dream was only in the custody of his brain.

However, that is not the end of the story. He is leaving behind Nigeria – and the North that he worked so much to destroy. Both the country and the region have survived greater machinations in the past. Both of them will survive Boko Haram, the mutual hate induced crises in Plateau and Kaduna states, etc. The sun has set on Azazi but never will it set on this country the way some people think.

Azazi might have died a hero of his people, understandably. He was buried at Ijaw Heroes Park in Yenogoa. In the military and post-Jonathan Nigeria, however, little of him would be remembered better than his criminal record as an accomplice in Okar’s gunrunning activity that led to his compulsory retirement, his anchor of Niger Delta terrorism, his manipulation of Boko Haram, the unguarded utterances that led to his vacation of the NSA office, and then, his violent end in a helicopter crash.

Bye Azazi. Long Live Nigeria.

30 December 2012

Useless write up, that is why u people killed aziza and yakowa.
Foolish people

This is far reaching & a blatant indictment of GEJ and his Criminal entity to cripple the North under the pretext of BokoHaram

Over 2000 of the innocent in this region have lost their Lives and this without mincing words is a Declaration of War on the North by the Niger-Deltans.

quite convincing . thought provoking . i hope it becomes action encouraging
. waits till is morning and people read this . i want read comments .

power of the free internet in action

Conspiracy theorists, so the spokesperson of Boko Haram is Ijaw man? The Boko Haram spokes person uses Hausa language to claim responsibility for nearly all bombings. Well, if any part of the country wants to wage war against Niger Delta, then its the end of that region. Cos we will trade oil for nuclear weapons and wipe you guys off the map of this planet. Never again will any tribe in this country wage a war against the Niger Delta. With all my heart I so swear!

lacasa: This is far reaching & a blatant indictment of GEJ and his Criminal entity to cripple the North under the pretext of BokoHaram

Over 2000 of the innocent in this region have lost their Lives and this without mincing words is a Declaration of War on the North by the Niger-Deltans.

And so what ? If we take Presidency and kill the Northerners, what are you gonna do about it ? I thought you guys called GEJ a retardeen. F'y'all

Northern politicians and the so-called Biafrans do share one Xteristic.

They are both adept at adding together unintelligent stories all in a naked effort to blame their failures on others.
It goes like this - the Biafrans blame the Yoruba for anything bad that befall them, and the Northern politicians will always blame Ibos for all their issues.

This "concorted" story reminds me of how SLS blamed his attempt to smuggle Sharia banking into Nigeria on Ibos, and how Rufai blamed the same set of people for Boko Haram. Mr. Tilde now blames Azazi for Boko Haram. I guess Azazi was the one that went to Afghanistan to train with terrorists, came back and set up a camp called Afghanistan and started to shoot at the police and the army. It must have been Azazi that sent Hausa men to bomb the UN building and to bomb churches, beer parlours, and much more. Azazi must be the northern politicians that are on record as paying Boko Haram and been in constant communication with the disgusting group too!!!

I am ashamed of people that "believe this 100%" because this is the kind of thinking process they display on this forum each and everyday. Try to go to the link provided in the article and see that it doesn't work. I even indulged him to find the article labeled 340 just to be sure, and what I find is completely unrelated to Azazi:http://fridaydiscourse..com/2012/01/discourse-340-weep-not-kano-be.html The article he meant to point to is this: http://fridaydiscourse..com/2010/11/discourse-310-nigeria-cannot-trust.html.

The current article is simply the usual blame them for our issues, and a great way to excuse the inability of NSA Dasuki to do the job he so boasted he will do upon his appointment.

Billyonaire: Conspiracy theorists, so the spokesperson of Boko Haram is Ijaw man? The Boko Haram spokes person uses Hausa language to claim responsibility for nearly all bombings. Well, if any part of the country wants to wage war against Niger Delta, then its the end of that region. Cos we will trade oil for nuclear weapons and wipe you guys off the map of this planet. Never again will any tribe in this country wage a war against the Niger Delta. With all my heart I so swear!

Its not by mouth oh my broda.... Who are the ijaws? Coz you have a brother who is lucky retarded drunkard and shoeless son of a fisherman that's why you are blabbing sh*t...

I sip my la casera and where the heck is my gala.... Billyonaire bring gala jare... Tek N100 give me 1gala

Billyonaire: Conspiracy theorists, so the spokesperson of Boko Haram is Ijaw man? The Boko Haram spokes person uses Hausa language to claim responsibility for nearly all bombings. Well, if any part of the country wants to wage war against Niger Delta, then its the end of that region. Cos we will trade oil for nuclear weapons and wipe you guys off the map of this planet. Never again will any tribe in this country wage a war against the Niger Delta. With all my heart I so swear!

