eku_bear:

That is just not how warfare works, man. Check the income of those ND states. Bayelsa for example earned sh1tloads of money. Absolutely none of it was spent on the ground. Instead it was carted off overseas and/or spent it on arming the militants.

The Ijaw man probably has the 2nd best military force in Nigeria right now, after the Northerners. Warfare is not about which group has the largest number. That Igbo outnumber the Ijaw does not mean they cannot make you their slaves, if it ever comes down to warfare.

If things were just about #s, then Israel wouldn't be the dominant military force in the middle east, Rwanda wouldn't be dominating its neighbors, the white SAs wouldn't have dominated the black SAs, etc, Pizarro wouldn't have conquered the entire Inca empire with 200 men, the Mongols wouldn't have conquered China and most of Asia  

2+ million barrels a day of oil, $200 million in street value per day. No force in Nigeria can defeat them militarily if they are able to use this resource fully to prosecute a war. Not even Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa combined. With that much money, 1 million people can defeat and enslave 100 million.

EDIT: typos

udezue:

YOU ARE SO RIGHT

That is just not how warfare works, man. Check the income of those ND states. Bayelsa for example earned sh1tloads of money. Absolutely none of it was spent on the ground. Instead it was carted off overseas and/or spent it on arming the militants.

The Ijaw man probably has the 2nd best military force in Nigeria right now, after the Northerners. Warfare is not about which group has the largest number. That Igbo outnumber the Ijaw does not mean they cannot make you their slaves, if it ever comes down to warfare.

If things were just about #s, then Israel wouldn't be the dominant military force in the middle east, Rwanda wouldn't be dominating its neighbors, the white SAs wouldn't have dominated the black SAs, etc, Pizarro wouldn't have conquered the entire Inca empire with 200 men, the Mongols wouldn't have conquered China and most of Asia  Undecided

2+ million barrels a day of oil, $200 million in street value per day. No force in Nigeria can defeat them militarily if they are able to use this resource fully to prosecute a war. Not even Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa combined. With that much money, 1 million people can defeat and enslave 100 million.

EzeUche_:

This is not new to the world. People respect strength.

One nation that I have respect for is Germany. Let me be clear, I do not support none of the heinous actions that they have done in the past. I am actually appalled, especially with the genocide committed against the Herero people. But, I do respect the Germans in how they were able to fight most of the world not only in one World War, but TWO World Wars.

If you look at the history of both world wars, Germany did not get much help from any its allies, except in WWII, in which the Japanese were able to distract the allies in Pacific. However, the German war machine has always amazed me. The martial prowess of the Germans cannot be understated.

Onlytruth:

@Chyz

I am a Christian - a JUDEO-CHRISTIAN; i.e, the type Americans practice. If you want to be secure and live in peace, you must be better armed than your enemies. Simple.

Humans are animals with pretenses of decorum.
Remove the facade, and all you are left with is an ordinary animal. So, how can you expect an animal to understand that you are being peaceful because of God? He can't understand that. EVER.

So, be armed and be prepared to fight to death ALWAYS, else, humans would turn you into a subhuman.

So, there is no need to attack the whole Christian religion because some animals are running around killing women and children and demanding respect in return. All you need is make sure they never escaped. That's all.

eku_bear:

Not going to lie, Germans are my favorite group of white people. Complete badasses.

2+ million barrels a day of oil, $200 million in street value per day. No force in Nigeria can defeat them militarily if they are able to use this resource fully to prosecute a war. Not even Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa combined. With that much money, 1 million people can defeat and enslave 100 million.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: eku_bear
I wish to quickly clarify that the guy who made the claim meant during the slave trade era when Aro slave merchants were selling captured slaves to Ijaw middlemen. That is settled now.

About getting armed today, ol'boy, do you think only Ijaw can access HUGE sums of money for arms?
YOU MAKE ME LAUGH!

Do you know that Igbos are the largest Nigerian diaspora, and remit about 5 - 10 BILLION dollars to Nigeria YEARLY?

Do you know that there are MANY rich Igbo men involved in arms trade?
Do you know that Igbo traders actually arm MEND?

Ol'boy, you don't know the Igbo man at all.

If Ijaw picks a fight with us, even that Oil in his land will not be sold for arms, because we will ensure they never accessed it.
How can they stop MILLIONS of Igbo diaspora?

This your statement proves my point (and yours), that being peaceful leads ants to think they are lions over you. I swear.

