Youths of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom in Delta State, under the auspices of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Urban Youth Forum, have commended the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, on the appointment of their kinsman and Spokesperson of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Eric Omare , as his Special Assistant on Youth and Community Development.
The commendation was contained in a statement, titled: “Thank You Message to His Excellency Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa…,” which was signed on behalf of the youth body by Godspower Bouyi and Richard Koremene, Chairman and Publicity Secretary respectively, of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Urban Youth Forum.
They said, “We the members of the above forum heartily express our infallible gratitude to His Excellency, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa the Executive Governor, Delta State for the appointment of one of our own, brother and friend Barrister Eric Omare as your Special Assistance on Youth and Community Development.
“We wish to say the appointment is a demonstration of concern, depiction of love and kindness to the people of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom, particularly the members of the Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Urban Youth Forum.”
The group described the appointment of Omare, a graduate of Law from the University of Benin and Law and Sustainable Development from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, as putting a square peg in a square hole, noting that the appointee is not only capable, but someone that enjoys the respect and support of both his kinsmen and other ethnic nationalities in the state across board.
The letter noted, “Your Excellency, we are immeasurably grateful to the appointment and wish to state that the appointment is a right choice in the right direction and a square peg in a square hole. Appointment such as this can only be meaningful with someone who is competent and experienced in the management and coordination of youths.
“ Eric Omare, who is the Principal Partner at E. K. Omare & Company, having being the Spokesman of Ijaw Youth Council, (IYC) a notable worldwide youth organisation on youth management and coordination particularly in the Niger Delta, is not just qualified but have the capacity of discharging his new responsibility properly.
“With this appointment, we have no doubt on his ability to tame, organise or mobilize Delta State youths for a common action.
“We thank you your Excellency and wish to assure that we shall reciprocate this kind gesture by being supportive to your administration to creating an enabling environment to enable you meet your SMART objectives. It is our prayer that the almighty God grant you the Solomon wisdom to succeed. While we thank you we plead with his Excellency to create an enabling environment for all appointees to operate so they can contribute meaningfully in your administration.”
Meanwhile, the Ogbe-Ijoh Youth group also used the opportunity to congratulate and felicitate with their brother and friend “for his well-deserved appointment and promised that we are solidly behind him.
“Similarly is our appeal to all Delta youths to be law abiding and corporate with the SA by creating a conducive environment devoid of criminality, acrimony, hooliganism and youth on rest for government to bring the dividends of democracy on youth empowerment and development.”
At some point it seemed like the cat and dog outlook that has characterised oil companies/host communities relationships had transformed to something better until lately when fresh traces of hostilities started becoming frequent again. From communities in Delta to those in Bayelsa, the inability of both sides to either come to agree on terms or failure of one side to meet agreement has resulted in constant friction, which in some cases had led to community actions and shut down of activities on site and of course, eventual shut-in of production.
One of such cases is the tripod-tango among the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), NestOil Plc and the host communities of Odidi and Kantu. NPDC is the exploration company, which employed the services of NestOil to be the administrator/executor. In fulfilling the Nigerian Content Act provisions and probably part of agreement reached with host communities, the explorer, being NPDC, decided to give some contracts to local contractors, but then the explorer mandated its administrator to execute payment to community contractors. Things were going on fine until a hitch occurred in the payment process.
Odidi/Kantu local contractors, in a petition to the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), complained of a breach in a contractual agreement with NPDC, to the effect that they had completed a pipeline contract given them and that that they had been paid indeed, so some extent. The remaining part of the payment, they claimed, had remained a serious source of pain to them as they are also, as a result of the debt owed them by the oil company, they are now indebted to both banks and community youths and other hands who rendered services to them in the course of executing the project.
The petition, signed by seven companies; Global Plan Consolidated Company Nigeria Limited, S.Y. Mamamu and Sons Limited, Bil-Ke Corp Services Limited, Satebas Ventures Limited, Lkon Resources Nigeria Company, Odidi Integrated Services Limited and Dan Mene Enterprises, said “the contracts were executed successfully and invoices submitted to NestOil Group Plc for payment since September and November 2014. NestOil Group Plc has only effected part payment of the various contractors’ invoices. The delay in the settlement of the outstanding amount on our invoices has created indescribable hardships as we took loan facilities from banks in order to execute the subject works. As a result, high interest payment is mounting on our various facilities.