In d spirit of our oneness in Niger Delta, i concur. . . . .dare us and get nuked.

Certainly this article is mumbo-jumbo conspiracy talk upping Azazi involvement with ND militancy to a role in Boko Haram.
However, the same behavior displayed in this article is what you and your ilk display each and everyday here on NL, as shown by your ignor-arrog-ant statement below.

Billyonaire: Conspiracy theorists, so the spokesperson of Boko Haram is Ijaw man? The Boko Haram spokes person uses Hausa language to claim responsibility for nearly all bombings. Well, if any part of the country wants to wage war against Niger Delta, then its the end of that region. Cos we will trade oil for nuclear weapons and wipe you guys off the map of this planet. Never again will any tribe in this country wage a war against the Niger Delta. With all my heart I so swear!

malele:
Useless write up, that is why u people killed aziza and yakowa.
Foolish people

Broda why you too dey exhibit foolishness by quoting the whole rubbish

Its no News that GEJ and his Ijaw comrades are the real boko haram and the criminal Shekau,Kabiru sokoto etc are on their pay roll. They call themselves Boko Haram which means "Western Education is forbiden",but have never attacked any western educational institution except for a local primary school that was burnt mid this year. They declared war on govt,but no top govt official has ever been killed only the opposition. They killed most islamic scholars that stood in their way,most notably Sheikh Jafar Adam. All their activities points towards the destruction of the north that's why they moved to Kaduna and Kano,the political and commercial nerves respectively of the north,since they believe. This article only gives more justification to what many in the north think.

Billyonaire: Conspiracy theorists, so the spokesperson of Boko Haram is Ijaw man? The Boko Haram spokes person uses Hausa language to claim responsibility for nearly all bombings. Well, if any part of the country wants to wage war against Niger Delta, then its the end of that region. Cos we will trade oil for nuclear weapons and wipe you guys off the map of this planet. Never again will any tribe in this country wage a war against the Niger Delta. With all my heart I so swear!

You too de watch cartoon.

lacasa: This is far reaching & a blatant indictment of GEJ and his Criminal entity to cripple the North under the pretext of BokoHaram

Over 2000 of the innocent in this region have lost their Lives and this without mincing words is a Declaration of War on the North by the Niger-Deltans.

Chie, why you come dey reason like jonathan.
So it was the ijaws that said nigeria will be ungovernable after election.

donchris369: GOSH!

In as much as i am too skeptical about Gej's performance as president of nigeria, i seriously have pity on nigerians. Nigerianns are just gullible and docile to believe anything, that is why some set of people have continue to manipulate nigerians since independence. I am not in anyway in support of azazzi's so-called indictment on gun-running, if at all is true, but i am just shocked that there is a big conspiracy by northeners to take over power by all means albeit all these their schemings through all these blame-shift theory to justify their self destruction.

These is not a matter of opposition or Gej's supporters, but it is a matter of how can all the south come together to stop these northerners from these part they are about to toe, before they strike. It is no longer about kaduna nzeogwu and igbos killing northern leaders, it is now about the ijaws trying to destabilaze the north. God, every person in the country knows that the sudden violent nature of boko haram is simply because the north lost out of power after the death of late yaradua. Now they are saying that the ijaws want to destabilize the and decimate the north. How many northern leaders have come out openly to condemn boko haram, but we have seen how some of their senators have since been involved in the boko haram activities. How many northerners have condemned the killikng of innocent people and christains through series of bombing by boko haram, but they have consistently condemned the able work of the JTF whenever the retaliate with sorts of propaganda that they kill innocent people and are even pressing for their removal from these zones. HYPOCRITES.

I am igbo, yes, the north decieved the whole world and gullible nigerians to wage a war against the igbos and all the ethnic groups in nigeria fought against the igbos even the south south. I laugh in ijaw. Now, here is another conspiracy theory flying about to decimate the ijaws, so that the north can get back power. It wont be funny this time, not at all, because nigerians are now wiser. Now, it is now the ijaws that want to wipe out the north, not more biafrans killing their leaders. I laugh in ijaw. I am not a Gej a supporter and i am not an opposition and i will calmly sit back as i watch as event unfold in the nearest future. I pity nigerians, many will come online and start to swallow all this conspiracy hook, line and sinker without looking at th bigger picture.

I SIP MY HOLlANDIS YOUGHOURT AS I WATCH MORE EVENTS UNFOLD. WHICH WAY FORWARD MY PEOPLE.

Igbo people with their OSU brains!smh

Abi. Help me ask am.

fkaz:
Broda why you too dey exhibit foolishness by quoting the whole rubbish