The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • JTF tackles militants, vandals, kidnappers in Niger Delta

    JTF tackles militants, vandals, kidnappers in Niger Delta

    Worried by the never-ending destruction of lives and national assets, especially oil installations, by militants and other criminal elements in the Niger Delta, the Federal Government deployed the Joint Task Force to quel the crimes. Mike Odiegwu  examines the activities of the outfit and writes that the Operation Delta Safe (ODS) arm of the JTF is making progress in tackling militancy, vandalism and kidnapping.

    The Operation Delta Safe (ODS) arm of the Joint Task Force (JTF), is  the busiest security formation in the Niger Delta region. Officers and operatives of ODS working hard to live up to the outfit’s mandate of safeguarding the region.

    Insecurity portrays the Niger Delta as the most crime-infested area in the country, after the Northeast. The troops are saddled with the responsibility of ridding the Niger Delta of militancy, pipeline vandalism, kidnapping, piracy and other forms of crimes.

    Every week, troops patrol the difficult, muddy and waterlogged terrains. They invade criminal hideouts, have close shaves with death from enemies of the region who are armed to the teeth.

    Weekly scrutiny of the activities of ODS revealed that the outfit is achieving its mandate in the region.

    Niger Delta Report obtained the following records of the weekly activities of ODS in some of their operations in the region.

     

    Troops against sea pirates 

     

    A statement signed by the Deputy Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC), Lt. Commander Thomas Otuji, said the troops of Sector 1 in Delta State deployed at Idama waterside received distress calls by members of the community that sea pirates were terrorising them. The troops stormed the community and pursued the criminals.

    The troops sank the pirates’ 200-horse-power speedboat and recovered items such as arms and ammunition, AK 47 rifle, three magazines with 20 x 7.62 millimeters (special) and two live vests.

    The troops then sailed to Kula, Abonnema waterways, following a tip-off and engaged sea pirates near Olakpoko Kula where another gang engaged them in a shootout. Two of the pirates were killed while two others escaped with gunshot wounds. The troops recovered one AK 47 rifle, two AK 47 magazines, 40 x 7.62 millimeter (special), two mobile phones and one speedboat.

     

    War against oil theft: troops reject bribe

     

    In Rivers State, troops of Sector 3 raided an illegal refining camp at Adokiye-Ama community of Okrika Local Government Area. After conducting cordon-and-search operations, they discovered massive illegal refineries.

    They further discovered that the camp belonged to one Mr. George Amah, who is indigenous to Okrika. They destroyed the camp and recovered 33 pumping machines of various sizes, one power generating set; two gas cylinders for welding, five radio chargers and three speedboats.

    The troops, in a separate patrol, also intercepted two wooden Cotonou boats laden with petroleum products. They recovered two welding machines, a power generating set, 10 packs of welding electrolyte, two welding masks, two bags of cement, a bundle of marine rope, four shovels, one hose and five life vests. The troops set the items ablaze.

    In a similar raid around Tangolosusu area of Bonny, the ODS operatives destroyed two illegal refineries and some wooden barges.

    In Delta State, ODS had major breakthroughs as the troops resisted attempts by oil thieves to make them compromise. In what was called static operations, troops arrested one Salisu Mohammed Zayyan, a driver of an Iveco petrol tanker with plate number Katsina KNK 151 XA.

    The tanker was laden with 33,000 liters of substances suspected to be illegally-refined Automated Gas Oil (AGO).

    It was arrested at Otovwodo, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

    The suspect reportedly loaded the illegal product from a creek in Port Harcourt and was heading to Zamafara State when he was arrested. While the waybill indicated that the tanker was loaded with Petrol Motor Spirit (PMS), on close examination, it was actually loaded with AGO.

    Another suspect identified as Kesiena Oloya was arrested by the ODS along Jeremi Junction, Ughelli South Local Government Area. He had in his possession 35 gallons filled with AGO. The suspect allegedly attempted to bribe the troops with N29, 000, but his offer was turned down.

    His Nokia mobile phone and two Vento cars with registration numbers GB 393 AA and BUR 151 AA were seized and burnt by the troops. He was later handed over to the A Division of the Nigeria Police in Ughelli.

    The Eagle-eyed troops also foiled an attempt by oil thieves to use escort vehicles as a decoy to transport stolen AGO. One of the vehicles had an escort tag as its plate number while the other had registration number WWR 24 AL.

    Otuji in the statement said: “They were carrying 8×300 litres and 12×60 litres of plastic drums and jerry cans of suspected illegally-refined AGO.

    “It was gathered that the intention of the occupants of the vehicles was to evade scrutiny by troops.”

    Similarly, the troops, in conjunction with members of Petroleum Task Force, raided two illegal oil-bunkering dumps at Ugwuangwe in Warri South Local Government Area and Udu Local Government Area. The sites were reportedly used as dump and piling camps before reloading into petroleum tankers. Items such as rubbers, hose and jerry cans were recovered and destroyed.

     

    War against militants and kidnappers

     

    The ODS continued its operations against a militant group operating in the creeks of Bakassi and Cross River State. In collaboration with some vigilance groups, the security operatives ambushed and killed five members of the Bakassi Strike Force (BSF)

    ODS’ statement said: “The suspected militants had earlier hijacked a boat conveying large quantity of rice from a marketer at Parrot Island in Bakassi Local Government Area.

    “The owner of the goods was asked to pay N500, 000 as ransom. The militants were at the point of collecting the ransom before they were encountered by the troops. Similarly, troops arrested two suspected militants of Bakassi Strike Force and a suspected cultist in Ikot Ene, Akpabayo Local Government Area and apprehended another high-profile suspected member of the Bakassi Strike Force militant known as Ekpo (alias Short Gun) at Resettlement Centre Road, 27, Obot Tom Road in Bakassi.”

    Besides, operatives of ODS, in conjunction with Nigeria Police and vigilance group rescued a kidnap victim, Chief Matron of  Ughelli Central Hospital, one Mrs. Patience Abere who was abducted at her residence, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, on October 19.

    “The matron was abducted by three notorious armed men in her Kia Soul car with registration number AS 609 UGH. One of the suspects, Mr. Innocent Egboboh, was apprehended while two of the abductors fled on sighting the troops. Two locally-made pistols and three live cartridges  were recovered from the criminals.

    “Troops of  Sector 1  also  trailed and arrested  suspected  kidnappers, one Mr. Simon Agbabule and  his  accomplices at Okwugbude Community in Okpe Local  Government Area, Delta State.

    “The criminals were on their way to kidnap a victim when the troops monitored and swung on them. Items recovered included one AK 47 rifle, two magazines and 49 x 7.62 millimeters (special) ammunition.

    “It has come to the notice of Operation Delta Safe that criminals hide under names of reputable companies by using their vehicles/trucks to perpetuate crimes.

    “We appreciate the untiring support of members of the public for providing timely pieces of information to the troops. We are resolute that no amount of inducement by recalcitrant criminals will compromise our resilient troops from ridding the region of economic saboteurs.”

  • Rivers community accuses military of extra-judicial killing

    Rivers community accuses military of extra-judicial killing

    Joseph Izu, 24, was a central defender with Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan, Oyo State. On Sunday, October 16, he woke up in his Okarki hometown in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State. He had no inkling that would be his last day on earth.

    The footballer, popularly called “O’l Boy” in Okarki, had a very close friend known as Osuaekina Oko, (aka Anko) 36. The villagers alleged he was a notorious cultist and criminal, as well as a dealer in Indian hemp and hard drugs.

    On one of the Sundays, Izu was said to have joined Oko at his ghetto, which was described by the Commander of 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Brig.-Gen. Hamisu Hassan, as a cultists’ shrine, to smoke along with other cultists.

    In an interview with Niger Delta Report, the monarch of Okarki community, His Royal Highness (HRH) Elijah H. Aduan, the Okilomakiei VIII, said he earlier ordered the youth, led by their president, Stanley Magnus Arugu, 35, to demolish the ghetto.

    Immediately after it was destroyed, the monarch alleged that Oko mobilised members of his cult and invaded the house of the youth president and destroyed his property.

