By Philip Agbese<\/p>\n
Bayelsa state recently played host to a meeting of ex-militants with some
\nstakeholders to discuss issues that participants find pressing. Among these
\nissues are the follow up on post amnesty, peace of the country,
\nanti-poverty agenda for the region, progress of the Niger Delta Region and
\nsecuring the environment in the face of dwindling oil revenue accruing to
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
The State Governor, Seriake Dickson must be commended for this initiative
\nof bringing the ex-warlords together in an atmosphere of dialogue. It is a
\ndeparture from the past where things are allowed to go pear shaped before
\nefforts are made at restoring peace with the attendant human and material
\ncost of any crisis as well as the rebuilding that must follow.<\/p>\n
The recent threat to the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan by the
\nMangrove Boys of Bayelsa, Bayelsa Youth Vanguard via SMS and press
\nbriefings is an indication that there is need to continue engaging the
\nyouths of the region in the aftermath of a government amnesty to militants.
\nDickson must thus be commended for giving a local touch to the programme
\nwith this latest round of engagement through the meeting he hosted.<\/p>\n
However, the calibre of attendees of this should be of interest to anyone
\nwho is keen on monitoring development in the region once known for its
\nvolatility that was then driven by these ex-militants who made the creeks a
\nno-go area to operative of the Nigerian state. While the Yenagoa meeting
\ndiscussed progressive issues, one should rightly be worried about the other
\npotentials that such gathering can be put to. Given the ceaseless fireworks
\nof divisive and inflammatory comments that have been flying around the
\nFebruary general elections, one should ask if this meeting of ex-warlord
\nsignals a kind of regrouping of the fiery men, who not too long ago laid
\ndown their arms to embrace a Federal Government Amnesty Programme.<\/p>\n
The likes of the leader of Niger Delta Volunteers Force, Mujahid Asari
\nDokubo have been engaged in war of words with the north with constant
\nthreat of instability to the nation if President Goodluck Jonthan, one of
\ntheir own, is thrown out of Aso Rock even through an election. The
\nwidespread response has been for people to dismiss Asari’s position as mere
\nranting but this could prove to be a costly mistake. It will now be a
\ncostly mistake going by the calibre of ex-warlords like Tompolo, Atele
\nTom, and all the high profile names in the creek who came out to attend
\nthis meeting at the instance of Gov Dickson for anyone to think that they
\ncannot unite in one second in one second at any call for brouhaha. A
\ncursory look at the
\npast will reveal that prior to the granting of amnesty to militants, the
\nreach of these groups had spread beyond the South-south geo-political zone
\nto other areas. The riverine areas of the South-west have embraced
\nmilitancy while the kidnappings that spread to the South-east have not let
\nup even after the originators of the dastardly laid down their arms for
\namnesty. This clearly demonstrates that the dangers to the nation go beyond
\nthe sabotaging of oil infrastructure but also touch on the stability of the
\nentire country.<\/p>\n
Those, particularly my siblings from the north, angling to cause trouble in
\nthis case should beware of the existing armies in the Niger Delta. Our
\nrhetoric around the election would suggest that we are kind of geared for a
\nshowdown but we must not delude ourselves into thinking that any one region
\nhas the monopoly for violence. It is certain that the ex-militants handed
\nover their arms for the amnesty programme, no effort was spared to confirm
\nthat in a country of mutual suspicion and unfortunate alliance of diverse
\nethnic groups. But we must not forget that these warlords already have
\nexperience with arming their militias so it could be easier for them to do
\nagain.<\/p>\n
What we must not give to them again is the excuse to get angry but this is
\nexactly what we are doing with the endless barrage of inflammatory comments
\nand actions. For instance, our uncle, the All Progressives Congress (APC)
\npresidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari was able to freely
\ncampaign in Rivers state and even had a conducive atmosphere in Bayelsa,
\npresident Jonathan’s home state. In both instances he Buhari and his
\nentourage were recipients of the southern hospitality. However, the
\ncampaign buses of President Jonathan could not even move from one city to
\nthe other as no driver was willing to drive one of them for a fee. Youths
\nwere instigated to chant against him in Sokoto, so called hoodlums stoned
\nhis convoy in Katsina and his billboards have to be under 24 hour
\nsurveillance in Gombe.<\/p>\n
The way we treated our president is already yielding negative consequences
\nas we have succeeded in belittling him on the international scene and yet
\nwe expect respect from foreigners as Nigerians.<\/p>\n
These acts of intolerance are what we must collectively speak against as a
\nblock from the north. If Nigerian electorate want to exercise their right
\nto sack a government through the ballot, it is crucial that the decision of
\nthe people does not come out not just like an ethnic agenda particularly
\nwhen it is apparent that the north does not have the wherewithal to
\nprosecute any resulting crisis from such misadventure. These guys have the
\nmilitias and they have the oil resource. Any victory procurred by
\nmolestation, threat and intimidation is a clear violation of the electoral
\na negation of free, fair and credible elections any where in the world and
\nwe must stand up against it now. The unity and peace of our nation is far
\nabove the interest of any group and should be protected beyond 2015.<\/p>\n
Comrade Philip Agbese is National President, National Democratic Front and
\ncontributed this opinion piece from Abuja.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Philip Agbese Bayelsa state recently played host to a meeting of ex-militants with some stakeholders to discuss issues that participants find pressing. Among these issues are the follow up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n