As the battle line is drawn between the Federal Government and the militants, following the deployment during the week of more soldiers and two naval warship, tough-talking leaders of the fighters, have condemned President Umaru Yar’Adua’s action, describing it as callous, wicked and an attempt to wipe out the Ijaw nation from the face of the earth.

Some of the youth leaders who spoke variously on phone with SATURDAY SUN, in Warri, boasted that two million military personnel cannot withstand the militants and accused Mr. President of trying to waste the innocent military men.
Comrade Joseph Evah, co-ordinator, of the Ijaw Monitoring Group, described the Naval warship being paraded in the Niger-Delta as a fashion parade, boasting that they have since strategised, waiting for any eventually.

“They cannot stand us. America went to fight Iraq but they ran away. In fact, President Yar’Adua has not seen anything. We will finish the military if they dare us”, boasted Evah who also warned all foreigners working in the Niger-Delta to leave the volatile region before it is too late. He further warned that the Federal Government will be inviting more trouble for the country if the military dare attack any Ijaw youth or any Ijaw community and warned that the militants are battle ready.

“They cannot subdue us. We are battle-ready. We want them to know that who is fighting for his salary is different from somebody fighting for survival. We are more on ground than those military men who are coming to our territory as foreigners”, Evah further said through the phone.

He threatened that all oil pipelines in the region will be blown-up if there is any confrontation between our boys and the so-called military men of Mr. President.

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Those militants are overconfident.

I would like to see how long they last against the full weight of the army.

What army? "A hungry man is an angry man"!!!

coolier:

What army? "A hungry man is an angry man"!!!

If you want to know which army my dear , i will recommend 2 books

1. Why we struck by Ademola Ademoyega
2. My Command by Olusegun Obasanjo

What the millitants are doing now is just propaganda and it is important in warfare. This was done doing the Biafra disaster. The millitants have no chance of survival in a full scale warefare.

Warfare is mostly won in the air, even as far back as 1967-1970 the airforce was very instrumental. Do you think they can survive the onslaught of the airforce, supported y the barricade of the Navy on the Sea. And then the the Army on the Bayelsa, and Abia Axis. If all their supplies are cut off( food, arms, crude bunkering), how long do you think a bunch of undisciplined thugs will last?

God forbid a full scale war, I am sure the millitants are praying silently against this, just as i am praying loudly against it; they will not survive more than 8 weeks of constant shelling.
By the grace of God it would never get to that

deor03:

If you want to know which army my dear , i will recommend 2 books

1. Why we struck by Ademola Ademoyega
2. My Command by Olusegun Obasanjo

What the millitants are doing now is just propaganda and it is important in warfare. This was done doing the Biafra disaster. The millitants have no chance of survival in a full scale warefare.

Warfare is mostly won in the air, even as far back as 1967-1970 the airforce was very instrumental. Do you think they can survive the onslaught of the airforce, supported y the barricade of the Navy on the Sea. And then the the Army on the Bayelsa, and Abia Axis. If all their supplies are cut off( food, arms, crude bunkering), how long do you think a bunch of undisciplined thugs will last?

God forbid a full scale war, I am sure the millitants are praying silently against this, just as i am praying loudly against it; they will not survive more than 8 weeks of constant shelling.
By the grace of God it would never get to that

seconded.
thats y i find it very easy to ignore the militant propaganda.
wetin den want take fight war? they are politically sponsored and the authourities know their backers.
so a full scale warfare will b disastrous to the untrained militants, their illegal bunkering bussiness partners and their poitical sponsors.

By the end of Yaradua's ragime, the militants will still be around, in one form or the other. If its possible to wipe out, Obasanjo would have done it.