“Kindly prevail on NestOil Group Plc to rise up to its responsibilities as we cannot continue to hold back local communities youths and suppliers we engaged in the execution of the contract which have not been paid since last year from going to site to stop your operation. We have engaged NestOil Group GMD severally on this issue. He has always claimed that NNPC Group has not released funds to him to pay us. Presently, he is no longer accessible to us. He does not pick his calls neither is he available for a meeting”, the communities alleged in their petition, urging in the interim that the NNPC “kindly instruct NPDC to pay us immediately as your Interface Management Contractor (NestOil Group Plc) has refused to pay us. Besides, NPDC awarded the contract to us in the first place. We do not have a signed contract agreement with NestOil Group Plc”.
Although NestOil could not be reached for an official reaction to the development and the reported anger of the local contractors, a reliable source within the hierarchy of the company, who wished not to be named, confirmed that the company had indeed yet to complete payment for the completed contract. The source, however, pointed out that 70% of the payment had been done and that the remaining 30% is in dollars, adding that the company has not been able to pay because it has not been paid for its commitment in the project either.
Reacting to the development, the NPDC pointed out that the problem with OML 42, which the oil fields in the communities belong to have recently been a source serious confusion. Manager, External Relations Department of the NPDC, Ugo Atugbokoh, why clarifying issues on the grouse of the local contractors, said his company had already set series of meetings with various sets of stakeholders in the OML 42 belt, where the Odidi/Kantu communities belong. He said by the time they would be done with the meetings, stakeholders would appreciate the situation and know who to blame and for what.
“There are a lot of issues we need to sort out about that OML 42; Odidi, Kantu and other. We have decided to engage them tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday. Tomorrow we have a meeting with all leaders of various communities then Thursday we’ll meet with opinion leaders because some of the opinion leaders are contractors who are not in the exco. This problem between us and Neconde is causing a lot of confusion, we need to brief them thoroughly; all outstanding issues about payment will be put in proper perspectives. There’s been a lot of confusion and being the operators, they are naturally bound to be angry with us, but I think these stakeholders’ meetings will clear all issues and then they’ll who to blame and who to hold responsible,”Atugbokoh said.
An artisan, Mr Abiodun Olutayo, has dragged the Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Effurun Barrack, Lt Col Bassey Effiong to a Delta High Court in Otor-Udu, over the unlawful and continuous detention of his Toyota Camry car.
The car, which was ‘snatched’ by gun-wielding soldiers from the battalion over a month ago, has been moved to the Ebrumede Police Station in Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.
Others joined in the suit are one Sgt Olotu Adedeji, Cpl Anthony Iyang, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station, CSP Okoh Christopher, the state Police Commissioner and Inspector General of Police.
In his affidavit, Olutayo, a Lubricator/Wheel balancing technician, appealed to the court to order the release of the car, stressing, “Unless this Honourable Court immediately directs the Respondents to release the Toyota Camry Car to him, the Respondents would continue to deprive him the use of his aforesaid Toyota Camry Car and same would continue to cause the Applicant and his immediate family exceptional hardship and pains, hence this application.”
Earlier in a petition early sent to the Inspector General of Police by Oghenejabor Ikimi, Principal, Partner of Oghenejabor Ikimi & Co, indicated that the military using sheer brute force, hijacked the car from the home of the hapless Olutayo, a vulcaniser, around the PTI Road, Effurun, on June 5.
Consequently, Olutayo is pleading an order of the court “directing the respondents to release forthwith his Toyota Camry Car with registration number: JJJ 84 AT unlawfully seized/compulsorily taken into possession since the 5th day of June, 2015 and kept in the custody of the Nigeria Police Station, Ebrumede, Delta State for no just cause, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive application filed by the Applicant in this suit.”
