RECENTLY two Ijaws citizens have come
under the light of the agents charged with
corruption-Mrs. Deziani Allison – Madukwe,
and Chief D. S. P Alamieyesiegha. One was
arrested in London plushest address at no1
Park lane, another one was being sought out by the British police to answer charges of
money laundering. This piece in no way condones their alleged
corrupt practices and no one should read it as
such. For the benefit of doubt Mrs. Deziani
Allison-Madueke was charged for corruption;
the NNPC over which she presided was the
Sodom and Gomorrah of corruption and the stories about how allegedly corrupt NNPC was
a legion. As for Governor DSP Alamieyesiegha, he ran
away from Nigeria to undergo a tummy tuck
operation in Germany, when the warrant for
his arrest was issued in Dubai, he ran to
London where he was thoroughly watched by
the Secret Services of Britain. He left London, according to some sources, with the active
connivance of the British authorities, for Cote
de Ivorie en route to Nigeria. On arrival to
Nigeria he was promptly arrested by EFCC. But he spent several months in the hospital in
Lagos and Abuja before he was released. A
couple of years later he was pardoned by
President Goodluck Jonathan. About a fourth
night ago he was said to be wanted by the
British authorities for money laundering. He has not been enjoying good health, although
the incessant and unrelenting pursuit by the
British and other authorities could not have
improved his health. He died soon after. Let’s go back to the antecedent of
Alamieyesiegha’s impeachment. A good
precedent in law is that, although an
enthusiastic officer may pursue a case with all
due diligence, he may not do so while breaking
the law. Alamieyesiegha impeachment was a travesty of the Nigeria constitution. He may
have been a thief but the law demands proof in
a proper court by the prosecution that the
culprit is indeed guilty. The impeachment provision in our constitution
is antithetical to that very constitution which
guarantees to every individual the right of
justice. Mr. DSP Alamieyesiegha was
dragooned into impeachment by over zealous
EFCC members, on the order of higher authorities. There are 24 members of the
Bayelsa State House of Assembly. The EFCC simply picked up all of them and
asked them to account for the one billion Naira
constituency project they signed for, they
were all locked up at 15 Awolowo road and
asked to sign a declaration condemning the
government or explain a one billion naira constituency project each received in their
states. This declaration formed the basis of the
impeachment, which lasted eight hours from
when they returned, to Yenogoa in Bayelsa.
The House formed a committee to impeach,
asked the Chief Judge to draw up changes
and set up an impeachment tribunal which reported to the Chief Judge who rubber
stamped this Kangaroo court. Our constitution although is a legal document,
is written in simple English which could be
understood even by the near illiterate. Can
impeachment, proceed if it does ask for a
committee to draw up the charges, it does ask
for the intervention of the chief judge but it further asks, as is normal in other cases, for
the accused to be informed of the charges
against him on both occasions and more
importantly that the accused must be given a
right of reply within 21days after the charges
preferred against him have been published. None of this was done in Bayelsa. Mr.
Goodluck was the Deputy Governor and he
saw all these illegalities yet he accepted them
so that he may be Governor. When he
became President he attempted to right a
palpable wrong. He granted Governor Alamieyesiegha a pardon. The impeachment
of Alamieyesiegha took all of seven hours
from when the assembly men came back to
Bayelsa. Does this mean that the Governor
was not corrupt? Not at all. But it does mean
that our Law enforcement agencies cannot in the pursuit of a particular case commit a
plethora of offence and get away with them.
Most Nigerians have a simplistic view of
matters such as this: but the man was corrupt
etc. he should be in jail. Should this be the
case then for all the Governors, Presidents, Vice President we have ever had, should on
the say so of Nigerians be in jail. The case against Alamieyesiegha wasn’t
proved and can never be proved since he is
now dead. Many people would be puzzled as
to my stand in this issue clearly; they would
say Alamieyesiegha was guilty of corruption.
Why waste government’s time and money to prove the clearly evident? You do it because
it’s the basis of Democracy- a man is free,
innocent until proven guilty. Alamieyesiegha
was one of 36 thriving governors, one of
thousands thieving politicians; his death in no
way or reduces the culpability of the others. Alamieyesiegha was hounded to death
because he was a minority. Deziani’s case is more difficult to defend
because so far it is going according to Law.