forget about any book,the army can not win,
they are fighting the hearts and minds of the whole south south and even if they kill of the whole set of millitants,more are already growing up to replace them,u think the same set of ppl are still fighting all these days,look at asari,he s gotten rich and he opted out of the bush and already he s bn replaced

didnt you read the papers account of the guys that did the chevron thing?they r just one cell of almost 20 operating ,another dimension which i read s being slowly introduced but the millitants are denying is that some vietnamese millitary/solier whatever are aiding them with know how,weapons, u think that nicholas cage movie doesnt happen for real?there ll always be arms sellers who will sell to whoever wants to buy so for anyone believing all the government media sound bites of "smoking them out" and "they will be crushed" you have a huge suprise coming up,

what a millitary regime didnt suceed with,or obasanjo didnt suceed with its yar adull that ll now do it, plsss gimme a break

lucabrasi:

forget about any book,the army can not win,
they are fighting the hearts and minds of the whole south south and even if they kill of the whole set of millitants,more are already growing up to replace them,u think the same set of people are still fighting all these days,look at asari,he s gotten rich and he opted out of the bush and already he s bn replaced

didnt you read the papers account of the guys that did the chevron thing?they r just one cell of almost 20 operating ,another dimension which i read s being slowly introduced but the millitants are denying is that some vietnamese millitary/solier whatever are aiding them with know how,weapons, u think that nicholas cage movie doesnt happen for real?there ll always be arms sellers who will sell to whoever wants to buy so for anyone believing all the government media sound bites of "smoking them out" and "they will be crushed" you have a huge suprise coming up,

what a millitary regime didnt suceed with,or obasanjo didnt suceed with its yar adull that ll now do it, plsss gimme a break

it is foolhardy to try to fight d might of a government army which is well funded ,trained and are even looking for opportunity such as dis to unleash wahala,

d nigerian army is more dan up to d task to deal with militants u forget dat dis is one agency dat has undergone a lot of re-equipping, why do u think nigerian army are always called up for peace keeping? how do u think they defeated d yomi johnsons,koromas e.t.c. of liberia?

d only thing holding dem back is dat ur presido is being cautious nt to commit d army to d same blunder dey did in odi/zaki biam

These guys are not as determined and focused as the brave biafran soldiers. You need to read accounts of the Biafran war.

These are just a bunch of criminals seizing the opportunity of the neglect of the Niger delta to perform the acts of their criminality.

These militants are not freedom fighters, their morale will be dampened easily by heavy artillery fire.
How many of them have the type of courage Ken Saro Wiwa had or the courage of Ojukwu of the 60s or the Vietnamese heroes?

Is Asari Dokubo not an example of the depth of their struggle.

I agree to a large extent. The government is simply not interested in causing the huge civillian casualties that may occur as a result of full scale military action and other attendant abuses that will occur and harm the civil populace if they do so.

The militants will be overrun if that is the option taken by the government. Soldiers will die alright, but at least they are paid to die and get compensation (their families I mean) but if the militant dies who cares? The militants have much more to lose in this case than people paid to kill.

I just hope they listen to their 'elders' who have sat idly while the state governors loot, instead of getting those resources properly channelled. The poor people who will be caught in the crossfire are the ones I pity. Truth be told, full military action favours no one in the end.

The heroic light in which these so called "freedom fighters" are continuosly thrown is amusing. Let us not be so quick to forget. These militants have been treated with kids gloves and in the beginning of the year the federal government was even begging them to drop arms and give peace and discussions a chance, no was the response. When the officers who sold arms to the militants were caught and the militant group it affected knew their weapon supply was affected then they said they were willing to give peace a chance. After Yaradua declared war just a week or two ago, news headline ago, the militants want cease fire and are willing to give peace a chance. There you go @lucabrasi, the brave militants that only remain brave when it doesn't seem like it would cost them a strand of their hair. People please don't take my word for it, just search the headlines of the instances the "freedom fighters" wanted ceasefire and compare it to what was happening at the time, i remember it well because each time i thought it was pretty cowardly for a group he kept on making mouth and trying to take responsibility for anything that happened in the south. There is car crash in Abuja they will take responsibility. Okada runs over someone's leg in Abia, they will take responsibility. An old woman falls down on her way to church, they will say it is them that caused it and that no one should mess with them.

And then saying OBJ could not fight the militancy you now have to ask yourself if militancy was actually genuinely fought during the OBJ era. Wasn't Odili OBJ's political godson? Wasn't Odili in cahoots with the thuggery in the state?

I guess my own viewpoint is tainted by my desire for the Militants to WIN.

They might be criminal elements amongst them, but whether criminal or genuine
freedom fighter, these anti-state elements have their origin in the failure and unfairness
of the state in addressing Niger Delta issues.

doyin13:

I guess my own viewpoint is tainted by my desire for the Militants to WIN.