    Tired of the activities of the cultists, kidnappers and other criminals in Okarki, some peace-loving members of the community decided to inform the soldiers to help them rid the area of bad boys.

    Acting on tip-off, the soldiers allegedly invaded Okarki and met Oko and members of his group at the ghetto.

    Unfortunately, it was alleged that Izu was also at the ghetto; smoking with Oko and other criminals when the soldiers arrived at the scene.

    It was alleged that Oko and other armed cultists opened fire on the soldiers to which the soldiers replied. With the superior firepower of the military men, Oko and members of his gang jumped into the river in a bid to escape. Many of them escaped with bullet wounds.

    One of the cultists who survived confirmed that Izu did not jump into the river, but ran through the shallow path of the river and moved towards Okarki Primary School, where he encountered some soldiers. Initially, the soldiers did not know he was a popular footballer. The soldiers allegedly mistook him for one of the cultists because of his peculiar hairstyle.

    The monarch and youth president of Okarki supported the action of the soldiers. They also blamed the soldiers for not informing them, members of the council of chiefs and other stakeholders, before the invaded their community.

    “Izu’s death is very unfortunate. I have visited his father and other members of his family in Port Harcourt. But I cannot condemn the action of the soldiers. I work hand in hand with the military to ensure peace and adequate security in Okarki. The ghetto is the base of cultists, not a shrine.”

    The Okarki youth president, however, insisted that the death of the ace defender was unfortunate.

    Arugu also alleged that the unarmed  footballer was first shot on the leg and later on the waist.

    He said Izu was a smoker but was not sure he was a cultist, saying Oko was the leader of the Greenlander cult group.

    Arugu noted that after the first gunshot, Izu shouted that he was not a criminal and brought out his 3SC’s identity card, which was allegedly collected by the soldiers. They also collected his mobile phone. One of the military men shot him on the waist at close range and allegedly dragged him into Orashi River.

    A member of Okarki’s Council of Chiefs, Chief Ebi Akaliso, insisted that “Izu was not a bad boy. He described him as a role model, icon, star of the community and the best player in the village and its environs, with a promising future.”

    A witness, Delenla Andrew, 25, who is indigenous to Anyama in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, whose house is also opposite the spot where the player was allegedly shot, stated that she heard gunshots and ran outside to know what the matter was. She alleged she saw many soldiers shooting intermittently.

    However, the Commander of 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Brig.-Gen. Hamisu Hassan, maintained that the 3SC defender was killed in cultists’ shrine at Okarki.

    Hassan said: “On Sunday, October 16, troops of the brigade deployed in Akinima, Ahoada West Local Government Area, conducted a confidence-building patrol in Igovia and Okarki villages.

    “Information available to the troops on patrol indicated the presence  of suspected cultists in Okarki village.  The troops moved in and raided the hideout of the suspected criminals. One person lost his life at the hideout, while many others fled.

    “Later, it was confirmed that the person who lost his life was a Nigerian footballer, identified as Mr. Izu Joseph. Nevertheless, investigation is ongoing to further determine why and what he was doing at the cultists’ shrine at the time.”

    Izu’s father, Reuben Izu, disagreed with the commander of 2 Brigade.

    He said: “He (Joseph) and his daughter had planned to come to Port Harcourt to see me. He went to the jetty where we usually swim to have a quick shower on Sunday. It was while he was there that men of the JTF raided the place and everybody ran helter-skelter, including Joseph.

    “The soldiers were shooting sporadically and one of the bullets hit Joseph on the leg.  One of the soldiers walked up to him and shot him a second time despite Joseph’s plea that he was a footballer on holiday in Okarki.

    “He was taken to a hospital where he died due to loss of blood.”

    He accused the military of  “carrying out jungle justice. They do not investigate matters before carrying out actions. They should be educated on how to handle civilian matters.”

    Joseph’s widow, Portia said: “I need justice on the murder of my husband. My husband came home to see me and our daughter. He was not a criminal.  I have been made a widow.”

    The Ijaw Youths’ Council (IYC), through its spokesman, Eric Omare, described as provocative, the claim by the 2 Brigade that the footballer was at the wrong place (cultists’ shrine), when he was killed.

    It said: “The excuse by the Nigerian military is watery, provocative and insensitive to the families of those who lost their beloved ones and members of the community.

    “The IYC is not aware of any Nigerian law which empowers military officers to shoot and kill anybody found in a shrine.

    “Instead, all that the military and other security agencies have been trying to do is to cover up the extra-judicial killing by their officers.

    “Brig.-Gen. Hassan said they are investigating what Izu was doing in the cultists’ shrine, instead of investigating and bringing to justice the military officers who perpetrated this criminal act.

    “Once again, the IYC demand that the military officers who killed Joseph Izu and Oko Osuekina should be fished out by the military authorities and prosecuted.”

    3SC’s Media Officer, Jubril Arowolo and the club’s General Manager, Rasheed Balogun, quoted unnamed sources as claiming that Izu was shot with two of his friends, who sustained injuries.

    The club’s officers said: “The management of 3SC commiserates with the family of one of our players, Joseph Izu, who was killed on Sunday (October 16, 2016). He joined 3SC in the 2013/2014 season and was on the bench in the club’s last match of the season against Abia Warriors in Umuahia.

    “He was a dedicated player who gave his best for the good of the club. We are going to miss him greatly. We pray to God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss.”

  • Firm trains Delta, Kaduna youths in skills

    Firm trains Delta, Kaduna youths in skills

    In October 10, in Kaduna State and October 18 in Koko, Delta State, 47 candidates were interviewed for eligibility into Total Nigeria Plc’s Skills Acquisition Programme.

    The programme eligibility criteria included that the candidates must be youths who are indigenous to the host communities. They must be less-privileged and show enthusiasm to understudy a vocation of their choice and possess abilities to communicate effectively.

    In Kaduna State, the interview panel comprised representatives of Total Nigeria Plc, namely Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr. Albert Mabuyaku, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Mrs. Chinwe Ifechigha, Kaduna Plant Manager, Mr. Daniel Chukwu and Production Planning Engineer, Mrs. Hope Nnaji.

    The community representatives included the District Scribe of Makera, Alhaji Yusuf and District Scribe of Kakuri, Alhaji Yero who stand as guarantors for the candidates. Twenty candidates were interviewed out of which 10 were selected to train for various vocations of their choice such as tailoring, welding and fabrication, hair dressing and carpentry, among others.

    In Koko Delta State, the community representatives were members of the Koko Community Management Authority (KCMA), Mr. Solomon Mikie, Mrs. Rose Kpenosen, Mr. Emmanuel Oti and Mr. Samson Edun.

    Twenty-Seven candidates were interviewed out of which 5 candidates were selected for this year’s programme. They are Ruth Aduwenye, Ololo Oritsegbe-gbemi, Beatrice Bemigho, Bojor Bemigho and Joseph Bathuel.  Another five candidates were selected for the 2017 programme. They are Ogunwo Endurance, Henrietta Ede, Glory Nesiama, Nanna Appearance and Azuka Enebeli.

  • Stephen Keshi Stadium, others join Delta’s list of abandoned projects

    Stephen Keshi Stadium, others join Delta’s list of abandoned projects

    Every government has the well-being of the people at heart whenever it proposes any “people-oriented projects”.   The people, on their part, praise such intent by the government to enhance their welfare. OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE writes that despite the government’s good intention in proposing some “people-oriented projects”, Delta State is crammed with several abandoned projects.

    It was planned as an 18,000-seater multi-billion Naira multi-purpose stadium. Named Stephen Keshi Stadium, the project in the heart of Asaba, the Delta State capital, has remained unfinished 17 years after.

    The Chief James Ibori administration, in 1999, initiated the stadium project along with others which included Jay-Jay Okocha Stadium, Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area, Ughelli Township Stadium, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Warri Township Stadium, Warri, Oghara Township Stadium, Ethiope West Local Government Area, Oleh Township Stadium, Isoko South Local Government Area, Sapele Township Stadium, Sapele Local Government Area.