He is also seeking an order of the court granting him leave to serve all the processes in the suit on the 6th Respondent through the O/C Legal, State CID, Asaba.”
Explaining the events leading to the car’s “unlawful” seizure, Ikimi, in the petition to the IGP Solomon Arase, said Olutayo and Adedeji met in April 2013, when the army personnel was posted to a military checkpoint along PTI, where the former owns a vulcaniser workshop.
It was gathered that the duo, being from the same Ondo state, became close to the extent that Adedeji later introduced a female indigene of Ogun state to his new found friend as his “lovely girlfriend”.
However, according to the petition, trouble broke out last June when the military man’s Toyota Sienna car was stolen during a visit to the “lovely girlfriend” in Effurun.
Things got from bad to worse for the lovers when Adedeji reportedly met a prophet, who told him that his girlfriend was responsible for the disappearance of the car.
Ikimi said, “Army Sergeant Adedeji informed our client that he had earlier received a phone call from an anonymous caller asking him to beg his girlfriend and her mother in order to get back his car.”
The drama took a new dimension, according to the petition, when the girlfriend (names withheld) reportedly got a text message from the lover boy military man, denying paternity of the love child resulting from their relationship.
The denial, which was allegedly conveyed through a text message, was forwarded by the aggrieved girlfriend to Olutayo, who in turn appealed to his friend, Sergeant Olotu Adedeji, not to take such a step out of anger.
The vulcaniser said his intervention and peace shuttle was interpreted by the aggrieved military man to mean that he connived with the lady to steal his car.
“Thus on the 5th day of June, 2015, Army Sergeant Olotu Adedeji stormed the residence of our client with two other soldiers at about 9:10pm and menacingly demanded and forcefully took his Toyota Camry car with registration number Lagos: JJJ 84 AT, to the Army Barracks, Effurun.”
The vehicle was detained at the Effurun Barracks headquarters of the 3 Battalion, until the DPO of Ebrumede Police Station wrote a letter demanding that the car be forwarded to his station for investigation.
The DPO’s letter followed a formal complaint laid by the Abiodun Olutayo on the illegal seizure of his car by the military.
When our reporter contacted the Commanding Officer of the battalion, Lt Col Bassey Ekong, shortly after the incident, he was told that matter would be handed over to the police after conclusion of an investigation according to military rules.
However, Ikimi said while releasing the car to the police, Lt Col Bassey added a rider: “that the said Divisional Police Officer should not release our client’s car to him, until our client produces the missing car or Army Sergeant Olotu Adedeji’s girlfriend.”
He further disclosed that “In the course of investigation by the Police, both our client and Adedeji’s girlfriend made statements to the Police and were subsequently granted bailand till date the said Divisional Police Officer apparently acting the script of the Commanding Officer of the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Effurun Barracks, have refused to release our client’s car to him or charge our client to Court if found culpable, hence this petition to your office, for your prompt intervention.”
The human rights lawyer appealed to the IG to look into Olutayo’s complaints in order to facilitate the release of the car, which is his only private source of mobility for him and his family.
At the time of this report on Tuesday, the victim and his lawyers were at the Otor-Udu High Court, where the motion exparte for the release of the car was slated for hearing.
BOLAJI OGUNDELE writes about Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta’s efforts at fighting oil theft and illegal refineries, highlighting the dangers faced by personnel to bring about the success so far recorded
The creeks, the deep recesses of the Niger Delta region of the nation are a nest of sort; it gives convenience and shield to a lot of things. The Nigerian black gold, the crude oil, is nestled in the deep creeks. It was same creeks that gave cover to youths of the oil-rich region when they were fed up enough to pick up arms against the nation while demanding for a share of the proceeds from the black gold.
The same creeks have become the shield constantly exploited by yet another breed of Niger Deltans, whose interest has fallen on making brisk business from illegally acquired crude oil, which has come to be known as bunkering. In recent times, fighting this menace of oil theft has constituted a major preoccupation for security forces, especially the Nigerian Navy and the Civil Defense Corps. Hundreds of suspects have over time been taken into custody, equipment worth several millions of dollars either confiscated or destroyed and millions of metric tons of stolen crude and illegally refined products also destroyed.
