About Presidency: The South-South Should Shut Up

Beloved North? Wow. Talk about some imagination. Anyways, the story I have about Marwa isn't about thievery. . .

TTYL.

Good, so why don't you nwe ndidiGood. The ownership of the airline is a well known fact, and of course marks him out as a crook. But like I said, what I heard about him (from an army officer) is more damaging than thievery and is something that I wouldn't publish until I can substantiate, as I said earlier. . .

You have my blessing. Then I can show you just one statement I made that would prove that I love the South as well. Get one thing straight: I love the whole of Nigeria, irrespective of where that may be.


You haven't exactly proven to me that what I said is indefensible. Who are the visible faces of the South-South region if not their so called leaders? The Dokubos, Alams (whom some still clamour to be released), Okumagbas, Clarks, Odilis et al?

I will refrain from attacking you on this one Sijien because I have made the same statements before. Just that it was painful for me seeing them coming from a non-Igbo. . .

Honourable? You have no idea what the word means.

My signature says it all. It would be a great dishonour to me and mine should I back down from the truth as I see it.

One more thing: he may be an abrasive fellow (he hasn't made too many posts so it is easy to tell), but Sijien has said what a good number (if not a majority) of those working in the oil sector think.

@ owo sitp is a purely merit based test. it is people like u that failed it that r now campaining for ethnic quotas. is kidnapping and demanding a ransome not a crime anywhere in d world?

am starting 2 hate that i am always in agreement with chxta on niger delta issues. but he is right when he said this is not about personality. that is what all of u r turning it into. it is like atiku instead of defending himself about what obj said he did, is attacking obj's personality. not one of u who r arguing has proved chxta wrong based on what i see everyday here. it is about what is on d ground. y havent u challengeddis storyin today's vanguard that shows ur beloved militants for what dey really r? thieves as chxta rightly pointed out?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/september06/10092006/f210092006.html

STATE Security Service (SSS) operatives in Delta State are now on the trail of a Warri-based female socialite said to be a sponsor of militants operating in the Niger-Delta region just as about 300 militants have either fled the region or gone into hiding since the SSS and the Joint Military Task Force (JMTF) in the Niger-Delta commenced separate but synchronized manhunt for them about a fortnight ago.


Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered that the female financier, said to be a younger sister of a commissioner in one of the South-South states and woman friend to one of arrowheads of the Niger-Delta struggle, escaped from her Warri abode, last week.


Investigations by Sunday Vanguard showed that the widespread search for militants and audacious incursions into the once deified hideouts of the various gangs that specialized in the kidnapping of foreign oil workers for ransom in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states by security operatives made the woman to flee.

She was said to have recently given out N1 million to some militants for an undisclosed project before security operatives got to her deserted residence.
Last Wednesday in Warri, men of the SSS also ransacked the house of an Ijaw leader suspected to be involved in oil bunkering.

A security source, who disclosed this to Sunday Vanguard, asserted that “because the SSS has a list containing the names and addresses of the militants, the boys felt the game was up and took to their heels when they saw the dexterous manner the leader and some members of one of the feared kidnap gangs, including a government official that facilitated payment of ransom to militants, were picked up after they were lured to Asaba”.

Investigations by Sunday Vanguard showed that the region witnessed a respite in the last two weeks with no reported case of kidnap unlike the preceding two weeks during which an average of one person was kidnapped every two days.
Flight to London

Sunday Vanguard learnt that one of the kingpins who made good money from the business fled to London when the heat from the security agents on his trail became too hot. He was shocked by the dossier on him and in, collaboration with his partners-in-crime, a decision was taken for him to escape because so many things would happen if he was caught and forced to spill the beans.

Many others were said to have traveled. It is believed that their plan was to see how the security agents would sustain the present crackdown on militants. But security sources said the plan was not to give them a breathing space but flush out kidnappers, particularly moneymaking hostage takers’ from the region.

Some of them fled leaving their vehicles and girlfriends and just a week or more outside their traditional home ground, a number of them were said to be feeling like fishes out of water in their new abodes.

Case files opened on government accomplices

Sunday Vanguard gathered that case files had been opened on the alleged role of some elected and appointed government officials in the kidnap business in the region. Security agents decided to investigate them following what a source described as revelations by some of the kidnappers already in custody on how they abetted and aided the business. It is a poignant blow to most of them who were feeding fat on the pay-offs from some of the state governments but they were also understood to be doing everything possible to cover their tracks, including lobbying and pressing button to stop their being invited for questioning in connection with kidnap.

