I hereby offer the NAIRALAND site administrator - Seun, an all expense paid , field trip and vacation in different parts of the Niger Delta.

This is aimed at helping him to add some 'sight and sound' to his views on the South -South and Nigeria as a whole

Duration: 2 months (begining at the time of his choosing)

Location: Divers places and lots of nights in the 'creeks'

Highpoints:

1. 'Meet the people' tour of great villages, hamlets, fishing settlements, canoe fishing in the high seas, living under the heat of gas flare for some weeks and experiencing some acid rains, etc

2. Some fresh palmwine and delicious fish dishes including boat regatta

3. Visit to some of the oldest kingdoms in Africa like Bonny, Brass, Opobo, Nembe, Benin, Efik/Calabar, etc

4. Proper debriefing at some of the choicest locations in Cross River (the people's paradise) after the field trips.

IT PROMISES TO BE LOTS OF FUN

I sincerely hope that he will find it fitting to honour this great invitation.

Mai brother Owo, you wan finish the poor boy now o!!! U sure say he go fit make am? He's used to free light and good roads in Lagos and Ogun states - roads constructed with oil money from where you wan make he go!

OBJ sef, na helicopter him dey take do overflight any time there's trouble. Forget about this one. Seun no go fit make am.

Why should I want to visit people who don't value human life?

Seun if you go, you will not come back alive.

Dear Seun,

all expenses will be fully borne by me and any other person that is persuaded to do so.

I forgot to add that, in addition to having a feel of the fresh, unpolluted breeze from the Atlantic, you will see breathtaking views and have a lifetime opportunity to meet some of the most patient people on the planet.

Your response is still being awaited so that final touches can to be put into the logistics arrangement.

Kind Regards

@Seun, who told you that we do not value human life,
infact what are we going to benefit from you if we intend harming you, nothing! We are fighting the government not mere human like you seun.


My guy if seun nor fit make am, i dey available yakata

Owo & Ono,
Make una leave Seun alone o! I've been to your creeks and I've seen perhaps much more than the 2 of you combined. Yes I agree with you that civilization is still far from some parts, but that's the same way it is with other parts of the country.

Seun, abeg no let them scare you o!

na wa oo! this is some serious thread. I know i've heared scary stories of what goes on there but it's still on my list of the 'must visit" places in Nigeria!

Ocho: In that case, grab the offer from Owo since Seun is turning it down.

i can't even if i wanted to but i'll get to visit the Niger delta someday and will be back with so much to tell

@bros Charlisco, you know say you be homeboy, you can join the team that will welcome Chief Admin Seun to the great Delta.

@Oga Skidoc, Mr Admin is still thinking, he has not turned down the offer yet.

@ Lady Ocho, You are welcome to join the Admin if he grants you the priviledge.

Dear Seun,[/b]In response to a suggestion above,[b] you are hereby entitled to come along with a lady of your choice.
We are eagerly awaiting your kind consideration and reply.

I still love to visit there again, Abeg if seun 4cup, i dey echo am, just do not bother, i dey kampea to accept the offer anytime, anyhow, anyday,

I love to see Ijaw Girls, with there big boom, men i dey miss oooooooo

No, I'm not going. The place is too unstable. Militants everywhere, US forces "assisting" Nigeria to bomb the area. No, I'm not interested. Thank you very much. I have said before that no-one wants to visit or settle down in a place that is insecure. If it was merely a poor region I can go there as a rich man and help to develop it. But an insecure place? No way!

@Seun
I learnt that in your area they used stranger 4 native medicine , is that true

Seun:

No, I'm not going. The place is too unstable. Militants everywhere, US forces "assisting" Nigeria to bomb the area. No, I'm not interested. Thank you very much. I have said before that no-one wants to visit or settle down in a place that is insecure. If it was merely a poor region I can go there as a rich man and help to develop it. But an insecure place? No way!

You sound like a coward dude.I can just imagine the struggles of people from Delta State. I don't see why you don't want to go visit one weekend.No body is asking you to live the comforts of your Yoruba land and settle in the creeks.From where I come from, it's rude to turn down an invitation.

We lack words to express our heartfelt dissapointment at not having the opportunity to host Mr. Admin, Seun due to his decision to turn down the offer.

Going by the response/decision of Mr Able Admin, Seun, to the magnanimous invitation extended to him by the good, wonderful, patient though oppresed and raped people of the great Delta, We hereby declare that he is most unfit to comment, advise or have a say in any matter that concerns this great region.