The Nigerian government has in the last few years, since the menace became a reality, not spared resources in combatting it. A particular government effort, which has constantly received negative criticism was the choice of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to vote billions of dollars to pipelines surveillance contracts, awarded to ex-militant leaders in the Niger Delta to protect strategic pipelines. It should be noted that despite the huge financial commitment to the pipelines protection course, the nation’s crude oil output continued to deplete as a result of unabated oil theft, gradually crippling the economy.
In this fight to protect the nation’s economy against oil thieves and to finally stamp out the ‘scourge’ of illegal oil refineries, officers and men of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, have shown much courage and commitment, with several operations reported and documented to the credit of the naval high command. The media is also partner in the fight and in most cases was present on the battle front. At the end of the day, it is always left to the media to convey to the world how much progress has been made in the efforts, relying on what it must have witnessed in the operations. Figures and facts about places touched, items affected and in rare cases, arrests made. However, there have been other unreported events that most times accompany the operations.
These unreported events are the personal experiences of those who take part in the several ‘expeditions’ into the deep creeks to rid the hidden places of enclaves of oil thieves and their illegal refineries. The events, in concise description, are mostly fearsome and dangerous. According to one of the journalists who have taken part in several anti-oil theft operations with the NNS Delta over many years, but who does not want his name mentioned, for safety reasons, “just the thought of the fact that the locations set for the activities are secluded, not easily accessible and definitely not one you can easily escape from, in a case of threat to life, scares me. For instance, if perchance those hoodlums decide to be daring and mete hostility back to security agents, I fear what might happen to some of us who are always unarmed and untrained in the arts surviving in such terrains as the activities take place. Thank God though, He has always protected us from dangers all along”.
Besides the dangers imagined by the journalists, other physical arms have continued, from time to time, to lay in the way of the gallant men and officers of the naval command, as well as their media companies into the dark, deep recesses of the creeks. Lieutenant Bright Eniye (not his real name) is one of the officers involved in most of the recent operations carried out by the Warri naval base in the fight against oil theft. He described details of some recent incidents, which nearly claimed lives. According to him, their mandate on the operations include to search out, locate and destroy illegal oil bunkring and illegal oil refining sites in their area of responsibility. They are to also arrest those found to be around such sites or those alleged or suspected to be perpetrators of the illegal endeavours. However, in the line of fulfilling the mandate, many of the times, the procedures had almost boomeranged as life-threatening occurrences had sadly been experienced.
“For instance, sometime in 2014, I think about July or August, we almost lost an officer; the then B.O.O (Base Operations Officer), Commander Olorundare, that was under the command of Commodore Musa Gemu. He was actually the one who led us on the operation and giving all the orders. We had gone through several illegal refining sites, destroyed them all and then got to this suspiciously narrow water path, there was a little attempt to disguise it as a disused water path, probably one that had been abandoned for a while. However, Commodore Gemu’s vigilance and experience pushed him to lead to inspect the path. We had to remove barricades placed on the access into the way and no sooner had we done that did we come into a winding hideaway, where a huge Cotonou boat, loaded with crude oil, which was definitely stolen, was quietly hidden.
“The Commander ordered that the boat, with its content, be destroyed. Before carrying the order, he asked that all boats and personnel be kept at a distance, leaving the boat of those to carry the order out just a few metres away from the Cotonou boat and its illegal content. Commander Olorundare was the one to set fire on the Cotonou boat. He lighted a substance, standing on the edge of a side of the huge container boat, threw the fire to a far end of the boat and started racing back towards the end where he could join his boat to escape. “But then the surface on which he was running was slippery, as a result of the fact that it was all covered with oil. He almost fell into the boat, which at this point was virtually engulfed by the fire (the fire had sped round the boat). There was panic now, even in the boats that were a distance away because the whole water had crude oil spilled all over the surface and should there be an explosion at that point or the raging fire in the Cotonou boat spilled through one means or the other into the water, all of us, including those in the boats a distance away, could have been fried. The B.O.O managed to jump into the water, some other men jumped in too to go retrieve him and that was how we managed to escape from that danger before there could be an explosion or a fire leak into the water”, Eniye narrated.