LOL.

[b]Again, I'm not at all impressed by #s. [/b]The progression of time and history has made #s less important in warfare.

Anyway, it is what it is. I've said my piece. That is my analysis of the situation. You are welcome to have your own.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: eku_bear
And this is the most ridiculous statement you've ever made on nairaland!  
So if that is true, why did MEND accept amnesty and disarm?

Ol'boy if they are that strong, they would NEVER have accepted anything.

I will say this again, MEND is only "powerful" because aboki is concerned about Igbo involvement. If aboki is assured now that Igbo won't get involved, MEND will cease to exist OVERNIGHT.  

Onlytruth:

Posted by: eku_bear
You better be because when EVERYBODY is EQUALLY ARMED then numbers can help.
Also, I hope you don't believe that they are better military strategists than Igbo (please speak for your Yoruba people).
And they are BY NO MEANS more militant than Igbo.

Our own is just don't provoke us and give us a reason to fight. We are militant and highly resourceful.  

So sure, it makes sense that they'd be afraid of more allies for the militants. By this statement of yours is extremely strong. How exactly are the Igbo what is preventing MEND from being eliminated?

The Ijaw are not going to war against the Igbo so everyone should just shut up.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: ezeagu
Of course they won't, unless they are fools. One of them made a st00pid statement in another thread and I cited that as an example of how an armed ant can suddenly assume that he can "deal with" a self-avowed pacific lion. The lion can simply disavow his non-violence, and what you get is an armed ant and an armed lion.

That is why we are having this conversation.  

ezeagu:

But there's no need for the conversation, especially when Igbo-Ijaw relations are mending, and when there are no Ijaw provokers here.

So your hypothesis is that

   * with Igbo support, MEND can also (C) upgrade from instead a terrorist group to a force that can legitimately challenge Nigeria's territorial integrity?
   * if Igbo were happy in Nigeria, (A) and (B) would be impossible for MEND to do, and thus MEND becomes irrelevant?
   * the North considered Igbo presidency to pacify Igbo, and thus cause MEND to become irrelevant?


Just trying to understand your hypotheses first, before I consider how plausible they are.

Conflict between pastoralist and agricultural societies is as old as civilizations itself. This is not only relates to Africa, but for most of the world. The Mongols used to raid the more agrarian societies found in China during the 1400s. The Huns as they entered Europe during 300 CE raided the barbaric agrarian societies in Germania, which forced the people who suffered from the raids to enter Europe.

In Africa, pastoralist have always posed a problem for agrarian societies. The Tutsi/Hutu conflict can be traced to this dimension. Maasai pastoralist would sometimes come into conflict with Kikuyu farmers. Pastoralist have brought down civilizations in order to find grazing land for their animals. One day, these African pastoralist will learn to settle in areas and learn proper herding techniques.

That should put it in perspective for some people.

asorocker:

Talking about the fulanis , it is obvious they now have and operate a private army just like the ijaws have their mend and yorubas OPC with their full military regalia and bullet proof vest, The fulanis cannot dare this nonsense in ijaw land.

Their expansionism if not checked will spell doom for the nation.

Onlytruth:

@my Igbo brothers,

I had to clarify this issue because I've run into some Ijaw folks who thought they've enslaved us in the past and can "deal with us" today. Let everybody know his place. That's all. We are neighbors and will continue to be provided no one starts being st00pid.
If we are like the Fulani, I don't think anyone would make such incendiary comment.

I rest it now.  

Their expansionism if not checked will spell doom for the nation.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: eku_bear
The MEND problem is what the Igbo would call "a tse tse fly perched on a man's scrotum".
If you kill it violently, you can break your balls. If you leave it, it will continue biting you.

To answer your question, Nigeria would have loved to conduct a FULL MILITARY campaign against MEND, and flush them out. Nigeria couldn't do that because of the point I made.
It is one thing to blow up pipelines. It is another thing altogether to face the FULL MIGHT of the Nigerian military.

You can't do that if your closest neighbor who is a big resourceful tribe is not on your side.

Must I be this explicit for you to understand, or are you feigning ignorance for mischievous reasons?

[size=15pt]Dokubo's Group Rejects Yar'Adua's Amnesty[/size]

Port Harcourt — The Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Front (NDPSF) headed by Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo yesterday rose from its General Assembly in Golf Palace Hotel, Port Harcourt with a resolution to reject the amnesty offered by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

The NDPSF said that since none of its members has been convicted of any criminal offence, there was no basis for them to accept the amnesty but however, condemned they, criminality in the Niger Delta region for which they said the amnesty was offered.