Many Ijaws have complained about her
implacable hatred of her fellow ethnic
comperes; that her shadow fell far away from
the Ijaws: her favour went to many non Ijaws all of whom are lining up to put bigger nails on
her coffin. I am on record of saying that the job was too
big for her, just as Jonathan’s job, turned out
to be big for him. She inherited a broken
NNPC, totally unfit for purpose. She had no
one to advise her on what to do; those who
advised her became instant enemies. She worked in a kleptocracy and there was no
cause for her to distinguish herself in that
group except maybe excel in their peculiar
calling. Her appointment confirms a simple fact- the
International Oil Companies (IOC) are
inherently in an antagonist relationship to
NNPC. This is not that bad but one cannot
keep going to those one regulates to pick the
head of NNPC. Her knowledge of the business was skimpy but does she deserve her present
treatment? To answer such question we have to delve into
history. Oil which though no more than 10% of
GDP produces over 90% of funds for the
federal government which then divides the
proceeds among the 36 states. The governors
of the nine oil producing states are the super stars of Committee of Governors (COGs). As
far back as 2001 when oil prices started to rise
the political Mecca of politicians was Port
Harcourt, Uyo, Asaba, Bayelsa etc. No political
party holds convention anywhere else but in
these states and in Abuja where the tab was picked up by the oil producing state
Governors. These states had governors who
all wished to progress further to be President
or Vice President; all were promised such
reward for funding the party. There is nothing in this world simpler than
blowing up the ego of an already egotistical
governor. The Governors were the building
blocks on the tracks to the Presidential race
and there was no lack of supporters egging
them on. It was indeed for this reason that made the
President refuse to name a minister for oil:
instead he named an Adviser who lived in
Vienna and come from the north. Had he been alive Mr. Buhari would have had a
fight in his hand to get the nomination. Now,
comes Deziani who obviously had no interest
to be the president but supremely interested in
Mr. Goodluck, if the periodic scream of
Patience is to be believed. If she had presidential ambition she hid them very well.
But there was no doubt that she was the most
powerful minister and to cross her was to lose
your job. Her mooring were strong in the
presidency and she strengthened them with
other familiar relationships. That Patience was unable to unseat her is an
indication of her strength. Every other minister
who crossed her had reason to apologize. Her
strength was with Mr. Jonathan and once he
lost the election she was totally at sea with a
host of enemies. She never tried to build a power base or a constituency convinced, as
most of her colleagues were, that PDP would
win that election. How could they lose with a
war chest of trillions? My point, however, is not
to defend her but to point out the sorry state of
South-South geopolitical area since the demise of Alams and Ibori and Odili. These three were
in charge of funding PDP and is coterie of
politicians. They were no more corrupt than all other
governors, all politically exposed people who
worked a system that was mired in corruption.
If this is so, why the concentration on
punishment on people from South-South? Ibori,
Alams, Igbinedion, Deziani etc. (Peter was able to act an injunction to stop inquiries into his
affairs otherwise he would have been in the
soup also). If all of Nigeria was corrupt, why
select for opprobrium only those from the
South-South? There was a South-South NSA
who died an ignoble death. Nearly all the politicians from the area are on flight because
no one would protect them. I do not want the
mistaken impression that I condone the
corruption of South-South politicians, but if the
truth be told, they were no worse than their
counterparts the nation over. Indeed if they were to speak about how much
help they gave to the PDP then more people
would join them in their lonely cells in prison.
The South-South lacks political cohesion,
political power and political gravitas. They
never learnt how to build power structure, seduced as they were by the praise singers
who came with Lorries to carry away the loot
from South-South. The area remains the least
developed in Nigeria, to the shame of all those
who held power from the area. The Ijaws are the fourth largest ethnic group in
Nigeria but the weakest, politically. They are
larger than the Tivs or Idomas or Igallas all of
whom are better politically organized than the
Ijaws. The Ijaws suffer from the clear
jealousy of other groups who continue to exploit them and their divisions. If one is
blessed, as the Ijaws are with oil, then a
certain jealousy of that wealth cannot be
ignored but look how miserably poor the people
are and how despoiled their area has been? Who is the rich Ijaw man? How many of them
have been in the oil business and profited from
it? The Federal Government had a policy that
all industries established in a state would
attract a 10% of ownership for the State
housing the Industry. Thus, Anambra got 10% of Anamco. Lagos 10% of Volkswagen (VW)
and 30% of Julius Berger (JB). Oyo – 10% of
Leyland, Bauchi – 10% of Styr, Kaduna 10% of
Peugeot etc. Does River State have 10% of the fertilizer
plant, 10% of Petro Chemicals, and 10% of the
Refineries? Does Delta own 10% of the Steel
plant, 10% of the Refinery etc? When these
questions are asked a perfectly sensible
answer is given – the Refinery, the fertilizer plant, Petro Chemical is a product of oil which
is 100% Federal Property. On the face of it,
this sounds reasonable until you consider the
word property? What does it mean? If you can
give Kano, Lagos, Oyo, Anambra etc 10% of a
factory – is that not property? My point is that the sins of a few Ijaw people
cannot be used as the explanation of their
character. The second point is that they are
politically weak and exploited and what other
groups get away with the Ijaws somehow
cannot get away with the same sins. If all are thieves the Ijaw have stolen no more than
others. Moreover there is more to the Ijaws than the
horrible examples those who held office and
stole had displayed. There are many Ijaws that
have served the Federal and State
Governments without descending to the
depths of those being charged at the moment. Those Ijaws include W.O. Briggs, Dr. Nabo
Graham Douglas, Prof. Tam David West, Prof.