In a similar recent experience, now under the watch of a new Commander; Commodore Aliyu Sule, men and officers of the NNS Delta had been despatched to an anti-oil theft/illegal refining duty in Oteghele community, Warri South-West council area of Delta state. This time around, the operators of the illegal oil refineries have managed to device new ideas for cover; new they receded back into thicker forests, some distance from water, now using long spanning hoses to convey crude to their cooking spots.
The operation covered a stretch of illegal refineries, spanning about three kilometres, seven of the refineries in all. After discovering the sites, they had to be destroyed, all of them; the tanks, massive cooking devises and the dugout reservoirs. It was at the point of setting fire on the discovered refineries that a stark form of danger manifested. Starting from the last point of the stretch of refineries, the fire from the tanks would not just burn the tanks and their contents, but leaped on surrounding forest and of course the the oil soaked grounds around.
At some point the whole forest seemed engulfed with personnel encircled by the burning forest. Then came the scariest of the occurrences of the day; there was that deafening explosion, which could have sounded to kilometers away and then fire entered the main hose, carrying crude from the river. It was speeding and almost spitting fire out, making such a eery noise that all on sight started running for dear life. Even as all were running to escape, it was like there was nowhere to run as the fast moving fire seemed to have trapped all inside the forest, making an inevitable end almost most certain. The company was separated as result of the panic. Some of the personnel were soaked in oil. All were thankful to God after escaping from an imminent danger.
As a result of the several operations and the level of successes recorded, the NNS Delta, under the watch of Commodore Gemu, was severally commended by the naval higher command because they saw results in that regards. Under the current Commodore Sule’s saddle, the efforts have not relented, especially now that it is believed that needed platforms for fighting the ill would be made more available, not less would be expected. However, the world only see the results and their beauties, only those who went through the processes can tell the dangers and the sacrifices sown into bringing fort the results.
The Delta State Branch of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), has revealed plans to partner with branches and organisations in its effort to train its members at minimal costs through..
The newly elected Chairman of NIESV in the state, Chief Efe Appih, gave the assurance shortly after his election in Asaba, the state capital, last weekend. He promised to work towards securing group visas members as part of efforts to reduce the cost of training overseas.
Appih promised that his tenure would lead to the repositioning of the noble institution for greater efficiency.
In his acceptance speech, the NIESV boss said he came to serve and not to served, adding that there was so much work to be done to move the institution to enviable height.
Appih promised to inject new ideas into NIESV leadership in the state, just as he promised to open a temporary take-off office that would serve as secretariat to meet needs of members and members of the public.
Speaking further, he said current Exco would hit the ground running through provision of a website, functional e-mail accounts and a Facebook page to provide members easy access to vital information in the drive to move the institute forward.
He said: “We shall deliberately pursue and increase our membership strength and take us to our next level without unnecessary bottlenecks.”
“We shall plan, arrange and embark on field trips and vacations for Branch members with our families to places of our choice. We shall encourage the formation of Estate Surveyors and Valuers’ Wives Association as it was in the past and in other vibrant branches,” he stated.
The new NIESV boss disclosed that “Mid-year/End of year Estate Surveyors and Valuers Week shall be celebrated, promising “Our meetings will be regular and there shall be sessions for lectures and interactions for, at least, 30 minutes which will afford members the opportunity to exchange ideas and prospects, offer solutions to problems (even on personal basis), discussions, etc.”
According to him, all policy decisions of the Council would be brought to the attention of Branch members for their information/contributions, adding that: “We plan to collectively source for local and national jobs for our members. We shall establish a Co-operative Society to assist ourselves and encourage savings, as obtainable in some branches.”
Chief Appih revealed that the new EXCO would partner with the media as an avenue to showcase the activities of the institution even beyond the tenure of his administration.