    Investigation revealed that many of these stadiums scattered across the state, have become natural habitat for wild animals and a den for hoodlums with none performing the functions that they were originally intended for.

    Aside from the fact that majority of these stadiums are dilapidated, Sapele and Stephen Keshi stadiums have not been completed despite that the contract sum had almost fully been paid for.

    The Stephen Keshi stadium, whose foundation stone was laid by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001 under ex-Governor James Ibori’s administration, has remained a project characterised by undue politicisation, mismanagement of funds and incompetence on the part of the contractor.

    Investigation by Niger Delta Report revealed that the site of edifice which dominates the Asaba skyline was originally designated by the Asaba community as an evil forest where the undesirables of the community were buried.

    The stadium is a bleak hollow shell, discoloured by algae that have grown on the terraces and its walls. It cuts the picture of neglect and waste associated with successive administrations.

    Adorning the entire stadium are scaffolding left behind by the delinquent contractor. The main bowl of the stadium is a tangled mass of tall grasses providing natural habitat to wild animals.

    The blue long span roofing has been blown off in many sections into the compound of houses whose owners have gratefully seized them to mend their leaking roofs.

    The outgone Uduaghan administration dilly-dallied with construction efforts with no meaningful work done until its tenure expired

    Ex-Delta State Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah blamed the lack of development of the stadium on the fact that the facility lacked sufficient space to accommodate necessary facilities for expansion.

    The Uduaghan administration terminated the contract of the stadium in February 2013 with a promise to complete the stadium in six months’ time, but that was not to be.

    Aside christening the stadium, the Uduaghan administration sought divine intervention in completing the stadium, hinging the slow pace of work on spiritual manipulation by evil spirits.

    His words: “l have told God that l am not going to leave any abandoned project in this state.  We have been having challenges with the contractors handling the stadium. It was about becoming an abandoned project but this will not happen because it will be completed soon.”

    He invited Dr. Chris Kwakpovwe, founder of Our Daily Manna Devotional publication to pray against spiritual inhibition stalling the progress of work at the project site.

    Uduaghan enjoined Dr Kwakpovwe to invoke the spirit of God on the stadium site to neutralise any negative spiritual inhibition.

    Kwakpovwe had, at the occasion, grabbed a clump of earth from the Stephen Keshi’s Stadium, prayed against any negative force stalling the completion of the stadium.

    Despite all the spiritual exertions, the Stephen Keshi Stadium has remained uncompleted, the battered edifice apparently jeering at the puny efforts by government to remedy the situation.

    The stadium is just one of several projects began but abandoned by successive administrations in Delta State.  The huge cash inflow into Delta State’s coffers since its creation 25 years ago has not been able to rid its landscape of abandoned projects whose value runs into several billions of Naira.

    Many of these white elephant projects, which are spread across the three senatorial districts, range from projects in  the power sector, hospital complexes, roads and  bridge infrastructure, industrial parks, markets, stadiums and airports, among others.

    Despite the never-ending and unconscionable waste, successive administrations, including the current administration, have continued to play the blame game.

    On assumption of office, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa had, in a report to state lawmakers on the state’s financial status, literally blamed his predecessor for the state’s parlous economy.

    While giving specifics on the debt profile of the state government, Okowa said the resource-rich state will have to run a monthly deficit of about N2 billion, and would need to borrow to pay salaries of its workers and finance the running cost of government’.

    With a debt profile of N637.2 billion owed to commercial banks and outstanding contractual obligations, Okowa called for belt-tightening measures and understanding from Deltans.

    Okowa gave a breakdown of the current indebtedness to commercial banks as N98.62 billion (principal sum) while outstanding contractual obligation is N538, 601,421.50.

    He said in 2011, the government took a N50 billion loan facility from the bond market, with a repayment period of seven years in 84 instalments at N1.098 billion each month. He added that the facility will terminate in September, 2018 with a further 40 more instalments (totalling N43.92 billion) to pay effective from June, last year.

    According to Okowa, in November, 2014, Delta State acted as guarantor to some contractors. It supported them by the issuance of an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) of N2.23 billion monthly for which the contractors have received the total of N40 billion.

    Okowa further noted that having paid four instalments; the government has 20 more monthly instalments totalling N44.60 billion to be paid up to 2017.

    Furthermore, Okowa said the state has an outstanding overdraft facility of N19 billion and N715 million with Zenith Bank Plc, adding that there are other smaller loan and overdraft facilities totalling N2 billion that have to be paid.

    He added that with effect from June through to March 2017, after a deduction of N4.60 billion from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) receipts, the state will draw a meagre N3.4 billion assuming the FAAC allocation stays at N8.03 billion.

    With receipts from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) at N2.0 billion monthly, the implication is that funds available to run the affairs of the state is a meagre N5.40 billion monthly.

    Okowa lamented that with a workforce of over 60,000 people and wage bill of N7, 437,940,015.38, the available fund of N5.4 billion is insufficient to offset wage bill, let alone fund overheads or capital projects.

    In 2013, during a mid-term ministerial project status overview, ex-Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan also revealed how his predecessor, ex-Governor James Ibori abandoned 418 road projects valued at N133 billion.

    The projects, according to Uduaghan, have 1,372 kilometre length of roads and 744 kilometre length of drains, adding that apart from the N42.3 billion spent on 60 per cent of the non-performing projects, N240.3 billion was spent on other 367 projects across the state.

    But the ex-Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan regime fared worse with it racking a debt profile of over N320.6 billion, making it the topmost debtor state in the country last year (domestic debts), according to a report by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

    Another key project rotting away is the N35.2 billion Delta Independent Power Project in Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government Area.

    Due to major public outcry, the legislature constituted a five-member committee led by its Majority Leader, Tim Owhefere to investigate the IPP project.

    The committee was given a month to complete its investigations and turn in its report. Midway into the probe, the committee abandoned the exercise over alleged undue influence from powerful politicians.

    A lawmaker, who spoke in confidence with Niger Delta Report, maintained that the committee abandoned its work following pressure from vested interest in and out of government.

    His words: “When we went to Oghara, we were amazed at the level of rot. But mid-way into the probe, we discovered that so many top politicians were involved. We were subjected to too much pressure from big quarters, and had no choice but to abandon the probe because of the people involved.”

    The lawmaker further maintained that during visits to the IPP site, there was nothing on ground commensurate with the humongous amount expended on the project, save the access road to the site.

    Okowa, who also decried the waste at a media forum recently, revealed that over N19 billion had gone into the project after almost seven years of construction work.

    The power project, whose contract was awarded by ex-Governor Uduaghan in June 2009, was designed to generate 128 megawatts of electricity.

    Another abandoned project is the N6 billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Lane Project with starting point at Effurun Roundabout, Uwvie Local Government Area and terminating at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Warri South Local Government Area.

    Recall that Uduaghan, in 2014, earmarked N6 billion for the stalled Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane project, but the BRT project suffered the same fate of abandonment until recently, when Governor Ifeanyi Okowa dismantled the entire project.

    Delta State Commissioner for Works, Olorogun Edith Augoye had vowed in an interview with Niger Delta Report to recover state funds from the contractor following a financial audit of the project.

    Aside the huge money already incurred by the state, the Okowa administration has had to spend additional state’s fund to dismantle and clear the failed BRT lane project.

    Another project which has failed miserably is the multi-billion Naira Warri Industrial Park at Edjeba, Warri South Local Government Area.

    The project straddles a land area of approximately 329 hectares. The project billed as a ‘mini-industrial city’, was conceptualised to boost the commercial activities in Warri-the oil-rich city.

    Niger Delta Report gathered that over N9 billion has already been sunk in the project, with over N1billion spent on master planning, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and consultancy as of 2011.

    An additional N3 billion was reportedly included in the 2012 Budget, while a further N2 billion was allocated in the 2013 budget for the same purpose. Also N3 billion was earmarked for the project in the 2014 budget, yet there is little or nothing to show for the huge capital outlay.