They might be criminal elements amongst them, but whether criminal or genuine
freedom fighter, t[b]hese anti-state elements have their origin in the failure and unfairness
of the state in addressing Niger Delta issues.[/b]

true, but what about giving peace a chance
using their resources to lobby their own representative for change
volunteering to build makeshift roads and train themselves for employment
instead of killing their own people and polluting their rivers

Well I guess the tipping point has been breached.
What I find most remarkable is that it took so many
decades since the tiny revolt of Adaka Boro for the
Deltans to show any kind of armed resistance.

The polluting of the rivers, the flaring of the gases preceded
the pick up of arms, so i guess the community is very much used
to it at this point in time.

And for a change, it is pleasing that by and large the beneficiaries
of these corruption of the Delta are also feeling the pinch. It is not
confined to the 'common people' alone.

This is gon' be interesting . . . .

The question here is. . . . Why are the militants fighting the FG?
Granted, their farmlands andthe rivers have been polluted by oil drilling and reh reh reh but how many of these guys actually go to school.
Majority are idle and they expect FG to pay their way through because they are sitting on billions of barrels of oil. . . Things don't work that way.
If the Government ain't doing things right, WAR should be the last resort.
My only anger is the innocent children and women that would be sacrificed for the fun of it.
What a calamity!

How a man chooses to source his income should not be determined
by anybody else let alone 'foreigners'.

If he wants to gain his livelihood rapping about the parlous state of his
riverine existence, so be it.

The Deltans had a lifestyle pre-oil that involved their farmlands and their rivers and little school.

Are you trying to tell me they should accept the corruption of this lifestyle without comment, even delayed as it is?

The resolution of this crisis as far as the FG is concerned is simple. Full allocation of all proceeds from the oil to the
local community. It might not stop the local fighting, but it will stop it from being a federal issue.

Full allocation of all proceeds from the oil to the
local community. It might not stop the local fighting, but it will stop it from being a federal issue.

You left me gobsmacked with the comment above!!!

What else can the FG do for the Niger-Delta region? These buncha violent youths see oil as their God-given rights but then, it belongs to Nigeria.
I dunno how truthful it is but i heard Niger-Delta students get the highest scholarship and are more likely to be employed in em Oil Companies than students from the other parts of Nigeria.
However, these kids don't even want to educate and get trained. . . . . All they know is bunkering and sabotage.
It gets to a point that this ugly-headed hydra forces the Federal Government's hands to meet FIRE with SUPER POWER.

Hannibal:


You left me gobsmacked with the comment above!!!

What else can the FG do for the Niger-Delta region? These buncha violent youths see oil as their God-given rights but then, it belongs to Nigeria.
I don't know how truthful it is but i heard Niger-Delta students get the highest scholarship and are more likely to be employed in em Oil Companies than students from the other parts of Nigeria.
However, these kids don't even want to educate and get trained. . . . . All they know is bunkering and sabotage.
It gets to a point that this ugly-headed hydra forces the Federal Government's hands to meet FIRE with SUPER POWER.

Well I guess these Youths should thank the FG over its generosity and magnanimity.

I wonder if you would thank me in the same way if I seized your salary, keeping almost 80per cent for myself
and giving you a special treat to TFC every weekend for your silence over the gross injustice.

buchio7:

it is foolhardy to try to fight d might of a government army which is well funded ,trained and are even looking for opportunity such as this to unleash wahala,

d nigerian army is more dan up to d task to deal with militants u forget that this is one agency that has undergone a lot of re-equipping, why do u think nigerian army are always called up for peace keeping? how do u think they defeated d yomi johnsons,koromas e.t.c. of liberia?

d only thing holding them back is that your presido is being cautious nt to commit d army to d same blunder dey did in odi/zaki biam

im not arguing that the army do not have superior fire power,what im saying is that even if the army wipes this set of millitants out,there will be a replacement and they ll be worse than the present one having learnt from their fore bears
remember the niger delta agitations didnt start out with violence,it took well over 30 years of oppression,killing of ken saro wiwa and the other 8,raping and killing their people before they took up arms,so if the president is not being cautious will he now order the massacre of people he s ruling over??thats genocide/ethnic cleansing my friend

Sky Blue:

@lucabrasi, the brave militants that only remain brave when it doesn't seem like it would cost them a strand of their hair. People please don't take my word for it, just search the headlines of the instances the "freedom fighters" wanted ceasefire and compare it to what was happening at the time, i remember it well because each time i thought it was pretty cowardly for a group he kept on making mouth and trying to take responsibility for anything that happened in the south. There is car crash in Abuja they will take responsibility. Okada runs over someone's leg in Abia, they will take responsibility. An old woman falls down on her way to church, they will say it is them that caused it and that no one should mess with them.

