Date Published: 05/13/09
NIGER DELTA STRUGGLE AND WORRYING ETHNIC SUPREMACY AGENDA?
BY: IFEANYI IZEZE
“ Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” This is how the Holy Bible explicitly explains that no matter the sophistication of deceit or rather camouflage by any individual or group, once in a while the real intentions and deep thoughts in their hearts pop up through their unguarded utterances exposing the real truth.
Recent developments and pronouncements in the so called Niger Delta agitation should be of serious concern to anybody that actually craves for the peace, security and above all, correction of the development imbalance of the neglected region.
From emerging indications, some politicians may be deeply involved in covert scheming to portray the Niger Delta agitation and the resulting insurgence as an Ijaw-only fight. This is a deliberate obfuscation of the facts of the agitation and an outright mischief that would bring no good to any section of the region but rather pitch the peoples against themselves.
Some recent reports credited to certain individuals and groups honestly contradict the entire spirit of the struggle. More so, people of the other ethnic nationalities in the region are fast becoming afraid and beginning to question the sincerity and actual intention of not only certain insurgence groups but the entire Ijaws vis-à-vis the collective objectives.
Punch newspaper of Sunday May 10, 2009 had an advertorial of a response by the United Rivers Progressive Front to a recent newspaper story credited to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) urging President Umaru Yar’adua to appoint an Ijaw as the new NDDC boss or be ready for more trouble.
It was very clear that the story which was reported by the Nation of Friday April 24, 2009 sang the same tone with similar reports in the Vanguard Newspaper of 29 th April and 5 th May 2009 as equally highlighted in the advertorial. This was in addition to several other stories widely carried by the web-based Nigerian news media.
The same mindset was also recently expressed by some prominent Ijaw politicians during the controversy of the appointment of the Minister and the Minister of State for the Ministry Niger Delta Affairs.
Frankly, the views expressed in the advertorial by the United Rivers Progressive Front wholeheartedly represent the minds of all other ethnic nationalities in the region. As said in the advertorial, it would be in the interest of everybody in the Niger Delta to actually know what the struggle is all about. Is the agitation by and for the Ijaws only or for the entire Niger Delta? Above all, what constitutes (territorially) the Niger Delta? These issues need to be explained to correct the present situation where “oshobeeh don deh become only one person meat.”
The response was a very clear signal to the very few selfish Ijaw political clique trying to manipulate the entire people, that their attitude and mindset in the struggle is fast becoming very irritating to the other peoples of the region who have equally contributed even more in force and peaceful means to the ‘genuine’ course of the agitation.
As stated in the United Rivers Progressive Front advertorial, “By such statements, it is now clear that MEND’s purported Niger Delta struggle is only a struggle for Ijaw ethnic domination of the Niger Delta region.
“It therefore stands to reason that our collective struggle for justice in the Niger Delta has been hijacked by the Ijaws and used as a smokescreen for an emerging strategic and narrow Ijaw contraption calculated to strangulate, oppress and bottle the collective agitation of the constituent ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta into an Ijaw agenda. This will be vehemently resisted.”
The Ijaws should not allow selfish political interests portend them as wanting to take everything that is supposed to be for the entire region.
These few selfish individuals that have amassed so much wealth seem to be bent on doing anything to remain relevant including pitching the Ijaws against other ethnic nationalities. This is outright mischief and wickedness.
The issue of which ethnic group must be appointed into positions of trust in the region is secondary to the issue of who would go there to perform. And truth be told, there is no ethnic nationality in the region that cannot produce over ten qualified and hardworking professionals in any field.
If the Ogonis, the most organized group with the most sophisticated intellectual militancy mechanism has been scheming to hijack all favors, appointments and credits coming to the region, no one would expect them to command the national and global respect they currently have today. So let’s advice ourselves because divided we fall- bros this na the truth o!
For instance, President Umaru Yar’Adua recently dangled amnesty carrot stick with a promise of rehabilitation and empowerment for any militant that denounces violence and surrenders his weapons to the authorities.
Few days after the presidential pronouncement, an interesting manifest of what was referred to as the frontline militant warlords expected to benefit from the promised amnesty and the accompanying largesse emerged from a blurred source somewhere between Bayelsa and Ogulagha in Delta.
The originators of the list either by design, omission or worst still for selfish gains portended gross aloofness of the real security problems in the region.
The Ijaws are not the only group in this struggle. Virtually every ethnic nationality in the Niger Delta has its own warlord(s) active or dormant - Ogonis, Ikwerres, Urhobos, Isokos, Itsekiries, Ndokwas, Ogbas and Egbemas, Etches, Asas, Oyibos, Ekpeyes amongst scores of others. And it would be a deadly mistake by the Federal Government and/or any other group to assume otherwise.
Now that some of these issues are coming to the fore, the peoples of the region particularly the Ijaws should correct whatever wrong impression created either deliberately or by omission. The region should match ahead as one undivided and indivisible group with one destiny as that is the fastest way for the Niger Delta to get to the ‘promise land.’ Bros na cooperation deh make rice swell!
IFEANYI IZEZE IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT ON POLITICAL STRATEGY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION ( iizeze@yahoo.com )