Our source, a top security officer in the region, said: “If these politicians and government officials make the mistake of getting involved in any kidnap case again, we will pick them up and tell them that we have dossier on all they have been doing since. It is because they get involved in the past by collecting money from governors for these boys that the criminal act became a lucrative business for them”.
The intelligence reports on the affected persons have reportedly been forwarded to Abuja and the directive is that all the suspected accomplices be put on surveillance.
How the kidnap “industry” was paralyzed

“For those who don’t know, even if they are wont to deny it, this kidnap thing is masterminded mainly by some Ijaw youths and the network of their communities along the coast of the states in the Niger-Delta is wonderful but Delta State is no doubt the tactical headquarters, while Rivers State is the cash cow followed by Bayelsa State. Edo, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River and Ondo states are not so much in the reckoning of the militants business wise. It took us time but when we found out that the kidnappers in most of the cases took off from Delta State, we decided to pick them up, and as we did that, we were able to send panic into the various syndicates. And because the leaders who do the conceptualization and planning from Delta State are on the run, the boys who execute the drawn-out programme in Rivers and Bayelsa states for instance have been left without shepherds”, an informed source hinted. However, the spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council, Mr. Peter Ajube, in an interview denied that hostage taking and vandalization of oil facilities in the region were the handiwork of Ijaw youths. He said that criminal elements had infiltrated the struggle and cashed-in on the crisis to make money.

Ijaw happy with the clean up

Clearly, there is a difference between those kidnapping for the struggle and those kidnapping for money but, in all, kidnapping for whatever reason is wrong and it’s a criminal offence. However, if one were to gauge the mood of the Ijaw nation on the crackdown by security agents on kidnappers, the truth, according to the national president of the Federated Niger-Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), an influential Ijaw body, Chief (Dr) Bello Oboko, was that the Ijaw nationality is happy with the move by security agents to get rid of commercial kidnappers.

Oboko told Sunday Vanguard in Warri, last Wednesday, that it was because the Ijaw nation was not happy with the activities of commercial kidnappers that the FNDIC was mandated by Ijaw leaders at a meeting in Bayelsa State on Thursday, August 17 to proceed to Letugbene in Bayelsa State to rescue the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) worker, Comrade Nelson Ujeya, now deceased, that was kidnapped by Letugbene youths on August 8.

He said it was unfortunate that the boys who went for the rescue mission were shot dead by men of the Joint Military Task Force (JMTF) in the Niger-Delta, August 20, on their way back with the hostage.

The FNDIC leader said that before the Letugbene case, the group had had cause to disown the moneymaking hostage takers in Rivers and Bayelsa states, saying: “In reality, the struggle is not to take  foreigners hostage and make money from it, our struggle is to draw government attention, whether federal, state or local to the underdevelopment in the region, particularly Ijaw land, and enjoin them to develop the areas since oil exploration and exploitation activities have degraded our environment and deprived our people of their means of survival”.

Oboko said that it was the same way FNDIC intervened when the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) kidnapped nine expatriate oil workers in Delta State purportedly as human shields and bombed oil installations following the bombardment of some Ijaw villages by the JMTF, some months ago, that it intervened in the Letugbene case only for its peace emissaries to be killed.

Can this be the first threat i've seen/heard on nairaland?

Hausa's can be friendly and trusting true, nevertheless they have a history of their area boys in some specific states who happen to be known as almajiris, who happen to be blood thirsty, and who happen to slaughter visitors, whenever they go high, true, and this cases as I said, are common in just 3 states, which are Kano and Kaduna and maybe Maiduguri, but  this is only 3 states out of how many Northern states, that Nigeria has?

In this states, we do have Kaduna which is an even battle between the Hausas and the Kage, but according to statistics, the Hausas were slaughtered more, whatever the case, the battle in local, so that doesnt count.

To reach to such a conclusion that all the Hausa populace are blood thirsty, we must have enough evidence, that atleast 80% of the Northern states have pre-hostirical occurencies of such massacres, and hence since we don't have that proof, such an accusation is insubstancial, I think.

Which areas are the South-South sef?

The naija govt gets the lion share of the oil money extracted at great pains by the so called exploitative oil companies. The youths do not go against the Naija govt, instead they seek soft targets.
There are ongoing efforts by oil companies to clean up their act. a 'respect your environment' culture is instilled in every SITP trainee from day One. Why then criticize this budding initiative?

Example, if rivers gets N4b monthly, can't half that cash build good roads, a standard school and a decent clinic in 2 communities a month? a mere N100m can electrify a whole community, with about N10m spent on diesel yearly.
Instead of takign these people to account, these millitants kill, steal and destroy.

If shell pays $1.5b damages to the ijaws or ogonis as they demand, how much of that will the triumphant youths use to bring back to life The shell CLO (Nelson Ujeya) and the host of other oil workers killed by these boys? Or is it that Mr. Ujeya's young kids and wife are merely collateral damage?

