ARREST OF JUDIT ASUNI: RECONCILING PEACE WORKS WITH ESPIONAGE IN NIGER DELTA

Niger Delta region is used to dramas created by the exploitation of the oil and gas resources beneath its surface. And the recent arrest and subsequent arraignment of a well-connected ‘humanitarian’ worker, Dr Judith Asuni by security agents for alleged breach of the nation’s security code of conduct could best be described as another episode in the continuing drama. Since the arrest, there has been series of speculations of what actually went wrong to warrant the overnight metamorphosis of the darling of the Obasanjo Presidency and Odili’s Government House in Rivers state to a demon working against the nation’s interest particularly the interest of peace in the Niger Delta.

The suspects, Judith Asuni (American/Nigerian) Florian Alexander Orpitx, Andy Lehmann (Germans) and Danjuma Saidu (Nigerian), were formally arraigned before the court on a seven-count charge of conspiring to commit felony “by agreeing to enter the vicinity of protected place and took photographs of things situated therein and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 8(1) of the Official Secrets Acts, Cap 335, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 punishable under section 7 of the Act.”

Though the term espionage was not used in the charge, rather in one of the charges it was said that the accused “did for a purpose prejudicial to the security of Nigeria took photographs and video shots of pipelines, refineries, petroleum installations, ships.” They were allegedly caught filming masked youths from Ijaw communities in Delta State and also recording other sensitive oil and gas installations on video.

Charges against her read: “That you Judith Asuni (Dr.) Female 60 years old, American/Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar Koko Street, Asokoro, Abuja, Florian Alexander Orpitz, 35 years old, German of Graefestr Berlin, Germany, and Any Lehmann, 26 years, of Graefestr 8 OAU Berlin Germany, and Danjuma Saidu, Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar Koko Street Asokoro Abuja, between 20 th March, 2007 and 20 th September, 2007 at Abuja, Lagos,Warri and other places within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did conspire to commit felony to wit: agreed to enter the vicinity of a protected place and took photographs of things situated therein and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 8[1] of the official secrets Acts, Cap 335, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 1990 punishable under section 7 of the Act.

“That you Judith Asuni [Dr.] 60 years, American/Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar Koko Street Asokoro, Abuja, Danjuma Saidu, Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar Koko Street Asokoro Abuja, at Abuja, Warri, Port Harcourt between 20 th March, 2007 and 22 nd September, 2007 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, did aid, counsel and procure Florian Alexander Orpitz and Andy Lehmann to enter into a protected place, take photographs and retain other documents of installations situated in a protected place and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 8[1][b] of the official secret Act, Cap 335 LFN 1990.

“That you Judith Asuni [Dr.] 60 years, American/Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar Koko Street Asokoro Abuja, Danjuma Saidu, Nigerian of No. 18 Abubakar koko street Asokoro Abuja, at Abuja and Warri between 20 th March,2007 and 11 th September, 2007 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, did counsel Florian Alexander Orpitz and Andy Lehmann to make false declarations to the Nigerian Embassy in Germany within the premises of the same Embassy in Germany for the purpose of obtaining a visa into Nigeria and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 7[d] and 192 of the criminal code Act, Cap 77 LFN1990.”

The entire picture would be blurred if we fail to situate in the proper context what could be rightly described as an unfolding drama in the Judith Asuni arrest.

Dr Judith Asuni is the executive director of Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW), a non-governmental organization established in Nigeria. She has been involved in ‘humanitarian’ services both in the Niger Delta region and other parts of the country.

Her NGO has as objectives: to build awareness of the need and possibilities of peace in society; empower individuals and groups in building peace, through training and networking; and develop the framework for the peace process through action-oriented research and intervention in current or potential conflicts.

She has handled training workshops for the Nigerian police and other paramilitary services on conflict management, whatever that means.

However, there are so many matters arising from the recent alleged breach of the nation’s security by the accused especially the alleged videoing of mock-militants. What prompted Dr Asuni and her German colleagues to film masked Ijaw youths and how did she (and her team) gained access to those rural communities especially now that expatriates (men and women) are taboos in the troubled region? What did she tell those Ijaw youths to even agree to pose for the expatriates to film them? And, what are they going to use the video film for- the good of the Niger Delta and its people or what?

Dr Asuni’s non- governmental organization website claimed to have received grants from Nigerian Government for some of its projects. Interestingly, apart from the training courses allegedly organized for the Nigerian Police and other paramilitary services and which were supposed to have been officially paid for, for what other projects did Nigerian Government (under Obasanjo) offered grants to AAPW?

