Date Published: 02/14/10

Jonathan: Imperatives of Redefining the Ijaw Agenda By Idumange John 

When God instructed Samuel to anoint a King in the House of Jesse, the drama that led to the anointing of little King David is well articulated in the Holy Bible. The grace of God was upon David and he was entrusted with the onerous leadership role to lead Israel to conquer her enemies. He executed this task with courage and dogged determination. In spite of the human limitations, King David re-defined the collective destiny of Israel. God could have used the most experienced, intelligent and educated, but he used David – who in the nuclear family of Jesse, was insignificant. This is where I profusely disagree with our Iconoclastic Professor Tam David-West. 

In Nigeria, ancient and modern, the history of the Ijaws has been one of protracted struggle. From the pre-colonial times the British imperialists faced the fiercest resistance in Ijawland. As Nigeria started to march towards statehood, the Ijaws were again faced with the struggle against internal colonialism. The events that led to the recommendations of the Willink Commission should not detain us here, but it may be appropriate to point out that before the fratricidal war, Major Jasper Adaka Boro and his kinsmen in the army engaged in what has become known as the Yenagoa Putsch.  The revolutionaries were pained by the exploitation of the Niger Delta people taking everything as it were without putting back anything. This anger crystallized in what is known today as the 12-day revolution, which was the first attempt by the Ijaw nation to assert its autonomy and self-determination. Adaka Boro was particularly irked that the Ijaws were not given the opportunity to aspire to the highest position of the land. About four decades after this revolution the ideals of the struggle have remained largely not achieved until the ascendancy of Goodluck Jonathan.  

The Ijaws have been struggling against  obnoxious decrees and outdated laws that arrested the development of their communities. In 1970, Decree No. 13, empowered the Federal Government to appropriate all federally collected revenue, and Decree No. 9 in 1971, gave the Federal Government all rights to offshore rents and royalties. The anti-Niger Delta posture of the Federal Government was also manifested in the promulgation of the Land use decree, which expropriated the people of their land and legitimised the criminal exploitation of the people.  These are familiar themes in our political history that cannot be glossed over. The Petroleum Act has forbidden the Niger Delta people from tapping even a pint of the liquid gold underneath their land, yet the same Federal Government issues oil lifting licenses to people, majority of who are from the major ethnic groups. This was in spite of the near ecological annihilation emanating from oil mining activities. 

The Federal Character Principle in Section 14 of the constitution stipulates inter alia: “The composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the government or any of its agencies.” The Ijaws however have been cheated in the implementation of the Federal Character Principle. 

When the new phase of the Ijaw struggle began, it assumed the semblance of a coordinated movement, with the youths at the forefront. This was climaxed by the Kaiama Declaration. The Ijaw National Congress also played a constructive role in awakening the consciousness of the people. But alas! When politics infiltrated the struggle some of the crusaders twisted the struggle to serve their own megalomania. Thus rather than deepen and consolidate the gains of the struggle, some people of the stock started to do violence to the struggle and even denigrated the leaders. A nation can only produce a good leader when her people provide the necessary support and moral armament for the leader to protect their collective interest. Across time and space, freedom is never a given. It is obtained through struggle. 

Again, one of the diversionary instruments in the hands of the oppressors is to sow the seeds of discord and keep Ijawland perpetually disunited. Of course, propaganda has been the handmaiden of such mischief makers. This is the only dispensation the Ijaws have come close to political power at the centre. The Ijaw people cannot afford the luxury of political in-fighting and the risk of implosion.  I also argued voraciously that since 1960 this is the first time the Nigerian nation has conceded the number two seat to the Ijaw nation which further underscores the fact that the Ijaws still have a stake in the Nigerian project. This is by far the closest we have come to the locus of power in Nigeria, and any Ijaw man sowing discord among kinsmen is not only unpatriotic but against the progress of the Ijaw ethnic nationality. 

In the 1999 Presidential elections, the Yoruba’s never supported ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo but once he was sworn-in as President his kinsmen gave him massive support in government, and he reciprocated their gesture by giving them sumptuous appointments. This is an example the Ijaws should emulate now. Therefore those who are working hard to cause division between the Ag. President and Governor Timipre Sylva should understand that the Ijaw race is getting wiser by the day, and no amount of mudslinging pushed by the enemies of democracy would cause any implosion.  

Like little King David, God has made it possible for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be anointed as the nation’s number two man. Whether we like it or not, even critics of the former Governor of Bayelsa State will agree that the VP has distinguished himself as a man of character and meekness and that is why he is trusted and admired by many people. He is a human mortal with all the foibles but he has a destiny, which nobody can take away from him. When it became imminent that Goodluck Jonathan would be made Acting President, the workers of mischief started to throw in the spanners to trigger the centrifugal forces of pull and tear. This time around, the rumour mongers milled out a rumour that Governor Timipre Sylva sponsored people against the ambition of his elder brother. Phoney? Yes, phony because it is practically impossible for even the 36 Governors in Nigeria to determine who becomes the Acting President, as the constitution imposes that responsibility on the National Assembly. In a federalism such as our, the constitution is supreme.  