"There is no basis for accepting the amnesty as no member of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Front has been convicted for any criminal offence and therefore do not deserve amnesty," they said.

On his personal note, Asari said that amnesty will not usher in the expected peace since those who took guns for the protection of the region later turned them against the people they were supposed to protect.

"Amnesty will usher in open killings. You know that the people know those who killed their people, raped their women and girls and burnt their houses and in the name of amnesty you come and stay alive to enjoy the stolen loot. Despite the amnesty, there will be killings," he said.

In an apparent reference to the activity of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has been blowing up pipelines in the region, the group said they do not believe in destroying pipelines which also impact negatively on the environment, adding that what is destroyed in the environment cannot be repaired.

Asari said that when he rose up in arms against the oil companies in the region, without breaking pipelines, he was able to stop oil export and that no activity that tends towards polluting the environment would be approved by his group.

According to him, "when I travelled abroad each group I met on our predicament condemned the breaking of pipelines as they say that we are as guilty as the oil companies which destroy environments since we spill oil into it."

They insist we can advance our case without destroying the environment. We are strongly against the breaking of oil pipelines which destroy the environment".

The Assembly called for the withdrawal of the Joint Military Task Force from the region in addition to being made to account for the rights abuses they have visited on the people who they alleged were yet to be rehabilitated.

"The NDPSF demands for the immediate withdrawal of soldiers from the Niger Delta region. We also ask for the JTF to account for extra judicial execution of our people and raping of our daughters under the pretext of combating crime and also demand for the rehabilitation of our families and property destroyed. We condemn all criminal activities of some persons in the Niger Delta; such people that commit such offences as murder, kidnapping, arson, rape and such others as cannot consummate our aspiration", they said.

The group said they were stepping up their struggle through capturing political power from where they will push for total control of resources in the State of their control and vowed to get power by hook or crook in the 2011 polls.

Asari said they will adopt a political party which will only serve as a platform to attain power since their organisation; Peoples Salvation Force was refused registration in 2006. He further said they will field an Ikwerre person to wrest power from any party in power though he foreclosed the use of the Peoples Democratic Party for such aspirations.

They particularly condemned electoral bodies which subvert the will of the people by not making the votes of the people count and warned that they will not only resist any such future attempt but rise to fight it.

"We are organizing to take the political power. We have already asked people to start mobilizing at the grassroots in Rivers State. We shall meet in a General Assembly and pick the party to joint to achieve our goal. We shall field our candidates for all positions up for contest. If they want us to have a free and fair election, we will have it but if they want to play pranks with the election, we will play pranks. If they want it in magomago way we will be ready for them and if they want it in a clean way, we will be ready for them", he vowed.

On how to achieve the aim of the Niger Delta people, he canvassed for an alliance with Igbos who he said have the know-how, the population and zeal but not the resources for self determination.

He said he grew up being asked by his mother to hate Igbos but that it was not right since they were their next door neighbours and if one was not in good terms with his neighbours, he finds it difficult to win a war.

"Igbos are not our enemies, we need their number. If Biafra had won the war, we would not have been where we are now. We cannot win the war we are fighting without Igbos so we should reach out to them. We need their support.

"If the Igbos do not come to us, we will go to them, they are our neighbours and the people who put enmity between us and them are the problems that we are suffering from. We should make peace with them", he said.

Yerima Shettima, the Chairman of Arewa Forum in the region said it was wrong to group the North as an entity being against the interest of the South-South region but reminded the forum that the same cabal in power that impoverished the north more than the south was the cause of the problem.

He said there were many people that support the ideals of the region pointing out that he was arrested and detained for supporting the course. He advised the region not to be slack in their ways as the battles may soon be hotter since they were assured of victory in the end.

He condemned the position canvassed by Bala Ibn Na-Allah that the region was less than 20 million and should be done away with for peace to reign; pointing that if the same was said of the north, he would not like it


http://allafrica.com/stories/200907130808.html

This is to clarify things. We were sought for by the Ijaw's for help after yaradua gave the deadline of unleashing the full might of the law on the militants. The deadline I believe was October 4th. When that day did come most militants(MEND) gave up and gave up their arms at "accepted amnesty". If they would have refused they likely would have been destroyed.