When you kill and destroy, why would God render justice to you?

http://wetindey/2006/09/robin-hood-complex.html

Virtually every adult is familiar with the old tale of Robin Hood and his band of merry men. He has been celebrated by Hollywood, with such greats as Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner, Cary Elwes and, more recently, Asari Dokubo, taking on the role of the man in green tights.

For those who are unaware, I'll give a brief synopsis of the story. Robin Hood was born Robin of Locksley, to a rich landowner in medieval England. Against his father's wishes, he ran off to war, and fought in one of the crusades where he was captured by the Turks, and spent some years in prison. On his escape, he returned to England to find his father had been murdered by the Sheriff of Nottingham, who was plotting with the King's brother to overthrow him. Robin wouldn't stand for treason, and turned to a life of crime. He began stealing from the rich friends of Nottingham, and distributing their ill-gotten wealth among the poor, oppressed masses. You could say he was the first English Communist. Of course, the authorities didn't find his actions amusing, and duly put a price on his head and tried mightily to capture him, but always failed. Ultimately, he triumphed over his enemies, and blah blah blah. Or he was betrayed by a woman and killed. The end of the story is rather murky.

Which brings me to Naija, and the spate of kidnappings of white men in the Niger Delta. The kidnappers claim to be acting out of righteous indignation over the blatant neglect of their communities by the government, and the rape of their land by the multinational oil companies. Since they can't get their hands on the perpetrators in Abuja, they resort to kidnapping expatriate oil workers, and making demands that the oil companies should leave their land and so on and so forth. Some people step in, negotiations are carried out, money changes hands, and the hostages are released.

Now, since the criminal act was carried out for the greater good- namely Justice for the people of the Niger Delta, we would have expected news crews to be invited to videotape the kidnappers returning to their villages as heroes and sharing the ransom money equally to each and every home. Or purchasing medicines and sharing them. Or paying a firm to carry out a clean-up of the environment.

We are still waiting.

Rather, what has occured is that more and more "militant groups" are springing up daily. Each trotting out the same hackneyed slogans. Then they go out, grab a white man, and wait for their share of the booty. For, make no mistake, this has turned into no more than a lucrative criminal venture. Had these people been acting out of truly altruistic motives, we'd have heard about it by now.

Asari Dokubo, who styled himself a freedom fighter, was no more than a political thug who assisted in the greatest rape of the people's mandate ever witnessed in this country, and was well paid for his efforts. None of those proceeds went anywhere outside his immediate family circle. He became a "freedom fighter" when the governor refused to take his side in a turf war. It was at that moment, we are expected to believe that his conscience awoke from its coma and began directing his affairs. Suddenly, his middle name became Mujaheed, and he and his army of thugs and layabouts quickly adopted some nice sounding slogans. When the Federal Government offered to pay him 250,000 Naira for every gun he surrendered, he rapidly turned in some 85 AK47s. By my admittedly horrible mathematics, that computes to about 21 million naira and some change. Not a kobo went to his community. When the government invited him to wine and dine in Abuja, he went gleefully, perhaps expecting to wash down his new friendship with Baba with some oil contracts. (He was already engaged in illegal bunkering by the way.) Baba wined him, dined him, then asked him to return. On his return, he was swiftly arrested. He now cries foul. Tell me, did Che Guevara ever agree to wine and dine with the government? Of course not. Any true freedom fighter knows in his gut that the government is only out to destroy him. A criminal kingpin, on the other hand, only sees the next big score.

DSP Alamieyeseigha (aka Alams), erstwhile governor of Baylesa State, famous for his immortal statement "What is 100,000 pounds to a whole governor?" (that's pounds sterling, not biafran pounds), went on a jamboree to Europe. While he was governor, his only exercise was the systematic looting of the public till, so much so that he had a million pounds (sterling) in cash in his house in London. Upon his arrest, he claimed he was being victimised for fighting for the rights of his people. For fighting for more derivation. What had he done with the vast sums already at his disposal? I once had cause to visit Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital, while Alams was guvnor. I found only one tarred road, which stopped immediately after government house. The billions of naira accruing to his state every month had done no more than pad his foreign accounts. Yet, after being arrested and charged with corruption, he's suddenly a "victim".

The numerous militants in the Niger Delta today have displayed guts, and daring. They're young, cocky, unemployed, and naturally, restless. They've seen a lucrative opportunity and are scrambling to get involved before the gravy train stops rolling.

But, modern-day Robin Hoods, they most certainly are not.

@chxta be carfeul what you wish for others - it may happen to you.
You are free to advocate that others should "shut up" but very easily forget that sooner than you think, the table will turn.
A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR FOR THE WISE, they say, therefore, withdraw your statement.