One thing that makes politics intriguing is the presence of this category of rumour mongers, mischief makers and conflict entrepreneurs. Like Margaret Thatcher rightly said ‘A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us’. In Nigerian politics, the absence of such people would make the game drab, unpleasant and cumbersome. Perhaps, the only way to contain such destructive propaganda is to starve them of the oxygen of publicity. Verily, democracy teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements. This is why democracy accommodates all categories of players, including the men of little wit and dreamers. But Aristotle holds that ‘the essence of democracy is its assurance that every human being should so respect himself and should be so respected in his own personality that he should have opportunity equal to that of every other human being to show what he was meant to become’ 

Much as I am very critical of some of the policies of Governor Timipre Sylva, I do not and can never believe, in good conscience, that Sylva would sponsor people against the aspirations of his master, whose elevation to a higher pedestal at the centre made it possible for him to be Governor today. I am also aware that in politics, even Siamese twins can have differing political opinions on issues, depending on which side of the ideological spectrum they belong. Even though Governor Timipre Sylva and the Vice President have had political differences in the past, it does not translate to such an open fight such as the sponsorship of people against the political interest of his master. In fact, the presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan would be to the advantage of Governor Sylva, as it would  add robust political capital for Governor Timipre Sylva to have his elder brother and mentor as the first Acting President from his Senatorial District. 

By my political calculation, if Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is given the nod of PDP, Governor Timipre Sylva would be the first to campaign at least to reciprocate the kind gesture of the Acting President-whose humility and goodluck made him Governor of the only homogenous Ijaw State. As Edmund Burke rightly pointed out ‘Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions’. From the viewpoint of the dividends of democracy, a Goodluck Jonathan Presidency would attract enormous federal presence to Bayelsa State and turn around her marginalized status. This is why opinion leaders in Bayelsa State and Ijaw opinion leaders have heaved a sigh of relief that power has been handed over to one of their own, at least as Ag. President who is trusted by all people from the political spectrum.  

It is essential to note that Governor Timipre Sylva and the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan come from the same Senatorial District – the Bayelsa East Senatorial District. This would be the first time the Governor and the Vice-President are from the same Senatorial District.  It  would be a thing of pride for the people to produce the first South-South President and this has been the aspiration of the Niger Delta People as least to compensate for their enormous contributions to the economic viability of the Nigerian State. It is those who envy this political calculation that try to throw in their spanners to do violence to the cordial relationship existing between them. Why on earth would a patriotic Ijaw man like Governor Timipre Sylva who has been advocating equity and fairness in the distribution of political positions stand on the way of his mentor if the opportunity presents itself so to do. 
 

It is very critical to re-state the fact that the Ijaws had sought the arithmetic of geo-political balance in Nigeria from the 1950’s. But it is now that the struggle seems to be paying off with the election of Dr. Goodluck to the exalted position of Vice President of Nigeria, and now the Acting President of Nigeria. On the strength of this development the Ijaw nation cannot be divided against itself if it is serious about playing a significant and purposeful role in the Nigerian political system.  

In Bayelsa State, there are some politicians who always want to belong to where in their pedestrian parlance “it is happening’. This group of political jobbers inundate the political landscape because they seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed . The same rumour peddlers and propangandists wrote tons of petitions against Dr. Goodluck Jonathan when he was tipped as running mate to Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Nature abhors a vacuum and the conflict entrepreneurs and propagandists must peddle vicious rumours in order to remain relevant in the system.  

The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Vice-President and now as Ag. President is significant in more senses than one. First, it is an indication that the Ijawman has a stake in the Nigerian State. Secondly, it has reaffirmed the confidence of the people that the constitution of Nigeria is supreme. Thirdly, the ascendancy of Goodluck Jonathan is a triumph of democracy, as many democrats and civil society groups protested the glaring injustice of the power vacuum before the NASS took the bold initiative. Finally,  from the unfolding events, Nigerian have come to know those who have been angling for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s position of Vice President in 2011 and they are the access of evil, as their actions are toxic to the health of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. 

On the part of Ag. President Goodluck Jonathan, nature has entrusted upon his the onerous responsibility of redefining the Ijaw Agenda. In doing so, he must transcend petty, parochial party barriers to make broad consultations with his kinsmen to implement the on-going Amnesty Programme, which has suffered severe reverses of fortunes because of President Yar’Adua’s long absence. Essentially, Ag President Goodluck Jonathan needs a large heart to succeed. The President has to build consensus before taking difficult decisions on significant issues that require patience and popular participation.  

As a nation, the Ijaws must of necessity shed their combative posturing in favour of a more civilized, subtle and persuasive approach to issues pertaining to their economic emancipation. The fourth largest tribe must now embark on an aggressive transition from the militancy to persuasive engagement and pro-active negotiation with the Federal Government to articulate their demands.  The Ijaw nation and indeed the South-South should see the Ag. President as an invaluable asset who is capable of re-defining the Ijaw agenda in the light of contemporary realities, and no warped logic, propaganda or divisive politics can change the direction nature has charted for the people.