It is therefore evident, that he enjoys all the benefits that crude oil money brings to his village, hamlet, town and state but does not want to visit (even when all the cost is borne by another) the area to see for himself how many people die daily and instalmentally due to the insistence of the larger Nigeria to inflict pain and muderous actions on the great delta and its citizens.

@owo trying to make the rest of us feel bad about the condition in the Niger Delta won't work. At least not to those conversant with the region's politics. The question is: what has Niger delta's elites/leaders done for their own region? And the answer is Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And there has been quite many educated elites from that Niger delta but nothing to show for them. Now for example Gen. Alexandra Ogomudia, the present Chief of Defense Staff is the one responsible for bombing Niger delta villages presently; guess what he hails from that very Niger Delta. Nigeria's unofficial minister of petroleum is Dr. Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru who is also the present OPEC president also hail from Niger Delta. Guess what his views are on conditions in that region, nothing. No opinion. He is too busy attending to bigger oil business deal in Vienna. So you see what I'm saying? You can't ignore the complicity, intrigues, neglect and disinterest of the Niger delta leadership in the chaotic and wretched condition plaguing their region. Saro Wiwa was sadly a victim of such intrigues. The present 13% derivation formula while little is still enough to provide a minimum form of living for the people but you have to wonder where the money are going.

demmy:

@owo trying to make the rest of us feel bad about the condition in the Niger Delta won't work. At least not to those conversant with the region's politics. The question is: what has Niger delta's elites/leaders done for their own region? And the answer is Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And there has been quite many educated elites from that Niger delta but nothing to show for them. Now for example Gen. Alexandra Ogomudia, the present Chief of Defense Staff is the one responsible for bombing Niger delta villages presently; guess what he hails from that very Niger Delta. Nigeria's unofficial minister of petroleum is Dr. Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru who is also the present OPEC president also hail from Niger Delta. Guess what his views are on conditions in that region, nothing. No opinion. He is too busy attending to bigger oil business deal in Vienna. So you see what I'm saying? You can't ignore the complicity, intrigues, neglect and disinterest of the Niger delta leadership in the chaotic and wretched condition plaguing their region. Saro Wiwa was sadly a victim of such intrigues. The present 13% derivation formula while little is still enough to provide a minimum form of living for the people but you have to wonder where the money are going.

How do you want sane people to swallow all these crap?  I will reply you thoroughly later.

If it is crap good you don't have to swallow it. but please do tell me why it is crap.

common ono, if you don't have something supportive to say, you don't have to reply. this is democracy

For some reason, Owo's invitation to Seun to visit the Niger Delta for a spot of war tourism reminds me of the clandestine German tourist agency that for a time during the early '90's offered "Sniper Holiday Packages" during the Bosnian war such that anyone with the desire to kill an innocent civilian with a high-powered sniper rifle could pay for the privilege of doing so and would then be escorted to the Bosnian war front lines to a pre-positioned sniper nest from where they could " pick off a few runners" before returning safely back to Germany with souvenir telephoto pictures to authenticate each kill just like an African big game safari.

Except that in this case I might be in the position of the Antelope.

demmy:

@owo trying to make the rest of us feel bad about the condition in the Niger Delta won't work. At least not to those conversant with the region's politics. The question is: what has Niger delta's elites/leaders done for their own region? And the answer is Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And there has been quite many educated elites from that Niger delta but nothing to show for them. Now for example Gen. Alexandra Ogomudia, the present Chief of Defense Staff is the one responsible for bombing Niger delta villages presently; guess what he hails from that very Niger Delta. Nigeria's unofficial minister of petroleum is Dr. Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru who is also the present OPEC president also hail from Niger Delta. Guess what his views are on conditions in that region, nothing. No opinion. He is too busy attending to bigger oil business deal in Vienna. So you see what I'm saying? You can't ignore the complicity, intrigues, neglect and disinterest of the Niger delta leadership in the chaotic and wretched condition plaguing their region. Saro Wiwa was sadly a victim of such intrigues. The present 13% derivation formula while little is still enough to provide a minimum form of living for the people but you have to wonder where the money are going.

True Talk!! I've been pondering on the same things myself.

demmy,
You couldn't have hit the nail harder on the head. I can understand why owo & ono will not agree with you. But like you said, they are both not doing much about the situations in the region except for their rambling about some MEND hoodlums.

We refuse to be drawn into any diatribe with those that are not directly affected by this magnanimous invitation.

