\u2026Vows To Retaliate Attacks On the President
\nKennedy Tonjo-West is unhappy at the way Nigeria\u2019s main opposition party
\nand northern politicians have been criticising President Goodluck
\nJonathan\u2019s record in the run-up to next month\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not happy with the constant attacks on the person of Jonathan in
\nthe north and if they don\u2019t stop such molestation we will be forced to
\nretaliate,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will fight back. If and when we do, Boko Haram will be child\u2019s play.
\nWe shall prove to them that no-one has a monopoly of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such threats are not to be taken lightly, with Boko Haram having killed
\nmore than 13,000 people since 2009 and the rebels\u2019 territorial gains in
\nthe north posing an increasing threat to Nigerian sovereignty.<\/p>\n
But Tonjo-West is a former Niger Delta militant who commanded some 300 men
\nwhen lawless gangs wreaked havoc on the maze of creeks, swamps and rivers
\nof the southern oil-producing region in the 2000s.<\/p>\n
He is not a lone voice: other former oil rebels, including leaders of the
\nshadowy Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), have also
\nthreatened violence if Jonathan doesn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Ethnic divisions \u2013<\/p>\n
Unrest in the Delta hit production in Africa\u2019s leading crude producer and
\nNigeria, reeling from the current fall in the global price of oil, can ill
\nafford to dismiss the latest threats as mere bluster.<\/p>\n
Jonathan, a southern Christian from the Ijaw ethnic group, is credited in
\nthe creeks with having brought relative peace, allowing production to rise
\nto 1.75 million barrels a day.<\/p>\n
Not to re-elect him would be ungrateful, as the spoils of crude are shared
\nacross the whole country, said Annkio Briggs, from the Niger Delta
\nSelf-Determination Movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf for any reason Jonathan is denied power come February 14, we will
\nrenew our agitation and this time, we shall ask for 100 percent ownership
\nand control of our resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our son is not good enough to be president, then our oil cannot be
\navailable for other regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shall tell the Yorubas to go and use their cocoa, the Hausas their
\ngroundnut and Igbos their palm produce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018A bribe for peace\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Behind the warnings are a mix of ethnic rivalries, particularly between
\nthe Christian south and Muslim north, and fears for the future of the
\namnesty that saw rebels trade guns for money, training and jobs.<\/p>\n
What drove the Delta militants was the belief that the black gold under
\ntheir feet was theirs but that they were being severely short-changed from
\nthe wealth created by the government and foreign oil majors.<\/p>\n
The amnesty was introduced in 2010 by Jonathan\u2019s predecessor, Umaru Musa
\nYar\u2019Adua, before he died in office.<\/p>\n
Since then, it has paid out about 230 billion naira ($1.2 billion, one
\nbillion euros) to some 30,000 rebels, according to the programme\u2019s
\nspokesman, Daniel Alabrah.<\/p>\n
Some 18,000 people have received educational and vocational training in
\nsectors such as aviation, engineering, and the oil and gas industry or
\nstarted their own businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was intended to wind up in five years (at the end of 2015),\u201d said
\nAlabrah. \u201cBut because of the additional militants and limited budget,
\nthere might be need for an extension.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebels are paid a monthly stipend of 65,000 naira.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bribe for peace,\u201d said Alabrah.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Violence likely \u2013<\/p>\n
The amnesty certainly hasn\u2019t solved all of the Delta\u2019s problems: oil
\ntheft, from vandalism of pipelines to illegal siphoning known as
\n\u201cbunkering\u201d, continues at astonishing levels.<\/p>\n
Kidnappings are rife and most people of the Delta still live in crippling
\npoverty.<\/p>\n
But uncertainty over the scheme\u2019s future and the position of Jonathan\u2019s
\nmain rival Muhammadu Buhari, of the main opposition All Progressives
\nCongress (APC), has made it an election issue in the Delta.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe APC has previously been critical of the amnesty programme and it
\nremains to be seen whether Buhari would maintain the programme in its
\ncurrent form or seek to discard it,\u201d said Thomas Jansen, a specialist in
\nNiger Delta militancy.<\/p>\n
Maintaining stability and oil production in the Delta will be a \u201cstrategic
\npriority\u201d for whichever party wins, said Jansen, from security consultants
\nControl Risks in London.<\/p>\n
The APC is likely to broker a deal with the former rebels, he said, but
\nthere was a \u201creal perception\u201d, particularly among the Ijaw, that their
\nfortunes will wane if Jonathan loses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that an upsurge in violence and attacks targeting the oil and
\ngas industry is likely if Jonathan is not re-elected, particularly if his
\nre-election bid is seen to have been scuppered,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2026Vows To Retaliate Attacks On the President Kennedy Tonjo-West is unhappy at the way Nigeria\u2019s main opposition party and northern politicians have been criticising President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s record in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n