    Another project, sticking like a sore thumb, is second runway and expansion/upgrade of Osubi Airport project at Osubi, near Warri. The Osubi Airport, which is privately owned by Anglo-Dutch multi-national oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) had already gulped N1.3 billion by the end of 2011 fiscal year. While an additional N8 billion was earmarked in the 2012 budget with a further N4 billion allocated to the project in the 2013 budget.

    Despite these huge allocations, investigation by Niger Delta Report has shown that not much has been done to bring the project to fruition. The project, to all intent and purposes, was abandoned.

    The multi-billion Naira Asaba ‘International’ Airport at Asaba, Oshimili South Local Government Area, is another project which has suffered the ignominy of abandonment and colossal waste.

    For demolishing the hills around the airport, the state government signed a contract to expend a staggering N7.4 billion, prior to the convening of the South/South Economic Summit which held in the state in April, 2012. The actual cost of the project which began during the governor’s first tenure between 2007 and 2011 is still a matter of guesswork as it has moved variously from N17 billion to N23 billion, N27 billion, N40 billion and lately N57 billion.

    Despite the huge funds expended on the airport, the Federal Government declared the airport unsafe. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) accused Delta State of failure to fix key infrastructure at the airport, including repairs of the uneven runways, perimeter fencing, drainage as well as lack of adequately trained technical personnel.

    But the Okowa administration has not covered itself in gold on the issue of continuing waste of taxpayers’ money on the airport project. Upon assumption of office; he sought approval of N5.2 billion loan from the state’s legislature for renovation of the Asaba International Airport.

    But renovation work has stalled on the project despite the fact that N5.2 billion has been spent, the NCAA has not revoked the ban on the airport.

    The $250m Delta Leisure and Theme Park, Oleri, Udu Local Government Area, which was touted as a five-star project by Uduaghan administration has failed irredeemably. Nollywood star Richard Mofe-Damijo, who was Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, vowed in an interview with Niger Delta Report that the $250m project would be completed under his watch, but the project has been abandoned and overrun by weeds-a veritable abode for wild animals.

    Despite having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sacrner PFM, a South African firm, about five years ago,  the leisure park which the company described as  self -contained leisure complex that will contain a water park, cultural centre, amusement rides, hotels and retail outlets is yet to move from its rudimentary stage.

    In fact, ‘soil testing,’ which is a basic requirement for constructing such a huge project, was not done until late 2013. Yet, the completion date, according to the contractor’s website, was supposed to be in 2014.

    The government claimed it spent close to N800m on construction and beautification of the median of the Delta Steel Company (DSC) expressway leading from Osubi Airport to Oleri community, the project site.

    Delta sure needs help for it to be rid of abandoned projects, which have become eye sore.

     

  • Okoro is Urhobo

    The descriptive first paragraph was what soaked me in. It had done the same some months back when I had scanned through a copy in the newsroom, which I could not take away. The paragraph had blood, dust, sweat and all the violent imageries they often conjure in the mind. And there was the promise of a saucy story, whose end could be complicated. There were also hints of pain and death.

    For me, a student of the Dele Giwa school of thought which always craves a catchy introductory paragraph, it did not take time before I was lured into the world of Okoro, who is different from the Okoro many of us know.

    This Okoro and that Okoro are only the same in spelling. Their pronunciations are walls apart and their origins miles away. One is Igbo—that is the one most of us know and meet almost every other day.  We even use it as a generic term for all people of Igbo descent. The other, which is my concern here, is Urhobo, a proper Niger Delta ‘pikin’.

    I met this Okoro in My Name is Okoro, Sam Omatseye’s second published novel. It is the story of the civil war. There are many civil war fictions, including Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, which has been made into a movie of the same title. But, there is something different about Omatseye’s civil war novel. Yes, like the others, it is violence-filled. What is different is what I see as a protest in the book. It is from a minority’s point of view. Instances abound in it of efforts to properly situate the feelings of the minorities of the South. And the clincher, for me, is the use of a name which cuts across the divides to tell this amazing story of love in a time of war.

    Okoro asked: “Why do the newspapers keep writing about Igbo pogrom when they killed everyone who was southerner except the Yoruba?”

    I also came across this line of thought in chapter five, where I encountered a woman from the South who had come to the North in search of her son. She gave us some lessons in sociology. The woman, who was married to an Ukwani man, narrowly escaped being wasted because she had Yoruba tribal marks

    “Ukwanis are not Igbo,” she said. “The animals are killing everyone.”

    She offered explanations: “Ukwanis can understand Igbo language but they can distinguish who is speaking Ukwani and who is speaking Igbo. The Igbo know who is speaking Ukwani as distinct from  who is speaking Igbo.”

    Then wait for this from Okoro: “But is it not worse when the language is not even close but seems to sound the same but is not Yoruba or Hausa? For instance, the Anang and Ibibio.”

    Chief Subomi, who hid Okoro in his Kaduna house after he escaped Lieutenant Abdullahi’s bullets, added: “They were not spared. They were lumped together with the Igbo in the slaughter.”

    Then the ironic situation of these minorities was worsened as I found out at the point where Okoro returned home and Okungbowa was briefing him about the imminence of war.

    “His father, you know, lived in Aba and there is this thing going on there called ‘leave town’. It began with criminals and never-do-wells out of the city. Now, they are asking those who are not Igbo enough to leave. It included those across the Niger. So, he heard that his father and his other relations from Asaba had been forced to leave town.”

    To Okungbowa’s statement, Okoro raised a poser: “What did they mean by not Igbo enough? In the north, everyone, including people like me, were haunted and killed for being Igbo.”

    There is also the Barclays Bank lady who lost her Isoko uncle in the ‘Igbo pogrom’ in Kaduna who wondered why no one was talking about that.

    Like Reza did for the heart of Hajiya Binta Zubairu in Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s award-winning Season of Crimson Blossoms, My Name is Okoro succeeded in scaling the fence and landed in my puddle, so much so that I did not stop reading on account of painful neck. It shocked and excited all at once. The elegance of the language added to my determination to read it to the end. I smiled at expressions such as: “The warrior about his loins would have found rest in Nneka”; “He shot when she was not looking”; “It took about seven months into their sojourn in Umunze before Okoro unlocked his dam”; “He let himself loose in the curves and dips of Clara’s body”.

    Beneath the protest in the book lies the story of passion, love and lust in a time of war. This fascinated me. I was thrilled by what it means to be human in war-time Igbo land rived by man’s inhumanity to man. Okoro found Clara and with time, the warriors in his loins exhibited his prowess. Again and again, even when they tried to stop, failure starred them in the face. The brute called Lieutenant Abdullahi also fell in love with Nneka and for love, he surrendered almost all.

    I love movies and books that allow me use my head. Don’t resolve everything for me. Leave me with things to ponder after returning the book to the shelf. Omatseye leaves room for this. As I write this, I still wonder how Clara, Okoro’s war-time lover, handled the truth of how her sister’s potential of leading the Nigerian soldiers to their hideout. Did she tell the truth that she watched while one of the men with whom she was hiding from the Nigerian troops strangled life out of the poor girl? Or, did she just lie about it and they all live happily ever after? What did she tell them about Victory, the boy she adopted during the war and saw as consolation for the girl killed for her and others to live?

    There is also the question of why Clara was vomiting and feeling nausea after leaving the war zone and returning to her hometown. Did the pregnancy she was afraid of getting for Okoro find her? After all, they did it without guarantees!

    Another question still looking for an answer in my mind is what happened to Lieutenant Abdullahi. Did he kill himself after Nkechi, the girl who made him experience circumcision, committed suicide because she did not want to lose her chastity to a brute?

    I also love how a reader is allowed to figure out who Captain was despite that the question was not answered when Udeze, the Biafran spy, asked his sister Nneka, who was pregnant when the war started and was separated from her husband all through but returned with two biological children who are not twins. Captain must have been the strong man’s shield Nneka hid under. Who is Okoro not to understand? Not with his experience with Clara whose letter he said he would be awaiting. I wonder about the content.

    My final take will be borrowed from Okoro’s wife. It is about the futility of war. Here it is: “That (time wasting) is the meaning of this war. People died, families destroyed and cities on their knees. We have returned to where we started without all the things we started with.”