And then saying OBJ could not fight the militancy you now have to ask yourself if militancy was actually genuinely fought during the OBJ era. Wasn't Odili OBJ's political godson? Wasn't Odili in cahoots with the thuggery in the state?

the thing is that irrespective of how brave or not these people are,any government army are not fighting just a bunch of rag tag millitants,they r fighting the hearts and mind of the south south, like u stated in the other thread(though not connected to this)the issues here are,
what was the government reply to peaceful dialogue?
what did the government do to address the legitimate complaints before the armed struggle??lets not forget this armed struggle only started only a couple of years ago
lets not even start talking about the present commission headed by gambari,because there have been several commissions gathering dust in government offices and even if they have to why does it have to be headed by an individual that ll insult the people you r trying to help's sensibilities?if not to provoke them further,
shouldnt we be focused on the injustice done these people rather than government clampdown which will only give birth to a more desperate offshoot

@lucabrasi sorry but i don't know what reference you are taking from me that i apparently stated earlier but are you actually sure these militants represent "the heart and mind of the south south"? Go and ask people in port harcourt that have been terrorized or killed by the "freedom fighters" if they won't be happy to see them go.

people seem to be missing the point here, its not about how much the millitants are making from ransomes, but the government is going at it the wrong way,
to eradicate millitancy is really easy, provide opportunities for the youths,build factories for them n empower them with micro finance schemes, even the traditional ruler of the ikwerre area which i understand is one of the main south south areas said same thing in the news, he  did same with 169 or so millitants who did individual undertakings and signed them,the man said he sent  copies to the state government and others and also that the youths are working now and cut all ties to millitancy

not forgetting that the niger delta people s lands have been polluted by this same oil companies,they have refused to clean up after themselves and also flaring gas because its the cheapest way to do it without any compensations

their answer to agitations for compensations which is the proper thing to do in these circumstance is them bribing the trad rulers and government officials,again because its cheaper, so now we have a particular area suffering ill health on account of the oil being pumped out of their lands,suffering abject poverty because their land s being polluted, so the oil companies have failed them and their government s failed them and u want them to be quiet

@Lucabrasi

Your solutions don't go far enuff at all. . . . .

Give these people the proceeds from their resources.
The region is being fleeced by the rest of Nigeria.

Sky Blue:

@lucabrasi sorry but i don't know what reference you are taking from me that i apparently stated earlier but are you actually sure these militants represent "the heart and mind of the south south"? Go and ask people in port harcourt that have been terrorized or killed by the "freedom fighters" if they won't be happy to see them go.

the pertinent question here is that if they dont represent the hearts and mind of the people,who does?
is it the likes of ibori,odilli and co?
the catch 22 here is that even though they are criminals,and whatever you want to call them they r the only voice the niger delta have now,the fact that some people in portharcourt dont like what they r fighting for is besides the point

doyin13:

@Lucabrasi

Your solutions don't go far enough at all. . . . .

Give these people the proceeds from their resources.
The region is being fleeced by the rest of Nigeria.

i totally agree with that as well

Your comments sound good in theory lucabrasi, but let me ask you a question: How do you 'build factories' in an area of violence and insecurity?


MANY of the militants (if not most) are simply criminal elements taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves and terrorize individuals going about their legitimate business. Why should the government continually pander to their whims? Are the state governors not receiving 13% of oil revenue plus their regular allocations? How come that has not led to any serious reduction in militancy? Or is it when they are given everything that militancy will stop?

