₦airaland Forum

I am still waiting for two evidence.
One from the government to confirm the link of Okah to the bombing. All we have had so far is evidence trying to tie him with MEND. The other evidence i want to see is that of Okah's claim that the government sent him a text to blame the north. I wonder why this evidence has not yet been followed since it will be very easy to find out. The police has his phone and the contents of the text messages received can easily be verified.

If IBB had any love for nigeria, he would forsake his bid to become president because of the bombing.

usbcable:
during obj's tenure we understand and could say what MEND was fighting against.
now during gej, thesame leaders of obj's MEND have denounced terrorism and denied being part of the bomblast.
people will surely live in fear because this is a new set of individuals masking behind the reputation of a popular group to unleash terror on citizens for yet to be ''clarified and outlined'' reasons.

The main issue with MEND is that we don't know how big or established they are. If we don't know the starting number, how can we tell the percentage of their commanders that accepted the amnesty? Mr gbomo said only boyloaf and dagogo are real MEND commanders. Are we to believe that MEND had only a few commanders in the whole niger delta?

[quote author=Akin-Egba link=topic=533854.msg6961003#msg6961003 date=1287353603]Delta, Edo, Imo, Abia, Anambra, Oyo and Lagos are the sports Boxes of Nigeria. Any counter opinions?[/quote]What data did you use to draw this list?

The people are already fighting because they claim you took their property yet you come with a solution of nationalizing their property even more. Its funny you even call it a solution.

krendo:
I think the immediate solution to this Niger-Delta crisis is immediate NATIONALIZATION of oil wells. Thay way Oil wells will no longer belong to Northern generals but Nigeria.

The Militants can not also lay claim to a National resource or property as that will also be criminal.

Government can then legislate environmental protection laws to protect the riverine people.

Read Asari Dokubo's expose below to see the criminality going on in Niger Delta. Politicians, Militants etc are all thieves.

Federal Government must intervein.

http://saharareporters.com/interview/asari-dokubo-me-henry-okahjomo-gbomo-judith-asuni-and-niger-delta-insurgency

I am torn between GEJ and Ribadu. Surely any sensible person should vote one of them but i will just give GEJ the edge because while he may not be the best candidate pound for pound, he seem to be the best at this particular time. We need a transition bridge from the past to the future and GEJ will readily provide that platform. Gej is the present and Ribadu is the future.

Beaf:
Dude, do a little research on the bolded, before disgracing yourself further. In Nigeria, every clown wants to pose as an expert, I'm sitting here laughing non-stop.

Don't talk about things you don't know about, it makes you look ridiculous.

. . .Anyways, how do you "mask" and email?

I thought we were having an intelligent discussion here. Or are you backing out?
Your statement about someone losing his email password was so vague and I was asking for clarity but instead something seem to amuse you. Who lost his password? Was is a MEND member or a random person? So you want me to go to google and type "somebody lost his password"? So you don't even know an email address can be mask to seem as if its coming from another email address? Like i said, you know very little about that area. I will always cherish the initial misconception I have about you.

Beaf:
Is the above meant to be a joke or what?

Have you not heard of at least one person who had that email account stolen and the password changed? What if the hacker decides not to change the password, but sends emails as they like and deletes the traces from sent items? Don't dabble into area's you don't know.

Does it even make sense to imagine that the original Jomo Gbomo mail account is still alive? The government would have ensured that yahoo closed it down, before or after the blasts.

Your post shows that you are not into IT but that is beside the point. However, who is the person you say had his email account stolen and password changed? I doubt the nigerian government can close a yahoo account. Yahoo is not a nigerian company neither is MEND classified as a terrorist group. So the nigerian government have no authority to ask yahoo to close any account of their customer. Big international media houses have the expertise to unmask the true source of any email. But non have ever said the emails they get from Gbomo was masked.

The warning was sent from the same Yahoo! email address and signed with the same pseudonym, Jomo Gbomo, used by MEND to claim both the independence day bombings and previous attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta.
In a follow-up email to Reuters, Gbomo said "we are giving the government about seven days' notice to put every security measure they have in place before we strike".
http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFLDE69E1V820101015?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Above is a excerpt from rueters about the mail address gbomo uses. Like they claimed, this is the same email address the group have been using to announce all the attacks on oil installations. The email address have been active since around 2006 so i can't understand why you expect the government to have suddenly realise it now and acted just before or after the bombing.

beaf
Trust me, you can spoof, hack or mask but any IT person worth its salt can unravel it with easy.
You need to have access to the email account to be able to send genuine emails from it.