It may also help us to ask: What was the relationship between Judith Asuni’s ‘humanitarian’ organization with the Odili-led government of Rivers State? What has been the organisation’s relationship with western oil producing companies operating in the Niger Delta? Correct answers to the above questions may help ascertain the extent of damage done or rather mammoth contributions made so far in the Niger Delta by the Judith Asuni-led Academic Associates Peace Work.

Interesting, the NGO has been receiving funds from Department of International Development (DFI), The British Council, United States Institute For Peace, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas corporation, the German GTZ (the consultants that produced Niger Delta Development Master Plan) amongst others.

AAPW claimed in its mission statement that they are involved in “building capacities for managing conflicts through studies, intervention and peace awareness in society,” however, whatever that means ran contrary to the organization’s activities in the Niger Delta especially during the gun-for-money fiesta and rehabilitation of repentant cultists of the past Rivers state government.

When certain things happen it clearly show that most times public perception of some people may actually be very far from their true personality. Alhaji Asari Dokubo had at one of the occasions of destruction of surrendered riffles and ammunitions at the 2 Amphibious Brigade Headquarters, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, accused this same Judith of working with government to fuel the conflict in Niger Delta as opposed to her claim of conflict resolution and peace work. The Port Harcourt and international media that covered the event witness the open confrontation, so it was not a secret.

It was obvious at that particular event that the AAPW had other ideas or rather mission in the Niger Delta. It was surprising that the executive director of the organisation who was actually interested in peace in the Niger Delta, failed to listen to Asari’s complaint on that particular arms destruction day. Asari had alleged that the riffles being destroyed were not the new riffles he willingly surrendered when he totally denounced violent agitation for resource control. In fact it was at the point when some people felt that Asari Dokubo was serious with his threat to expose the real enemies of the Niger Delta, that the Buguma-born resource control activist was neatly tricked into detention.

Interestingly, in the past four years AAPW concentrated their efforts in the conflict-prone Niger Delta, with emphasis on conflict resolution and peace building. Its activities as claimed included mindset change and youth empowerment research/ workshops.

The unholy marriage between AAPW and some western oil producing companies in the Niger Delta led to the insinuation that the organization may have been engaged by oil producing companies to provide intelligence on the activities of resource rights groups of the Ijaws, Ogonis amongst others in the region.

AAPW was an active mediator in the conflict between Chevron and its host community of Ugborodo. It has also conducted conflict management and cross cultural training for the staff of NLNG and Shell. Although not known for socio-economic consultancy, the organisation developed a ‘Community Engagement Plan’ for a new associated gas gathering project by Shell/Agip/NNPC joint venture in Bayelsa State. It would take only an NGO that is closely knighted to these foreign oil operators to do such jobs in an environment that could rightly be described as hostile to expatriates.

Also, the abnormally close relationship between AAPW and the Obasanjo Presidency led to the insinuation that the former president may have used the organization for covert operations against the resource control agitation in the Niger Delta? This concern was fueled by the organization’s claims that “recognizing that ultimately the Nigerian government must own the various peace processes initiated by the NGO, rather than relying on foreign donors, we have been working with the Federal Government (under Obasanjo) since 2003 on developing a Conflict Intervention System. This was based on the National Corps of Mediators which President Obasanjo’s Africa Leadership Forum and Academic Associates started”. In early April 2003 Academic Associates Peace Works also trained 600 top police officers on early warning signs of election conflict.

Furthermore, Dr Asuni’s AAPW and the immediate past Rivers state government had what could be rightly described as an uncomfortable relationship. A peace and development initiative started by the organization in conjunction with GTZ in the Shell gas plant and neighbouring towns of Soku/Elem Sangama/Oluasiri, massively received funding from the Rivers State Government under Dr Odili, as has an on-going peace process between Eleme and Okrika. In addition, the organization was massively funded for its work on the Rivers state government-sponsored gun-for –money swap that witnessed the surrender and supposed destruction of over 10, 000 rifles and ammunitions including those purchased from Aba by government officials using Government House pick-ups.

From the above scenario, it would be very unfair for any group to brand the Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) as “predator of press freedom” simply because the agency uncovered and subsequently arrested some people posing as foreign journalists. The agency had been heavily blamed for lack of capacity to handle the crisis in the Niger Delta especially in the area of intelligence gathering and early warning control mechanism particularly in the Port Harcourt problem and now that it has woken up to its responsibility, it should be allowed to do its job unhindered.

On AAPW, the security agents should refuse to be blackmailed. Thorough check should be conducted not only on the organization but all the so-called NGOs (both foreign and local) in the country particularly the Niger Delta area especially those with questionable activities and funding streams. However, such investigations should be done with an open mind rather than intentions to witch hunt any person or organization.

 

By Ifeanyi Izeze

IFEANYI IZEZE IS A PORT HARCOURT-BASED ENABLING ENVIRONMENT CONSULTANT ( iizeze@yahoo.com)