Those elected and inaugurated with ESV Chief Efe Appih, included: Edna Emuakpeje (Vice Chairman); Reward Ugbomor (Secretary); Clement Ugwu (Financial Secretary); Ita Davis (Publicity Secretary); Godwin Konyefa (Treasurer); Ighorodge (Assistant Financial Secretary); Sylvester Eboigbe (Assistant Treasurer) and Mudiaga Umunadi (Assistant Secretary).
Unofficial members are Chris Okolo; Richardson Osifo; R. A. Ndidi and Moses Ojor. They were sworn in by the NIESV President, Chief James Omeru, who witnessed all the activities.
The NIESV chief promised to partner with government to actualise his 3-point agenda of change, uncommon growth and empowerment.
It is time to declare a State of Emergency on the Environment in Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta, in order to save the lives of our people and the future of our communities. For the people of Bayelsa State and especially families of the victims and staff of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, this month will go down as the July of Death, on account of the needless deaths inflicted upon our beloved ones and colleagues by Nigeria’s environmentally irresponsible oil and gas industry. In the course of a joint investigation/instant repairs visit to an oil spill site in the Azuzuama community area in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, a fire disaster occurred that claimed all of fourteen lives, including an officer each from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment. We are grieving, but we must now also insist yet again that it is time to take decisive action to stop this perilous hazard that has become a routine threat to life and ecology in Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta. It is time for all that are truly concerned to move from lip service to real action now!
All options must be put on the table for consideration and action, including a moratorium on oil production and the revocation or suspension of oil mining leases and pipeline licences until adequate practical arrangements, visible for all to see, are made by the oil industry and relevant tiers of Government for the protection of the environment and impacted communities. Also in need of urgent protection are the state and federal regulatory officers who despite extreme institutional and funding constraints still feel compelled to go out to oil spill sites and put their lives at risk every day just to help minimise the continuous destruction of the environment. To these unsung heroes, the under-equipped and unappreciated regulators and monitors at federal and state levels, we say thank you for your thankless daily sacrifices in attempting to protect the environment and making it possible for oil production to go on and generate the billions of dollars in public revenues that fund our governments, public infrastructure and social services. This is the context in which one of our excellent officers, Engr Duabo Theophilus, went out to do his selfless duty on that fateful 9th of July and only returned in a body bag. We all owe you, ourselves and posterity a duty to not allow things to continue the way they are, no matter the cost.
This is a clarion call to action, a moral challenge and an SOS message to the Federal Government, authorities at all levels of Government, the international community (including the United Nations), and the national and global environmental rights movement/NGOs to finally move beyond rhetoric and take a definitive stand against the environmental crime against humanity that everybody knows is taking place in the Niger Delta. It is also an appeal to the conscience of the multinational oil corporations in Nigeria that continue to destroy our environment and our people’s lives through their reckless operations and their scandalous environmental and safety standards.
In the meantime, the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment will continue to engage with all concerned parties, including investigatory authorities, the industry operators involved (Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd and its contractor, Vowgas Limited) and the affected families to ensure that there is comprehensive and speedy investigation, full accountability by all those responsible for this disaster, adequate compensations, and a radical change in environmental standards comparable to international oilfield best practice.
Our thoughts remain with the families of all the fourteen souls lost in the Azuzuama oil pipeline fire disaster of 9th July, 2015.
Will is Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment
Your Excellency, permit me to use this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is a victory well-deserved. I pray that God Almighty will be with you and let you end well.
Sir, I write you this letter with pain in my heart. Reason: my dream is about to die. I may have to return to the creeks and become a threat to my society once again. It is a road I truly don’t want to go through again because it is laced with thorns.
Forgive my manners for not introducing myself. My name is Honourable Jack. I am not a member of any legislative arm of government. Honourable is actually my name. But for five years I toed the dishonourable path by becoming a militant in the Niger Delta.
In our camp, we were not really interested in emancipating the Niger Delta. We were just out for the money we could get. We broke pipelines and stole crude oil. We kidnapped foreigners and demanded ransom. We were even used by politicians to harass their opponents. We were close to engaging in armed robbery at a point before we got a rich man’s son whom we abducted and got handsome ransom from his father.