How will you convince someone who kidnaps a dude and gets 1million in a week to go and do a job that may fetch him at most 150k in a month? Do you think simply giving him a job will remove the greed? The militants need to be faced fire for fire if they refuse to lay down their arms. The truth is that the government has been too lax in the past allowing arms to proliferate in the area unchecked. If the current set of militants are expunged and dealt with ruthlessly, it will do two things - create a deterrent for others considering taking up arms, and allow for a more peaceful environment conducive for the investment you speak about. In addition, proper supervision and patrol of the waterways and borders to prevent arms infiltration would also be needed.

@ Doyin I do not believe the area is being fleeced - they are getting at least 13% + 9 states allocation (almost a third of the rest) = ~40% of the resources going to them. Now if that whole lot isn't doing it, what makes you think 100% will be the magic figure?

lucabrasi:

people seem to be missing the point here, its not about how much the millitants are making from ransomes, but the government is going at it the wrong way,
to eradicate millitancy is really easy, provide opportunities for the youths,build factories for them n empower them with micro finance schemes,

What is the guarantee that if the youth in these areas are given jobs and get paid, these militants will stop harassing the people?? Are you in some way saying that the youths are the militants??

lucabrasi:

even the traditional ruler of the ikwerre area which i understand is one of the main south south areas said same thing in the news, he  did same with 169 or so millitants who did individual undertakings and signed them,the man said he sent  copies to the state government and others and also that the youths are working now and cut all ties to millitancy

I completely agree that jobs are needed in that area but as we all know, Government can only work to create an environment that attracts investors and businesses. Will Government not have to get rid of the militants to do that, if I may ask, or is the idea that as soon as the government starts, the militants will seize?

@Debo

100% prolly will not solve the violence either. I envisage it might even escalate in the event
with all that is at stake. The tipping point has already been reached. The Armed forces do not inspire
confidence. Resource control or no resource control, the violence I am afraid is here to stay.

My own reasons for agitating resource control are somewhat selfish. I have always argued that the whole of Nigeria, and not the Niger Delta alone has suffered becauseof these over reliance on the region's resouurces.

The Resourcce control which is being agitated for will liberate the whole of Nigeria and not the Niger Delta alone.

For one, this gay inter tribal alliance of our elites will have less of a reason to exist and there will be a lot more onus on local politicians
to proffer solutions for local issues. Lines of responsibility for each locality will be easily discerned.

Whether the militants fight out of a genuine opposition to oppression or are mere criminal opportunists is besides the point. The fundamental issue is that mineral revenues from a particular territory should stay in the same territory.Its not for 'parasites' from other parts of Nigeria to seek to pacify Niger-Deltans with a mere fraction of the revenue from their own resources.

4 Play:

Whether the militants fight out of a genuine opposition to oppression or are mere criminal opportunists is besides the point. The fundamental issue is that mineral revenues from a particular territory should stay in the same territory.Its not for 'parasites' from other parts of Nigeria to seek to pacify Niger-Deltans with a mere fraction of the revenue from their own resources.

4play. . . .it just shows what mental incisiveness you show with a lot less verbosity.

doyin13:

4play. . . .it just shows what mental incisiveness you show with a lot less verbosity.

Oddly,I don't think most people understand what "verbosity" means.It refers to the quantity(prolixity) of words used and the inevitable redundancy of much of it.

@4 Play Nigeria is supposed to be practising federalism, does texas get 100% of the revenue it generates? To be honest i think that giving Niger Delta (especially with the criminals like Odili and Ibori still loitering around) 100% oil revenue allocation will actually bring more instability to the region and make some men potentially as powerful (if not more) as the federal government. However with the arguement you and doyin make this is not the issue and towing that line of reasoning to be honest i am actually slightly curious to see what such a direction will actually achieve. The problem with Nigeria has never been money but actually spending the money in the country properly. However with the ammount of people gaining from the current state of everybody sharing oil money do you think Nigeria will ever be so bold and uncowardly as to actually allow such to happen? It is an iteresting premise. My only problem is when people come on Nairaland and defend and glorify the obvious criminality of the militants that were part and parcel of a wicked anti people government in the first place.

4 Play:

Oddly,I don't think most people understand what "verbosity" means.It refers to the quantity(prolixity) of words used and the inevitable redundancy of much of it.

oooh my gosh!!! ROFLMAO!!