That has already happened. When Okah was in prison for about 18 months, Jomo Gbomo was always sending emails of attacks. I believe a few people in MEND top command have access to that email address Mr Okah being one. The ignorance some people display here is baffling.

After all the discussion and education going on here, I still hear some people saying anybody can send emails claiming to be Gbomo.

We need to solve this problem with brotherly love.

samoks:
@slap1,
why do you still believe JOMO GBOMO does not exist. You were told he had an interview with The PUNCH, but you said you do not agree with the interview.

If anyone could have access to that email, then why don't The Tompolos, Boyloafs of this world have access to it? They were just ordinary field commanders of MEND,while JOMO GBOMO is in the administrative helm. So lets stop fooling ourselves that Mr Okah is JOMO GBOMO,what happens when (if eventually) is put in Prison and JOMO GBOMO still speaks out? who will you say he is? Maybe you will call him GJ.

Until we sit down and settle our differencies, this collection of NATIONS called Nigeria will never know PEACE.

Why are we just doing selective JUSTICE, I see many of us here making biased comments,

Abagworo:
Watch out next year for MEND, MASSOB,MOSOP and a new Efik/Ibibio miltant group.The crisis could easily be avoided by simply not framing people up and addressing the key Niger Delta issues.FG should not pretend everything is alright just because they are dining with criminals like Tompolo and Ateke.

My brother, I am shocked how we are all running headstrong into a calamity with our eyes opened. It makes me begin to think maybe God has a hand in this. Maybe its time to punish nigeria and nigerians for how we have destroyed the niger delta and killed their prophets in the last 50 years. Everything can easily be solved with just a few phones calls. More lives won't be lost neither will there be any more problem.

The way we are going, we risk forcing MEND to prove that they are capable hence more bombing and more innocent lives lost. I don't like MEND tactics but I believe they are not yet a lost cause since they still have the decency of issuing a warning before they bomb. Lets not push them over the edge and start bombing without warning.

The EU are not bais like most of us nigerians. Lets be honest, most nigerians outside the niger delta have a bais against the niger delta militants because we all feel if the demands of resources control and self determination is implemented, it will be like removing food from our table because we all still solely depend on this oil. That is why you see everyone calling the militant all sort of names in order to discredit them. Since the niger delta is a minority region, people from other regions are able to shout them and their demands down due to the numeric advantage. But lets be careful what we do to our brothers. It is our attitude to our brother at times like this that reveals our true colours and that is what God will use to judge us. When Soaro wiwa was hanged by Abacha, he did it in the name of nigeria. In the name of all of us and true to form, most nigerians are playing the part. Everyone of us is guilty of destroying the niger delta and killing their prophets.

What is Terrorism?
Wednesday, 20 May 2009

LET’S begin with a quote from Winston Churchill:

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it”

This resonates with the famous dictum: that history is written by the victors.

In a conflict, there are two opposing sides, and one of them will be the victor, and will predominate, dominate and write history from their point of view.

[size=16pt]When those in that position of power are challenged, the challengers are called terrorists, insurgents, rebels, guerrillas, saboteurs and revolutionaries.

That is, until the challengers succeed, take power and rewrite history (revisionism).

So the simple answer to the question: “what is terrorism?”, is that it depends on what side you are on[/size].

Now, in case my reasoning here is considered too vague and arid, allow me to give an example.

Nelson Mandela.

Here’s the scene: the country of South Africa had a stable, peaceful and internationally recognised government that was being challenged by terrorists called the ANC.

[size=16pt]Nelson Mandela decided that peaceful means were getting their cause nowhere, and so he co-founded the MK guerrillas– the pro-violence, armed division of the ANC.

Mandela raised funds abroad and quickly started bombing campaigns[/size].

He was eventually captured with the help of American spies and went to trial where he escaped the death penalty when he was found guilty.  He was instead sentenced to life imprisonment.

While in prison, Mandela became a lawyer through a correspondence course with The University of London.

[size=16pt]In the 1980s, Mandela’s MK guerrillas were particularly violent and there were many innocent civilian casualties, so in February 1985 President PW Botha offered Mandela freedom if he would denounce the violence. Mandela refused[/size].

Meanwhile, international pressure was mounting against the South African government’s apartheid policy, and the opportunity for change came when President Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced.