    If you are thinking of going into a war, if you are encouraging hostilities, if you are an apostle of strife, if you are violence promoter, the time to stop is now because at the end of the day, chances are that because of your insensitivity people will die, families will be destroyed and cities will be on their knees. And sadly, it will only dawn on you that all has been nothing but time wasting when you find yourself returning to where you were, if you are lucky to be alive.

  • What hope for Bodo/Bonny Road, 12 years after?

    What hope for Bodo/Bonny Road, 12 years after?

    When the Federal Government awarded contract for the construction of Bodo/Bonny Road, the people of Bonny Kingdom were ecstatic. They had hoped that their socio-economic suffering would be alleviated. PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA writes that 12 years after, the project is yet to be completed despite an offer by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) to bear 50 per cent of the total cost of the project.

    Twelve years after contracts for the Bodo/Bonny Road was awarded by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the project is yet uncompleted in spite of the offer by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) to offset 50 per cent of the total cost of the project.

    The people of Bonny had made several representations and consultations to draw the attention of the Federal Government on the abandoned project.

    They are worried over the inability of the Federal Government to honour their own part of the agreement on the project. In one of their visits to Abuja, they appealed to the Federal Government to support the NLNG to complete the roads which, they said, will ease the sufferings of thousands of residents who would use the road, especially for commercial purposes; a situation that will boost the economy of the country.

    For an average man from Bonny, the plea and consultations to make Federal Government to revisit the project plan has failed to produce a positive result and the project has been perpetually abandoned like other federal projects being carried out in the area. They also believe that the abandoned project has become a tool for canvassing political support from the people of the area by politicians during elections.

    Prior to the build up to last year’s general elections, former President Goodluck Jonathan gave assurance when he received in audience the King of Bonny Kingdom, His Royal Majesty (HRM) King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple XIII ýand his delegation at the Presidential Villa. He explained that major lapses in the first procurement of the Bodo/ Bonny Road, was responsible for the delay in completing the project. He said the project was first awarded 11 years ago under the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, leading to itsý eventual cancellation under his administration.

    While responding to some of the demands put before him by his Majesty, President Jonathan ýsaid: “On the Bodo/Bonny Road, I won’t want to bore you with details of the lapses in the first procurement of the Bodo/Bonny Road. The contract didn’t hold because there were major lapses. It is almost like the story of the East-West Road that was awarded without proper design and so with time it got stuck. We just had to come back and that is what happened to the Bodo/Bonny Road. We are now going back to proper procurement, proper design, proper cost and this time, God willing, once we start, we will not stop again.”

    Our investigation revealed that all capital projects that would be of great benefit to the people of Bonny were either abandoned or uncompleted. Federal Housing Estate Bonny didn’t see the light of day, Bonny Ring Road was inaugurated but was abandoned and the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas which is 90 per cent completed was abandoned.

    In a chat with Niger Delta Report, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations Division, Kudo Eresia-Eke said: “The Bodo/Bonny Road will better the lives of thousands of Nigerians, mainly from the Niger Delta living on Bonny Island, as well as other Niger Delta residents in Ogoni, Okrika, Eleme and Andoni, among others.”

    Recently, the Bonny Kingdom Advancement Front (BKAF), a socio-economic and cultural advocacy group in Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom of Rivers State protested the neglect of the project by the Federal Government. It called on the Federal Government to mobilise contractors back to site or have them to contend with.

    The group said they will explore legal and civil means to ensure that the Federal Government accepted its part on NLNG’s offer to provide 50 per cent of the funding (about N60 billion) for the completion of Bodo/Bonny Road.

    A protest letter signed by the Secretary of the body, Rexlawson Hart, indicated that it was sad for a kingdom that contributes so much to the National GDP to be left unaddressed, adding that people of Bonny would no longer keep mute and watch. He said the people might resort to legal and civil means to drive home their demands.  The letter reads: “NLNG offered the Federal Government N60 billion for Bodo/Bonny Road on February 3, this year. NLNG called on the Federal Government and relevant agencies, including the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) to partner with it in the construction of Bodo/Bonny Road but we are still waiting for response. These roads are longstanding government projects which will help improve infrastructure in the Niger Delta.

    “Before the Senate Committee on Niger Delta in Abuja, NLNG restated its offer to provide 50 per cent of the funding, worth N60 billion, provided the partnership was accepted and matched by the Federal Government.

    “However, it is unfortunate that this project is yet to be completed after 12 years.  We are not going to accept this but to ensure that the Federal Government realises the importance of the project to our people. We are peace-loving people; we will not take to violence or other negative means to address this issue, but to give the Federal Government a chance to do the needful for the interest of peace.”

    One of the youth leaders, Mr. Anderson Hart, a journalist, said the whole issue bothering on the abandonment of the road project is somehow confusing and looking more of politics than a social responsibility of the government.

    Hart said: “I don’t know why they are playing politics with this kind of project that would boost the economy of the area. In building a road like this, there will be time frame to be established by the bidders. The winning bid is obliged by the contractual laws to complete it on schedule and the project should have a final design. You do not go to the construction phase without a final design.

    “The completion of a project is not by luck or God’s will. It is just respecting the contractual obligations established, agreed and signed by the parties involved, which I think parties involved didn’t adhere to professionalism and world best practice. The road transverses a swampy terrain which was known to the consultant who executed the design and the design work should reflect this fact. That the project is still uncompleted after 12 years goes to the Guinness Book of Records and is a pity and shameful, an affront disregard and abuse on the goodwill of Bonny Kingdom.  “Procurement is a primary phase of any project and it is inexcusable to talk about faulted procurement after 11 years and handing over the site keys to the executing contractor and probably after paying the contractor about 90 per cent of the project cost for works not executed.  “Bonny people were expectant on the completion of the Bodo/Bonny Road, while we were still hopeful, the Federal Government inaugurated the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas Bonny, jettisoned the ongoing construction of Bodo/Bonny Road which was under construction for more than 11years.

    “Well, as a people, we took it with a smile. We celebrated and gave accolades to the Federal Government, for most of us had considered the consequence which the oil and gas polytechnic poses to the latter. Be that as it may, how would a Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas flourish without a road linking it to the urban cities?

    “With the menace of sea piracy, would the school see the light of day? Would the campus of the Polytechnics flourish with students from the hinterlands or is the school expected to be for only people of Bonny who are used to the terrain? The Bodo/Bonny Road is essential not just for the Bonny Kingdom, but also for the economic benefits of the people with more revenue for the Federal Government.”

  • Oil has brought us woes, say communities

    People from some oil-bearing communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states who ought to enjoy the benefits that accrue from oil and gas exploration in their areas are now ruing letting International Oil Companies (IOCs) into their lands.

    The lamentations of the communities were brought to the fore when the Gas Alert for Sustainable Initiative (GASIN) held a conference in Port Harcourt with the people, IOCs and government regulatory agencies.

    With the themed “Towards a Sustainable Relationship Between Oil Operators and Host Communities: The Roles of Government, Oil Operators and Host Communities,” the conference drew participants from six communities from Rivers and Bayelsa states, government regulatory agencies such as National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), National Environmental Standard Regulation Agency (NESRA), Rivers State Ministry of Environment. Incidentally, members of staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) were absent, thus aggravating the lamentations of the people.

    The communities that attended the conference were Akala-Olu; Enito II; Oshie from Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State while those from Bayelsa State came from Koroama; Obunagha and Polaku from Yenagoa Local Government Area.

    In his speech, King Funpere Akah of Gbarain Clan in Koroama said it is regrettable that “we are talking about our problems and those who are to help in solving the problems are not here. Next time if you know they will not come, please do not invite us.”

    Akah lamented that SPDC has not helped his community as the coming of the company to their land has brought all manner of troubles to them.

    The royal father pointed out that insecurity is a big threat to the community because “the place is now a safe haven for hoodlums, armed robbers and kidnappers who even attempted to kidnap me last year if not for divine intervention.”