@sijien and texazzpete, the anonymity (or cover of darkness) provided by the internet is a good cover for anybody to say anything. Thank God for that.
However, you may wish to know that people laid down their careers just to ensure that you got into SITP. When ethnic chauvinists were being challenged, dared and stood down ,you were not there, neither did you know anything about it.
You guys amuse me, young men. You come here with preachments of SITP's purity abi? Certainly, you do not know that as "as you make your bed, so you will lie on it". Where were you, when people insisted (year-in, year out) and ensured (with some moderate level of success) that "Lagos list" did not populate the list of entrants. Do you know that there were even attempts to insist that only schools in particular parts of the country were good enough to provide graduates for the program?
Get one thing right. If you do not insist on your due, it will not only be taken away from you, your children will be told that they are strangers in their father's house. Today you have benefitted from the struggles of generations of brave Niger Deltans but you want to close the door against those that are coming behind. "I wish you goodluck". Certainly, the labours of our heroes past will not be in vain. If you choose to be a weakling, in the face of obvious oppresion, rape and looting of your father's land (all because of a small job with shell and some few thousands of naira called salary), please keep it up, it your choice.

For us, we stand up and insist that
1. We own ourselves, under God, and must never be dictated to (Nobody has a right to determine when and what we can talk like Chxta attempted to do)
2.  The resources on our land is ours and those that are currently occupying us and raping our land and its peoples  are imposters whose time will soon end.
3. That our children must and will inherit a better society than what our fathers handed down to us.




*** It may interest you both to know that I had a shell.com (and it's predecessor) in my official email address before you were entitled to it. Sure you know what that means.

Why do people get on the defensive when issues that are peculiar to their own tribe, are being addressed? Chxta's observations are valid, and the next question should be ", how do we solve the problem?"

As long as a lot of youth from the South South continue to embrace this get-rich-quick mentality, a.k.a ", I must acquire wealth at all costs," and we continue to sacrifice integrity, good conscience and enlightenment on the altar of Mammon, a lot of these problems that have been highlighted, will remain.

Problems do NOT go away by mere wishful thinking; they leave, because someone, somewhere, has been courageous enough to address them, and implement solutions that will improve the lot of those who have been afflicted by such problems.

It will not be done in one day. All hands need to be on deck.

Peace,

tell me, what have i said to warrant such an attack on my person?
I'm no weakling, as you have seen fit to label me. Tell, me, is it weakness to advocate a more peaceful solution to the Niger Delta travails?
twice now you've threatened me and sijien with dire consequences assuing we were to meet face to face. Is that anyway to convince any unbiased listener that the millitants of niger delta region do not engage in senseless violence?

Earlier on, the millitants would kidnap expatriates, trat them well and relase them. every single one released came out testifying to the suffering of the people of the ND. So why then this has killing suddenly become an option? Do you not feel concerned that your movements are being hijacked by criminals, like those that robbed the Agip facility, killing a fellow Nigerian in the process.
You and I know how important Oil is to the Nigerian Economy. hence, no single nigerian leader will ever allow unrest to destroy the vital inflow of revenue from oil sales. A situation of escalating violence might serve to driv eout the 'occupiers', but it's sure to severly hurt your people too.

Shell isn't perfect. no one is actually. and I'm sure you have good reason for your stance towards your former company. But must this beef be held against all shell employees? I'm sure i have done nothing to suggest i am an enemy of the ND people, a despoiler of the environment and, even worse, a weakling  

You're obviously older than i am, and have chosen a path for yourself. I respect that. but be aware that this 'small job' as you called it, with shell remains my career path for now. I'm an engineer and i'm working to make an impact in Nigeria and the field of engineering in particular so respect that too.  The SITP programme was developed to bring up good, technical engineers to cary the company forward, and to gradually fully Nigerianize the company. At least, I'm sure it's better than having all expatriates, isn't it?

In my SITP batch there were a lotof people from Yourba states, i agree. but i hear that in the current batch there are about 10 out of 52 from the niger delta region. A more meaningful route to the control of the oil sector is to encourage your people's participation in the Oil sector in more meaninful roles. Let more good graduates pour out of the region.

You should be pleased then, to hear that the Delta state Govt and the University of Benin are setting up a petroleum institute in Delta state. Imagine what wold be the gain if the ND youths in bayelsa and rivers press their state govts to mirror this achievement.

Lastly, i must add once more that integral in the SITP training course is a frank description of Shell's lapses envronmentallly in the past, and measures on how to improve community relations and mutual respect between shell employees and their host communities.

Following that, I asked a number of questions at the top of this page (based on your article). You have left all but two of these questions unaddressed. You know that as well as I do. Don’t you?

Don't change the topic, Chxta.

Igbo for President is all I support. Ndigbo don suffer pass Jaja of Opobo and this is our turn to shine. We need a president because Zik and Aguiyi-Ironsi do not count.