On 2nd February 1990, the new President, F.W. de Klerk, started the change away from apartheid by removing the ban on organisations like the ANC, and by setting Mandela free.

So on 11 February 1990, saboteur, guerilla, bomber, and terrorist, Nelson Mandela walked free after 27 years in prison.
Mandela was quickly elected to President of the ANC, and he began a peaceful, political and diplomatic way forward for South Africa in close partnership with President de Klerk.

President de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1993.
In April 1994, South Africa went to the polls, and the ANC won to make Nelson Mandela their first Black President, with former President de Klerk as second in command. Mandela was also the oldest — at 75.  He refused to go forward for a second term, and retired after his 5 years in 1999 when he got married to his third wife.

“…The USA government has removed Nelson Mandela, Tokyo Sexwale and Sidney Mufamadi from its list of global terrorists. ,  the removal is only for the next 10 years.”
[USA takes Mandela off Terrorist List Temporarily, Clipped News,  2003-08-10]

[size=16pt]Yet, somehow, Nelson Mandela has become universally considered as a “good man”, an example of goodness and kindness.  Let’s face it, he is going to be rewritten in history as a hero[/size].
Maybe the story of the ANC resonates with the Taliban or with the IRA or with any terrorist group.  It certainly shows that yesterday’s violent terrorist is tomorrow’s Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning president.

[Edit: June 2009] Mandela later admitted that the ANC violated human rights in its struggle against apartheid and criticised those in his own party who attempted to remove statements supporting this fact from the reports of “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (rewriting History).[/Edit]

And this is not an isolated example, just look at Ché Guevara — He is another revolutionary, one of the insurgents and revolutionaries from Castro’s Cuban revolution.

Guevara even wrote the manual on guerilla warfare, and was considered to be incredibly violent and dangerous.  He was infamous for personally shooting his own men who tried to desert him and his cause. He was a serial trouble-maker and instigated several terrorist organisations throughout South America, being responsible for destabilising most of that continent with effects felt to this day. He was eventually captured and executed in Bolivia of all places!

Yet Ché is ADORED and venerated today.  This evil terrorist has somehow become one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century (according to Time Magazine), and the  Alberto Korda photograph of him (“Guerrillero Heroico“)  was declared “the most famous photograph in the world”!

[size=16pt]So, again, what is a terrorist? and what is terrorism? — the best answer is “I don’t know yet”! [/size]  

[size=16pt]Is this why the US and europe have refuse to call MEND terrorist? Is it that they don't want to make the same mistake twice?[/size]

http://rtone./2009/05/20/what-is-terrorism/

Were these so called corrupt aspirants found to be corrupt by a court of law?

Beaf:
Having contact is very different from active membership. Both Okah and govt say he isn't a member of MEND;

That is my point. The report says he had contacts with the bombers (am assuming MEND) before and after the bombing. Contact might mean a phone call. We need to know what was discussed in the conversation to be able to know if Okah is still an active member or if its just a mere contact. That is why in my initial post i said we need more evidence.

It would be interesting to know the dates of the invoice. Was it before of after the amnesty?
If its before, its not relevant bcus we all know he was an arm dealer.

However, violence begets violence. If nigeria state kills Okah and the faction MEND loyal to him retaliate by planting more bombs in public places. Who is really responsible for the death of the innocent lives? We should be cautious of not pushing MEND out of their senses. Their activities at the moment is very worrying but they still have some sense of sanity giving the way they always give warning when they plant bombs. Lets be careful not not to push them over that line into insanity.

Beaf:
Okah has said it repeatedly since his arrest, that he is not a member of MEND and has nothing to do with MEND. Why are we content to sit back and make up stories. The man is not in MEND by his own admission. Period.

As for your "smoking gun," SA police have stated that Okah was in touch with the Abuja bombers, before and after the event.

Do you believe him? Its just like Tompolo or Boyloaf saying they no longer have contacts with the militants still in the creeks. Its like asari saying he no longer has contacts with militants in the creeks. I believe while Okah may no longer be an active member, he still has some form of contact with them. In his interview he says the government have been in contact with him many times after the manesty. The government has not denied that. If that is true, it is obvious the government knows he still has contacts with the faction of MEND still active. Otherwise why meet a man that no longer has any influence.

The other issue is when the government says he had contacts with the bombers. That statement assume we already know the bombers. Who are they? Are they MEND or some individuals who want to cause trouble? Where does Mr Gbomo and his active MEND faction fit in all this? There are still many loose ends in this drama.