    Continuing, Akah said despite that the residents of the Koroama community cannot sleep with their two eyes closed, “one member of staff of SPDC will be moving about with two security vehicles” adding that “if they are securing themselves; they should also secure us.”

    He also accused government of not giving them a sense of belonging.

    He also said the community that produces gas which is being used to light up other parts of Nigeria, is groping in darkness, with electricity distribution company in their area sending them a bill of about N99 million for one year.

    Akah also lamented that his people can no longer harvest palm fruits “because everywhere is criss-crossed by oil-pipelines.”

    How do you get them to address our problems? Next time, if you know they will not come, please do not invite me.

    The Spokesman of Akala-Olu community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Odums .S. Odums said his people are living in ocean and as such they are exposed to gas flaring while their rain water is polluted.

    Just like Akah, he lamented  that the social problems and hardship his people are contending with for allowing IOCs to come and explore oil in the land, are now making people to age faster and their women always having waist pains.

    Mr Thompson Pere from Obunagha community in Bayelsa State said his people are assailed by three predicaments that bother on gas flaring; oil spillage and their lives.

    Pere said gas flaring has been their lot since oil companies began operation in their land, thus exposing them to danger.

    “Gas flaring is now cracking our roofs, water that we used to drink has no meaning again and our cash crops are now affected.”

    He also said due to the operations of the oil companies, they have been witnessing oil spillage which pollute potable water and destroy aquatic life.

    Continuing, Pere stated that “since Oil Company stepped into our land, our social lives have been affected and anti-social behaviours which we did not experience in the yesteryear are now the order of the day as youths now indulge in cultism, armed robbery and other acts of criminality.”

    Speaking for Kula community in Rivers State, King Barnabas Kurule said: “Oil and gas companies have caused a lot of damage to us. Due to their operations, we do not know when there are rainy and dry seasons.”

    Apart from the devastating effects of frequent oil spill in the land, Kurule added that “vibration of our land does not allow us to sleep well at night.”

    Others who spoke on behalf of other communities that attended the conference reeled off litanies of woes that have become their lot since the IOCs commenced operations in their land.

    They, in one accord, appealed to GASIN to assist them in urging the companies to ameliorate their condition.

    In a 19-point communiqué they issued at the end of the conference and which was signed by all the participants present, they, among others, called on government and the IOCs “to provide adequate social amenities for the host communities to ameliorate the hazards caused by their operations.”

    However, speaking to declare the conference open, the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Environment, Mr. Emmanuel Oye lamented the difficult situation that the people are in.

    Oye also said it is unfortunate that “we have been hit from both sides-the communities, government and the companies” pointing out that “some of these processes of change take time to begin to manifest.”

    He also urged the people to embrace peace and accept whatever is being put in place to solve the problems.

    In his welcome address, the Executive Director of GASIN, Rev, Fr. Edward Obi explained that the responsibility of his organisation over the years is to establish a tripartite relationship between government/the regulatory agencies, the communities and the oil and gas companies for harmonious existence.

    Obi also said “forming the tripartite relationship is good because it prevents a situation whereby communities lock up company gates. Oil companies do not exist in a vacuum. They exist here and when they come, they have to do what is right for the people and vice versa.”

    He insisted that the relationship has worked before and it will work again in Niger Delta.

    In his speech, the Port Harcourt Zonal Director of NOSDRA, Mr Cyrus Nkangwung advised that “everybody should be seen as owners of the oil God has put in the land.”

    Nkangwung, who commended GASIN for ensuring that good relationship exists among the communities, the government/government regulatory agencies and IOCs, also urged the communities “to ensure that no oil spill occurs because if it does, it is the communities that suffer most.”

    He further expressed the Federal Government’s desire to clean the Niger Delta region “which it has started with the clean-up of Ogoni land.”

  • Why Buhari shouldn’t dialogue with Niger Delta militants, by Nembe chief

    Why Buhari shouldn’t dialogue with Niger Delta militants, by Nembe chief

    A community leader and social commentator, Chief Wilfred Ogbotobo, has said that a group of militants who has the penchant for wanton destruction of national assets, especially oil installations in the Niger Delta region, does not deserve a dialogue with President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He advocated military action as the best approach to flush out the criminals from the creeks and quell the unrest in the region.

    According to him, criminals should not be pampered and any dialogue with militants amounts to treating criminality with kid gloves.

    He said: “With the weighty challenges confronting the country at the moment, the Buhari administration does not have the luxury of time and resources for hopeless, hypocritical frolics with every lunatic group that springs from the creeks and other parts of the Niger Delta.

    “Instead, the Federal Government should consolidate the successes so far recorded and expand the overall capacity of the Operation Crocodile Smile to restore law and order in the region. This, he said, will enable the government to fast track significant development without delay.

    “Dialogue, especially with the same Ijaw actors, elders and leaders is akin to bathing a pig. The late President Yar’adua had broad and extensive consultations and dialogues with the same syndicates of Ijaw and other regional actors, elders and leaders before the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) was fashioned and implemented with its fraudulent Amnesty Fund which the syndicates hijacked in order to side-track the basic concerns of the downtrodden.

    “The cardinal thrust of the PAP, among others, is to confront the major issues of the Niger Delta, including restiveness, especially among the youth. The PAP successfully offered the syndicates hundreds of billions of Naira to share.

    “If another condemnable resurgence is to be pampered and dignified with a presidential dialogue, then, it only confirms that the Yar’adua’s PAP was a sham.”

    He described the amnesty programme as an exercise in futility, saying that Ijaw leaders are blinded by free cash and have been unable to chart a path of development for the region.

    Chief Ogbotobo reels off many interventionist agencies which people from the region mismanaged for their selfish interests.

    “Currently, it has become a miserable exercise in futility, to fathom how many more dialogues are required, for the Ijaws to make a decision on what they want and the manner they want progress in their territories.

    “Niger Deltans, especially Ijaws, have had extraordinary and absolute powers to manage federal interventionist agencies such as the defunct Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) and much later the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) which had master plans and blueprints on which the same set of elders and leaders had enough dialogues and made more than enough inputs for the development of the region.

    “The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) came later, with its own master plans and roadmap for the development of Niger Delta, that included robust regional contributions and participations spearheaded by the same elders and leaders.

    “The same cabal participated and contributed in the conferences that succeeded in increasing the derivation revenue for oil-producing states to 13 per cent”, he said.

    He recalled that Nigeria overwhelmingly supported Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to become the President with the expectation to change the mind-set of the people of the region by developing the Niger Delta. He lamented that Jonathan squandered the rare opportunity of the region and surrendered the wealth that was supposed to accrue to the Niger Delta to hawks.

    “The Ijaws, and by extension, the Niger Delta region, had the opportunity to produce a President who was given an unprecedented pan-Nigerian goodwill and support.

    “Nigerians virtually surrendered Nigeria to Goodluck Jonathan and Niger Deltans. While he called the shots, notable Ijaw people such as Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark assumed extraordinary and all-powerful statuses.

    For six years, they called the shots and possessed statutory powers to grapple with the critical socio-economic challenges that face the region and its downtrodden masses.

    “Therefore, there is neither any novel idea nor rational demand that warrants this latest act of ignorance and immaturity being peddled by the Ijaw in the Niger Delta region. We have had enough dialogue and do not need any for now.

    “Despite the severe economic realities plaguing the nation, he has continued with the Presidential Amnesty Programme fashioned by the cabal to short-change the development of the the region,” he said.

    Ogbotobo noted that President Buhari has shown sincerity in developing the region.

    He said: “The inauguration of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Ogoni land clean-up was a prompt fulfilment of his electoral promises to the Ogoni people.

    “Jonathan, an Ijaw and Niger Deltan, refused to implement the report in six years and the Ogoni people didn’t go on rampage against national assets and multi-national investments.

    “Ken Saro Wiwa led the Ogoni struggle on a well-defined engagement, which is paying off to the commendation of global humanity.

    “In our scenario, any more hostilities or failure to embrace the PMB administration unreservedly, would only confirm the shameful lack of seriousness and the hypocrisy on the part of the Ijaw and their regional allies, towards the real development and progress of the Niger Delta.”