Life, for us, was on the fast lane. We drank alcohol like it was going out of fashion. Cognac. Hennessey. Moët & Chandon. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. Comte de Dampierre. We smoke marijuana like cigarette. Let me confess sir that we also took hard drugs from time to time. With free money came free women. Not really free though. We spoilt them with money.
Before my camp days, life was hell for me. My mother, the only surviving of my parents, was a good friend to poverty. Yet we saw wealth all around us. What I mean by this centres around the fact that I am from the Niger Delta, where the oil of Nigeria’s prosperity is drilled. A constant reminder of this was some minutes away from our abode: the Residential Area or RA, as we are wont to call it, of the multinational the government gave the licence to drill our oil on its behalf. My house and those of others around me when compared with the RA cannot be described better than saying “heaven and hell, side by side”. Ours is hell; theirs is heaven. I guess we sinned and came short of the glory of God to be consigned to that sort of existence. Somebody said it is our leaders we actually sinned against and not God.
In my part of the Niger Delta, I never saw night—no thanks to the flow station that was so close to our homes. It sent out gas flares throughout the day. So, the only way to differentiate between night and day was to check our wrist watch, something that was a luxury to many of us. It has been long I went there. So, I don’t know what obtains now.
We shouted, protested and threatened violence over our fate, yet change refused to come. We felt multinational also had a licence to send us all to our early graves. Strange diseases were killing our people. Pregnant women were developing strange allergies. Yet, we had no well-equipped health centre to take care of our health needs. We had several people with aggravated asthma. Increases in respiratory symptoms, such as coughing and difficult or painful breathing, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function, were rampant. Premature death was not uncommon.
This was my situation before I lost my sense of reasoning. I became mad. And the madness ate into me and I started looking for easy money. That was why when I joined the militants, I saw nothing wrong in kidnapping and illegal bunkering. As far as I was concerned, we were just getting our own share of the national cake.
This was still the situation when the administration of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was inaugurated on May 29, 2007. That the then president was uncomfortable with the state of war in the Niger Delta soon showed. First, he created the Ministry of the Niger Delta. Pronto, the government set up a technical committee to review all existing reports on the region. The late Yar’Adua knew something urgent must be done to rescue the situation. Aside his love for peace, he also needed to save the country from international embarrassment that the arms struggle had become.
In April 2009, the then president appointed Timi Alaibe Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs. His major job, it turned out, was to midwife the birth of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. Two months after Alaibe’s appointment, Yar’Adua breathed life into the programme.
Alaibe traversed the creeks persuading hard-line militant leaders to embrace the programme. He did not do it alone. He got Kingsley Kuku, the Arogbo-born ex-member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, who had worked with him as Special Assistant at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) to get our leaders in the arms struggle to sign up to Yar’Adua’s offer.
I was one of those who did not embrace the programme until hours before the deadline of October 4, 2009. No less than 20,000 of us surrendered our weapons and looked forward to a new era.
Through the programme, I am currently abroad trainee with Lufthansa to be a pilot. There are not less than 2,000 students abroad studying for one degree or the other on the bill of the programme. A
And that brings me to the purpose of my writing this letter. Since May 29 when you took over, the Amnesty Office has been without a head. What this means is that nothing is happening there again. Only the civil servants attached to the office are getting paid. Consultants to the programme and trainees like me are abandoned. All the 2,000 or so students abroad have not received their allowances for May and June. July is almost over.
The sad part of it for me is that Lufthansa has decided not to have anything to do with us again because its bills have not been paid. Now, I am afraid my dreams are about to crumble. These past months I had dreamt of flying a plane and contributing my quota to my country. All that seems wishful thinking now. And I am close to tears. Mr President, please help me to achieve my desire. Help ensure I do not go back to the creeks. The creeks are no good.
Thank you sir as I look forward to a favourable response.
When Niger Delta Report visited the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, on Monday, 31-year-old Mrs Onome Akporode, a mother of four, was in pain. There was a sad look on her ebony black face; she seemed to be watching the tragic movie of her journey to the DELSUTH through her mind’s eye. Her endless gaze into space was only punctuated by occasion glance at a space on the white sheet covered hospital bed where her left leg would have been.