However, it is pertinent to point out one of the reasons for extending this invitation to The Administrator of this forum. This reason can be summarised thus:
On Nigerian issues, there is a certain unholy and immoral narrow mindedness that pervades the thinking faculties of many a westerner (Nigerian westerner, I mean). [ This I would call the syndrome]

Northerners admit to what they do not know and do not try to learn, easterners try to buy what they do not know or have, but westerners sometimes try to prove they know what they do not know. This is my candid assesment [as one born but not buttered in the west].

This has been very evident in most of the discussions on this forum, especially on the Niger Delta issue. Considering the level of 'influence' that the subject of this invitation 'commands' it became necessary to 'help' reduce this syndrome.

That this invitation has made some to feel bad (or guilty), does indicate that the syndrome is deep. Feeling bad, is actually an indication/guage of a psychological attempt at 'resisting' , arguing or struggling with the reality that this 'complex' brings up- ignorance.

Also, the fact that Niger Deltans under the employ of the Government are doing their jobs without being unduely regionalistic shoud be praised rather than being villified. It also serves to indicate that when something 'good' is done, the president (a westerner) gets the credit (of course in the eyes of all westerners affected by this syndrome), but anything that goes 'wrong' is labelled against the region of the Government official concerned ( that is what the minister of works did when he was confronted with the state of roads in the east- he promptly published names of igbo people in the employ of the ministry as if they were the cause of the problem).

We insist that Mr. Admin and other 'like minded' souls have no portion, inheritance nor interest in the Delta except the continued rape of that soceity for their own good. They are therefore totally unqualified to comment on issues that affect it.

Owo,  one does not have to reside in or even visit the Niger Delta to know that the folks there live in squalor and neglect despite the enormous wealth being tapped daily from beneath the land of their ancestors for the past four decades.

Insisting that anyone should tour the front lines of a shooting war in order to fathom the seriousness of the situation is a bit like urging someone to have all their teeth removed with a pair of pliers just so they can better appreciate how painful the experience could be.  Would you personally feel compelled to visit Iraq's mean streets before you could deem yourself competent and qualified to comment on the level of risk in that hell-hole ?

But Jakumo, OMG!! you sure have a very funny way of replying to posts. wow!!

Now, back to the issue at hand:
There's no recourse to the Nigerian Westerners other than visiting the Delta to have a feel of what's going on in there. Besides, it's not all killing, maiming and shooting that's going on in there. There are several other places of comfort in the Niger Delta.

Obudu Ranch
Abraka Resort
TINAPA

That's just to mention few of such popular sites.


But Seun's got to signify interests in visiting the Ijaw enclaves and see what's going on in there. We will tell[b] our Egbesu Warlords [/b] to spare him. We will tell them that he's just going round their territory to appreciate the level of environmental degradation going on in there. And I believe they will spare him, just like they have a long history of cordial relationship with their guests.

So, Seun, fear not. Now, would you still want to visit the ND after this clarification?

owo you know quite well I wasn't calling on Ogomudia and Daukoru etc to be regionalists, but that they are Niger Deltans in the highest echelon of the policy making body in the country and are still unable, positively to influence events affecting the region they originated from? If Daukoru cannot use diplomatic means and bring the weight of his OPEC presidency to bare on SHELL to at least stop the environmental degradation in his region then what is the point? We might as well return Rilman Lukman to that position. Your narrow mindedness is reminiscent of the general nigerian malaise of blaming other tribes for their woes as if those other tribes are faring any better. Left to me they can keep all the oil money for all I care but with leaders as we have in Nigeria in general and they have in Niger Delta in particular you'll still come to the same result. Think about it.

Ono I concur that Seun will no doubt be gratified to hear that you expect his life will be spared by the Egbesu Warlords if your invitation to the Izon Delta Den is honored.

Before the travel itinerary is printed out,  please explain once more how you plan to intervene on your guest's behalf if the Egbesu God of Iron over-rules the warlords' decision to grant Seun a press pass to the Niger Delta hot zone.

Hahahaha. Chief Jakumo.!!!

Seun does not believe in God. We will pray that the 'gods' do not teach him any 'lesson' while he is with us. The gods will certainly hear us.

I hope he understands that there might be visa restrictions in the near future.

Chief Jakumo,
The Ijaw Egbesu gods listens. They will listen to us. Surely, these gods heard the Ijaws when they cried out to him over the neglect and deprivation of their areas. We will ask our beloved Ijaw brothers to appease their gods on Seuns behalf. And that god, being a reasonable one, will listen.

It's unfortunate that Seun does not believe in the existence of any god. We will do our best to appease them on his behalf. And if all fails, we will smuggle Seun out of the creeks -  if the gods get angry with him.