What exactly are the boko haram fighting for? What are their demands? Can someone educate me.

We need better evidence. Okah made it clear that the struggles continue after the amnesty hence is anyone really in doubt that he still has contact with the faction of MEND who didn't accept the amnesty? The government even knows this that is why according to Okah, the they have been in contact with him many time so he can talk to the fighters still in the creeks. The smoking gun I was expecting is evidence linking Okah with the Abuja bombing. Still waiting for that to surface.

Ibime:
Just like I said, Ateke has never been a member of MEND. He was only assisted in 2007 in his fight with Omehia because MEND wanted to recruit him.

Like I also said earlier, the only militants who were there at the inception of MEND were Boyloaf, Farah and Tompolo.

Okah is right. GEJ is not interested in Naija Delta. He only believes the politics of thuggery and election rigging, hence his refusal to meet the Aaron team. This is the main reason for MENDs dissatisfaction with GEJ because Yaradua had time to discuss the issues as presented by the Aaron team.

More to come. Stay tuned. . .

If negotiating with Aaron team will bring peace now and in the future, why is the government not even considering it? I am scared of what we are playing with. The arms are already there. The fighters seems to be ready too in the niger delta. We still have a chance to diffuse this dangerous situation.

Henry Okah Blows Hot In Exclusive Interview with Thetimesofnigeria.com. “Femi Falana Knows Jonathan’a Associates Who Called Me. Jonathan Is A Fraud!”

http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/TON/Article.aspx?id=2856

In a surprising early morning call on Sunday, Mr. Henry Okah who is being held in a South African prison in connection with the twin bomb blast that marred Nigeria’s 50th independence celebrations on October 1st today said he has revealed the identity of President Goodluck Jonathan’s associate who called him to his lawyer, Femi Falana.

In an exclusive interview with Thetimesofnigeria.com from his South African jailhouse, Okah maintained that he had nothing to do with the blast saying that he will eventually be vindicated by South African court.

Okah described President Jonathan as “a fraud who keeps deceiving Nigerians that everything is fine when the Niger delta is in fact in turmoil. Fighters are armed to teeth in the Creeks and he is lying to Nigerians about the state of affairs.”

Below are excerpts of the call.

TON: Good morning Mr. Okah. Thank you for the call. First, There is quite a bit of doubt about the authenticity of these calls. I recall you granted an interview to Aljazeera and NEXT newspaper. How can we guarantee that you are who you claim you are?



Okah: I really do not care about what people at this point. The reporter at Aljazeera has interviewed me in the past and knows my voice very well. This line is being monitored as we speak and security agents can indeed do a voice analysis of the calls. This is a civilized society and there are laws here unlike Nigeria. I am allowed phone calls. I am not a convict but only a detainee. Nigerians will know the truth someday.



TON: You stated in your interview with Aljazeera that a close associate of President Jonathan reached out to you to prevail on Movement for Emancipation of Niger delta to retract the statement claiming responsibility for the Abuja attack. Do you understand why Nigerians may be skeptical about your claims in view of the fact that you have refused to reveal the identity of the persons that sent you the text message and phone calls?



Okah: I will not be rushed or stampeded into revealing a name right. I do not want to be used to archive a political end by anyone. I have revealed the identity of the President’s associate to my Nigerian lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana. Falana knows the person and President Jonathan himself knows the person because he sent him.



TON: Has this person acted as a link between President Jonathan and yourself in the past?



Okah: Yes, yes. They have always maintained contact with me. I am not revealing the name right now except to Mr. Falana whom I communicate with regularly. I spoke with him the day I was arrested and I continue to speak with him on a regular basis. If I reveal the name to the public now it may be used for politics and those who claim I was paid by Northern politicians will jump at it.



TON: Talking about being paid by Northern politicians, there are reports in some Nigerian newspapers that you were paid $100m by President Ibrahim Babangida to orchestrate the blasts in Abuja. Is this true?

Okah: Laughs, laughs, laughs. I am laughing because nothing can be farther than the truth. Me, collect money from someone? Impossible. I have never and will never compromise myself. When I was held for almost two years by Nigerian authorities both in Angola and Nigeria I was offered different deals to win me over but I rejected them all. I was offered deals such as oil blocks and a role in late Yar’Adua’s government but I turned them down and returned to South Africa after the case against me was dismissed.