  • Insecurity: Rivers’ most volatile areas for kidnapping, killing

    Insecurity: Rivers’ most volatile areas for kidnapping, killing

    Undoubtedly, Port Harcourt City is somehow safe. But for those visiting Rivers State for the first time, they could be victims of insecurity if their journey takes them far away from the capital city. PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA examines some of the danger-prone areas in the state despite the amnesty offered by Rivers State government to militants, cultists and other criminals. 

    Quite a few local government areas in Rivers State are susceptible to insecurity. But our correspondent’s analysis concentrated on those that are more volatile than others. In doing this, he examined situations in areas such as    :

     

    Ikwerre LGA

    Ikwerre Local Government Area has the ancient city of Isiokpo as its headquarters and comprises 14 communities. Among these communities, about nine have been “colonised” by different cult groups. Due to supremacy battle among these groups, hundreds of young men have been killed while several others are still missing.

    Members of the cult groups terrorising Ikwerre are members of the communities. They are mainly Degban and Icelander.

    Among the communities that are leading in kidnapping, killing and cult-related activities are Ubima, Umuawa, Isiokpo, Elele, Omagwa, Aluu and Omademe, among others.

    The roads leading to these areas are always lonely and fraught with bush parts which make them sanctuaries for kidnapping and robbery.

    The boundaries between Ubima and Ozuhia Road, Isiokpo and Elele are regarded as dens of kidnappers. Motorists and passengers who pass through these areas said as soon as they are approaching the kidnapping zones, they begin to say prayers for God to protect them.

    Before now, Omegwa, Ozuhia, Ubima and Omerelu roads were the shortest routes to Owerri. These days, motorists boycott the route while others still take the risk. However, even if the driver decided to boycott the route, he will have to pass through another dangerous route, which is Elele-Isiokpo Road in order to connect the road to Owerri.

    Mr. Igwe Omengbeoji, a motorist who plies these roads on daily basis said: “The bloody area at the boundary between Ozuhia and Ubima is Wilbros Road. From there to Ubima community which is about 10-15 minutes’ drive is always bushy.

    “Another area where we begin another set of prayers is the road between Ubima and Palm Estate Road leading to Omerelu community. As soon as you pass through this area and connect to Owerri Road, your family is sure of seeing you that day.

    “Some of the kidnapping activities in the area are perpetrated by cultists. When Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) raided Ubima, Elele and Isiokpo forests, they discovered many dead bodies. Some of them have decomposed while others are skeletons, dried bones and skulls. These were human beings who were kidnapped on that road and who died in the hands of the kidnappers.”

    Mr. Amadi Gift, one of the youth leaders in the area narrated to Niger Delta Report how Ubima community was turned to a ghost town on October 28, 2005 due to cult activities.

    “Our community (Ubima) will never forget in a hurry how cult activities began here. On October 28, 2005 the residents of the community relocated to the neighbouring community as a result of clashes between cult groups.  The battle for supremacy began in the morning. There was serious shooting in the morning and later in the night when members and families of the rival group were still asleep.

    “They descended on them and set their houses ablaze. The next night, the other group whose houses were set on fire retaliated and demolished over 30 houses belonging to their rivals. Many members of the community were rendered homeless because some of the houses destroyed were family houses. Till today, some families could not afford to rebuild their houses. That was how the crisis began. Currently, the community has recorded more killings due to cult clashes. Isiokpo, Umuawa, Omademe and other communities have also experienced killings resulting from cult activities.

    An Ikwerre man who pleaded anonymity for security reasons said after the killing that took place in Ubima community in 2005 and 2007, the cultists were remained calm.  He said the cultists resurfaced again four years ago with sophisticated weapons when politicians discovered they could be veritable means to achieve their political goals.

    He said: “For the past four years when the cultists resumed their activities in our various communities, hundreds of Ikwerre indigenes have been murdered and more than 50 people are still missing. Cult activities in Ubima community alone was were responsible for the death of over 20 people, even as 10 people are still missing.  This is also happening in other communities. At present, the roads leading to these areas have become safe haven for kidnappers and robbers because of the weapons at their disposal. All the cultists are now into kidnapping business.”

     

    Emohua LGA

    Emohua is a sister local government area to Ikwerre. The two local government areas have many things in common. They have almost the same tradition, understand each other’s languages and have one supreme council called Ogbakor Ikwerre, which is the highest decision-making body in Ikwerre ethnic nationality.

    Some of the residents who spoke to Niger Delta Report said youths of Ikwerre Local Government Area are greenhorn in terms of cult-related activities.

    The source said: “The East-West Road that links Ndele and Rundele communities is one of the areas that kidnappers have taken over. Other areas are Ibaa, Rumuekeni and Ogbakiri communities. These communities linked one another through water. So, as soon as the victim has been captured, they will put the person inside speedboat and ferry him or her to the other side of the river linking another community.

    “The residents also described the communities as the headquarters of cultists in Ikwerre ethnic nationality. Recall that residents of Ogbakiri were sacked from their community by cult groups eight years ago. Properties were destroyed and people were slaughtered like animals. The crisis kept them out of their ancestral homes for more than five years before they returned home to rebuild their community.”

    On January 18, this year, members of Elibrada community in Emohua Clan woke up on that morning to discover that their community was on fire due to a clash between two rival cult groups. But a day after, the community reinforced and allegedly killed two cultists who were alleged to have set the community on fire. It was gathered that after unidentified gunmen laid siege to the community during one of the nights, one of the youth that have been terrorising the entire Emohua LGA was alleged to have been picked up.  And later, the terror was found dead somewhere along one of the roads.

    Elder Ohiakwe Amaechi, one of the community leaders in Emohua said cult activities have inflicted pains and agony on the residents.

    “What happened in  Rumuekpe, Ibaa and Ogbakiri  should discourage people from patronising cultists. These three communities have more dreaded cultists than in other parts of the state. The insecurity in Ibaa, Ogbakiri and Rumuekpe communities which began seven years ago degenerated so much so that members of the community abandoned their homes and became refugees in another land for years.

    “Ogbakiri, for instance, experienced a total breakdown of law and order that resulted in massacre and deadly chieftaincy tussle,” he said.

    Recall that on February 3, 2014, some cultists suspected to be members of Icelanders and Degbam fraternity clashed at Ibaa community over territorial control. During the incident, nine people were killed and properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed.  Joint Military taskforce took over the community for more than one month. The residents of the community were forced to relocate to the neighbouring community for safety.

     

    Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA (ONELGA)

    ONELGA is one of the dangerous areas in terms of insecurity in Rivers State. Even as Rivers State government initiated amnesty programme to calm the situation, the area still remains high risk in security chat of Rivers State.

    On the first week of October this year, gunmen attacked the Rivers State Amnesty Programme Committee led by Mr. Kenneth Chinda, at Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.

    It was gathered that the team had resumed duty in ONELGA before they were attacked by suspected cultists in the area.

    Niger Delta Report learnt that when the incident happened, the leaders of the team had instructed other members not to reveal the development until investigations were completed. A source who was privy to the incident, Miss Sandra (surname withheld) told our correspondent that hoodlums intercepted the team around Akabuka community and opened fire on them.

    On February 12, this year, some young men were beheaded in Omoku and their heads were taken away.  A resident who pleaded anonymity for security reasons said: “In ONELGA, kidnapping and secret killing are major businesses. People are being kidnapped for ransom of between N100, 000 and N200, 000.  Kidnapping is a common business in the area and security is very poor, many people, including the indigenes are relocating to other towns that are safe.

     

    Etche LGA

     

    Etche Local Government Area is another of the areas with high level of insecurity and cult-related activities. Here, Degban and Icelander do not have much power. The area is controlled by a dreaded cult group called Umuoma Boys who originated from Obibi near Ozuzu Etche.

    One of the communities in the area known as Obite was attacked by unknown gunmen and scores were injured. After the raid by the gunmen, one Chikodi Nwankwoala was found dead in front of her house.