Tekena Tamuno, Chief Dappa Biriye, Mr.
Ajumogobia, Melford Okilo, and countless
many more. Finally the Ijaws condemn with
every inch of their being the failures of their own sons and daughters. But they demand, as
the Holy Book says, remove the beam in your
eyes before you can see the mote in mine. I have been accused of being like Mark
Anthony making a speech after Caesar’s
assassination “I come to bury Caesar, and not
to praise him.” As far as corruption is
concerned Mr. President must use the same
broom to sweep it out in both the PDP and the APC. We wait with baited breadth. The Ijaws are bigger than the Urhobos, the
Tiv, the Idomas, the Ibibios yet they lack the
power of these groups. The oil that feeds the
Federal Government is mainly from Ijaw land
and waters. Has anyone thought of how much
it would cost to clean these lands and waters? The reality is that when the oil dries up, the
IOCs will pick up and leave. This has been the
lot of small powerless people the world over –
look at what has happened to Southern
Liousiana where the blacks and poor whites
live. Less than 30 years ago there was one petrol
station in Yenogoa in the whole of Bayelsa.
There was none anywhere else: any in
Buguma, Tombia, Bakana, Abonnema, Okrika,
even Bonny. None in Brass, Nembe, Oporokuma etc. In all
these places till to-day Kerosene, which is their
main fuel for cooking, costs more than
anywhere else in Nigeria? Children still go to
school in canoes and buildings are still on
sticks jutting out of the water. There is nowhere in Ijaw land with portable water to
drink. We drink from wells. The toilets are still at the water side, next to
where they bathe. This degree of poverty is no
excuse for the excesses of our ministers and
Governors who obviously have not learnt the
art of hiding their wealth. What wealth is there
to hide when 80 per cent of the buildings are made of mangrove trees. There is no need to
go to Brazil to see how the natives live – just a
few miles out of Port Harcourt or Yenagoa or
Bomadi or Patani and you are in Ijaw country.
The water has the inevitable shine of oil
spillages. The people stand by the waterside and watch
their land being drained of its wealth as the
service boats and badges speed along to
destinations unknown. The Ijaws are a modern
misfit; cannot move speedily because the
boats cost too much. Cannot keep nurses and doctors in the cottage hospitals built because
these people have no after work recreation;
there is no recreation club in any Ijaw town
that I know, so no football, tennis, billiards etc. The people are just emerging from ravages
that insect parasites visit on their hairs, their
legs and feet – lice, jiggers etc. The men have
to go further afield for fishing; the women sell
next to nothing. Yet their culture is rich and
calls for wealth. The Chiefs are so poor that they are no better than beggars and their Local
Government Chairmen know this and treat
them with the ignominy beggars deserve.
Chiefs go to parties with plastic bags to carry
away food and drinks. The elegant chiefs
dresses many see when these chiefs go to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Asaba, Yenogoa – are a
chimera – a phantom of an age long gone to
which they pretend to succeed. No serious
Ijaw man stays in his village – to do what? He may have a decent house in Port Harcourt,
Yenegoa, Asaba, Warri and visits home like a
holiday maker at the weekends to see what he
can get. If an Ijaw man is president or Governor he will
try to sleep with five or six women every two
or three hours of the day. He will drink, usually
with his friends, with complete abandon. It is
not that he does not realize the weight of his
office. He does. But it does not matter to his psyche. We drink with one glass out of a basin
of home-made spirit. If it is a woman and she has money she will
spend it like water. She will order containers
from China that will seat for six years without
opening it. If she sees still new things she will
order more; she has no recollection what she
has ordered or how much. She will beg her husband to kingdom come for more money for
more orders. If she is rich enough she will buy
houses in almost all cities and may never enter
one of them. She will have no idea where her
documents are. All the above is obviously a caricature. Even
so, given the resources he so abundantly has,
if Nigeria’s law on minerals were different, the
Ijaws would react differently. In conclusion, the Ijaws have to stop being
small minded and come together. The Federal
Government destroyed an Ijaw town which
today remains destroyed. If we apply the same
rule, how much of the North East, Niger, Abuja
etc would be destroyed, flattened, because of Boko Haram? The Ijaws were being punished
for failure to stop an insurgency. The Ijaws are consumed by small minded
jealousies: – Okrika vs Ogoloma vs Bakana;
inter chieftaincy fights in Bonny and Finima;
Abonnema vs Buguma, Nembe vs Brass and
so forth. These divisions’ saps Ijaw power and
make them open to exploitation. Their land is polluted, their rivers are non habitable, their
people remain the poorest; the pollution in Ijaw
land cannot be ended given decades of
pollution by oil and gas; their livelihood is
precarious. And now to the rest of Nigeria, the
Ijaws are saying that no one has the right to ask an Ijaw man “what have you done with the
money we gave to you” When last I checked,
you cannot give me what is mine. Dr. Dele Cole, a former ambassador, wrote
from Lagos