TON: But have you ever met Babangida personally in the past or any of his close associates?



Okah: No, no, no. I do not know him and have never met him neither do I sympathize with him. This is one of the reasons I have decided not to reveal names right now except to my lawyers. I laughed when you mentioned hundred million dollars. If I was given that type of money I won’t be struggling to pay my legal bills here. I do not have that type of money and was not offered.



TON: You and President Jonathan are both from Bayelsa State. Do you know him personally and do you have anything against him?

Okah: No, no, no. Nothing personal at all. Everything is based on principle. Look, when late Yar’Adua was there, he tried his best. He was no perfect but he was on the right path. He started the building blocks that would have helped resolve the Niger delta crisis. But since Jonathan came in he has abandoned everything and surrounded himself with a bunch of bad advisers and they have proceeded to pay some people off. You have these people who were paraded in Abuja as MEND members and they are now claiming that there are no more fighters in Creeks. Let them be deceiving themselves. Fighters in the Creek are armed to the teeth and ready to explode. All those people they are parading as MEND members are not criminals who have being settled with the exception of Boyloaf (Victor Ben Ebikabowei) and Farah Dagogo. Ateke Tom was never a member of MEND but I also assisted him. I assisted Tompolo during the Ijaw Itshekiri fight and some of them. I was never the leader of MEND. I am only a sympathizer. I believe in a just struggle. A just fight. But I am not a fighter. I do not care where a President comes from. I am only concerned with justice and equality. Yar’Adua who is from the North did more for Niger delta than Jonathan is doing now. Paying a few people off will not solve the Niger delta problem. It is not about presidency but about justice.



TON: But your house in South Africa was searched two days before the blast. What did they find?



Okah: They came with a search warrant and a load of security operatives. Nothing was found and that was the reason they did not arrest me. My arrest is as a result of diplomatic pressure from the Nigerian government. We are going for bail and I am hopeful that it will be granted because no evidence whatsoever has been presented before the court. Not a single evidence. I understand that the nine people arrested in Nigeria have since been released. How do I detonate a bomb from South Africa? I have no idea what they are talking about. President Jonathan is angry because I refused to play along with the script presented to me. Because they believe I will prevail on MEND to issue a retraction and on the basis of that he went ahead to state that MEND was not involved in the blast. I was arrested just two hours after I declined to play along.

Beep, beep, beep (beeps from the phone)

I am sorry my time is up and I have to leave now. Tell Nigerians that I will be vindicated. I have not done anything wrong and the court will set me free.

Given how it seems militants in the niger delta are gaining power and stroghold in the country, there may be major problems if goodluck is not nominated by PDP. I doubt the election will hold.

Chanel
Like you said one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Don't expect to get the true picture from nigerian because the niger delta is a minority. If the niger delta is given what they are fighting for, others regions, states and people who form the majority in the country will not be able to survive because these other regions depend mainly on the revenue from the oil pumped from the niger delta.  There is a saying that the ant will never be found innocent (even if it is) among the gathering of chickens otherwise the chickens will have no food for lunch.

Most nigerians who call the MEND terrorist are not from the niger delta. They are the majority. But in truth, that bombing on Oct 1 that killed innocent lives was clearly a terrorist act. But even before that bombing, most nigerians have always had a dislike for the niger delta militants because they somehow see their demands of resources control and devolution of power as a threat to their livelihood. Surprisingly, the US and europe are yet to call MEND terrorist. I think its because the whole world know that MEND are fighting for a just cause, at least on paper. The whole world saw how the former military leader hung late Ken Saro Wiwa who was fighting peacefully for the exact same cause MEND now claim to be fighting for. Most nigerians outside the niger delta though acknowledge that there is a legitimate cause but they insist MEND is just using it as a front to achieve their own criminal activities. Whether this is true or not is yet to be seen. But MEND have always wanted to negotiated with the government so that the crisis can end but the government have rebuffed their offers. Some people point to this as a proof that MEND are fighting a true cause. They say why would a terrorist organization be itching to sit on a round table to solve the crisis? Another signature of MEND that may have endered them to the international community is that they always send warning of impending attacks so that civilians casualties can me minimized. But the attacks themselves, especially the last one squarely falls in the domain of terrorist act as the world knows it. This fact make many nigerians who are in the majority say MEND have lost any legitimate cause they may have been fighting for. But is this an opportunist reason to dismiss MEND by people who already have a bais againt them? Its hard to tell.