    Three months after, another community in the area, Akpokwu community was attacked. During the attack, four people were killed and about 20 houses were razed over the killing of one Mustapha.

    A youth leader in the area who pleaded anonymity for security reasons  said the Umuoma Boys and other killer groups in the area began as mere interest groups in support of political ambitions of some powerful politicians before they transformed into secret cult groups.

    The source said: “We have many bushes where these young men perpetrate evil. What they do is that they get one’s phone number and call one. As soon as one approaches the area, one is kidnapped.

    “During election periods, the young men received visitors from other local government areas who hired them for assassination, thuggery and other illicit businesses.”

    Continuing, he said: “The Umuoma Boys are very powerful and deadly. Etche has become a place where residents of Rivers State find it difficult to travel to due to insecurity. Everybody knows that Umuoma Boys were responsible for most of the kidnap and robbery incidents in and around Etche.

    “The system of incorporating hoodlums in the engines of political change made the Etche environment unsafe during election periods. This was perfected by old politicians within the Etche locality who were threatened by the rising profiles of younger men who they perceive as successful politicians.

     

    Ahoada East/Ahoada West LGA

    This is another dangerous zone where even residents of the various communities preferred to reside in Port Harcourt than living in their locality. The area is second to ONELGA in terms of insecurity.

    Investigation revealed that the residents are contributing money on monthly basis for the cult groups to ensure their safety and avoid unnecessary harassment.

    Ahoada is one of the target areas of Rivers State Amnesty Programme because of arms and ammunition that are in circulation in the area.

    A community leader who spoke to our correspondent in confidence said: “Here, despite the amnesty being offered to these armed youths, we are living at the mercy of cultists. The cultists are unleashing maximum terror on the people. They are currently calling prominent indigenes on phone, asking them to send money to them or be kidnapped.

    “Our women no longer go to farms for fear of being raped, molested or kidnapped. Our people have resigned to fate. They feel dejected and hopeless. We are praying that with the amnesty being offered to them, things would be better. But I don’t see any difference between what obtains now and what we used to experience.”

  • Oloibiri

    Oloibiri

    I was in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State some days back. I saw deaths. I saw blood. I saw arsons. I saw a people whose rivers are no longer homes to fishes. I saw a people whose rivers have practically turned to crude oil. If you drink the water, you have taken crude oil. I also saw an educated man who left his well-paying job with an oil giant to fight against its evils against his people. I also saw a white man who made it clear that it takes two to screw or get screwed. I saw an old man who was bold enough to look a militant leader in the face and tell him that his philosophy of violence would only help to aggravate the troubles of Oloibiri and, by extension, the Niger Delta.

    Let me confess here before you begin to wonder if all these happen in today’s Oloibiri. Well, I was not in Oloibiri physically. I was in Oloibiri via a film of the same title which features RMD, Olu Jacobs, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycet and Daniel K. Daniel.

    The film is a reminder of the mess the Niger Delta is which began in Oloibiri in 1956. The people were happy thinking their town would soon become London. Any voice of dissent  was shut down. And years down the line, they felt they had listened.

    The Oloibiri story resonates all over the Niger Delta, which extends to over 70,000 square kilometres and constitutes about 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass. The densely populated area comprises Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo; Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. It also extends to parts of Ondo, Imo and Abia states.

    This troubled region is home to over 31 million people and is the oil and gas-producing belt. Since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in Oloibiri, the region has been embroiled in controversies, agitation and protests over the attendant oil spills, devastating pollution of fishing zones and sources of potable water and ecological degradation.

    Over the years, the people have lived in conditions that are intolerable. From time to time, gross neglect and under-development snowball into pockets of protests and agitation for resource control because successive administrations at the centre and in some states glossed over sustainable development of the region.

    While other regions were being developed in infrastructure and human capital, the reverse was the case in the Niger Delta. No wonder there has been a debate on whether oil exploration is a curse or a blessing to the region.

    Bottled resentment as a result of the status quo has been blamed for instances of vandalism of oil and gas pipelines and series of kidnappings for ransom. As can be seen in the film Oloibiri, the youth thought violence could help and before they knew it, they became killers, spilling blood here and there.

    It must be stated that the enactment of the Mineral Ordinance by Nigeria’s first Governor-General Sir Frederick Luggard in 1914 signalled the exploration and exploitation of the country’s mineral resources, especially oil and gas.

    In 1937, the British colonial government gave the exclusive rights of exploration and exploitation to Shell D’Arcy, which could not actualise this mandate because of the Second World War. In 1938, Shell entered into collaboration with British Petroleum (formerly Anglo-Persian Oil Company) for oil prospection in Nigeria.

    Their early efforts yielded 450 barrels of crude oil in Akata I Well, in 1951. Further successes were made in Oloibiri in 1956 and Bomu Oil Field in 1958 when oil was struck in commercial quantity.

    Many major players in the global oil sector were later granted prospecting licences. Such players included Socony Vacuum (now Mobil) in 1955, Tennessee (later Tennenco) in 1960, Gulf Oil (now named Chevron) in 1961, American Overseas (later Amoseas) in 1961, Agip Oil in 1962 and Safrap (now ELF, Phillips in 1965 and Esso in 1965.

    Shell, Mobil, Chevron, ELF, Agip and Texaco were major players in the oil sector. Others, such as Ashland, Deminex, Pan Ocean, British Gas, Sun Oil, Conoco, Statoil, BP and Chemical Oil Company (now Conoil) played minimal roles.

    In collaboration with Shell, the Federal Government set up the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) with a plant at Finima, Bonny Island to enable it to maximise its revenue from oil prospecting and to also reduce gas flaring. The country has earned several millions of dollars in revenue from the NLNG.

    In spite of these efforts to increase the extraction of both oil and gas from wells and fields located in the region and consequently shore up gross revenue earnings, the peoples of the Niger Delta have tales of deprivation and neglect to tell.

    A large proportion of the country’s poor lives in the Niger Delta where the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas has created sorry sites and sights of oil spills and distorted bio-diversity.

    The situation has often given rise to non-violent and violent protestations. These include the initial 12-Day Revolution in the Creeks in 1967, which was championed by the trio of Isaac Adaka Boro, Samuel Owonaru and Nothingham Dick, in a failed bid to secede from Nigeria.

    There were other protests and agitations by groups, such as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), led by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa who was killed by the Gen. Sani Abacha Administration and activities of groups such as the Ogba Solidarity, the Urhobo Progressive Union, the Niger Delta Environmental Forum, the Chikoko Movement, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, the Ijaw National Congress, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force led by Mujahid Asari Dokubo.

    As a result of the recommendations of the Henry Willink Commission of Inquiry set up by the British colonial government on September 26, 1957 that the Niger Delta people were “poor, backward and neglected” and should be on the concurrent list as a “special area” needing special attention, the government established the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB).

    The board was assigned the responsibility of managing the challenges and the socio-economic development of the new special areas of Yenagoa Province, Degema Province, Ogoni Division of Port Harcourt Province and the Western Ijaw Division of Delta Province.

    It existed for seven years between 1960 and 1967 until it was replaced by a Presidential Task Force Committee that was set up by the then President Shehu Shagari in 1980.

    Another major attempt to address the issues challenging the development of the Niger Delta was the constitution of the Oil Mineral-Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) in 1992 by the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida Administration.

    Other interventions came in forms of panels, until December 21, 2000 when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was set up by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to “offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta” and further facilitate the “rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta that is economically prosperous, socially stable, economically regenerative and politically peaceful.”

    So far, the interventionist agency has made some strides in the areas of infrastructure development and human capital development. But, at many points, its affairs have been dogged by internal feuds and opposing blocs of influence over control of its operation. Many of those who are statutorily meant to give it money to lessen the region’s burden are failing in their responsibility.

    My final take: The Niger Delta question remains unanswered and until it is answered, Oloibiri, Ogoni, Gelegele and other relics of oil exploration will remain a stain on our conscience as a nation. And as noted in Oloibiri the movie, the people and their leaders must ensure that they are no longer screwed. After all, it takes the absence of unity of purpose to be screwed.