A week earlier the young woman was full of life. Those who know her, especially her husband of nearly a decade, Michael Akporode, described her as a hardworking, friendly woman and dream wife. But on the hospital bed, she looked drained and sullen.
“This is a woman who has stuck with me through thick and thin; she has seen by best and my worst, yet she loves me and our four children unconditionally. In between my on-off job as an offshore worker, she has managed and kept the home together. She is always up and doing to provide for the family,” her husband said during an exclusive chat with Niger Delta Report.
On that Monday afternoon, she laid helplessly on her sickbed inside a room at the ultramodern Intensive Care Unit of DELSUTH. She was without her left leg, which had been chopped by dedicated medical personnel who are battling to save her life.
“See what they have done to me; see what they have turned me into!” she muttered in response to our reporter’s greeting.
She had left her home for the Udu Road branch of an old generation bank in Orhumworun, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, on July 13, without the faintest hint of the cruel fate that awaited her.
•Mr Akporode begging for alms
Her husband disclosed that her mission was to send him money for his upkeep pas he was away in Port Harcourt, Rivers state where he was hustling for a job.
“I was in Port Harcourt hustling for a job and she was the one supporting the family. That day (Monday) she went to pay N5,000 into my friend’s account for me to be managing to buy food and other needs while waiting for the job hunt that took me to Port Harcourt. She had been the one surviving me and the family since my former job ended. All I have achieved, the house I built was with her help,” her husband said with a tinge of regret in his voice.
Mrs Akporode, who spoke for the first time on that Monday, revealed that she had completed her transaction at the bank and was on her way home when tragedy struck. She was just in front of the bank when the accident that crippled her occurred.
Ironically, the harbingers of her misfortune are agents of the bank she was just coming out from. The crazy gang, comprising a bullion van and accompanying police team, was speeding towards the bank against the flow of traffic from the Udu Roundabout. Some of the policemen had their guns poised to fire; others had horsewhips with which they wiped errant drivers out of their path.
An eyewitness said: “The woman was crossing the double lane road and had to stop at the barrier at middle of the road to watch out before crossing the other lane. It was while she was waiting to make the second leg of the crossing that they came.”
A Mercedes Benz 911 lorry was also at the scene. Although the truck was on the right lane, the driver had to choose between running into the police convoy in front of the bank, which may result in him being battered by the police and probably arrested for ‘attempting to hijack the bullion van’ or veering off the road.
The driver had an infinitesimal second to think and he chose option of careering off his path, in a crazy zigzag.
A lucky pedestrian standing a few feet away from the woman on the median saw the danger early enough and dashed out of its way. He told our reporter that his primary concern was to get out of the danger and he didn’t think of shouting out a warning to others on the oncoming danger.
The driver, unable to avoid the convoy, ran his Mercedes Benz 911 truck into the median, crashing into the unfortunate woman and crushing her both legs against the concrete pavement. The sheer impact created a gory paste of flesh, bone and blood out of what used to be Mrs Akporode’s feet.
It was a pathetic sight. The picture of the hapless woman smashed to the floor, blooding oozing from her mangled feet, stupefied and infuriated onlookers. Some made to assist her, others turned against the policemen and the bank officials.
In the milieu, panicky policemen drew out their gun and shot into the air to scare away the angry mob while the woman lay helpless in the pool of her blood. Various sources confirmed that bystanders who made to assist the accident victim and rush her to the hospital were stopped by the policemen.
“They brought out gun and threatened to shoot anybody who came near; they were standing over the woman but refused to help.”
The action of the policemen reportedly delayed the rescue for at least 30minutes, until soldiers were called in from a nearby military checkpoint to calm the situation.
Cost of treatment killing
She was later rushed to the Warri General Hospital, where she was turned away and referred to the better equipped and staffed DELSUTH, Oghara. At the teaching hospital, a spirited battle to save the woman started.
The first battle was to replace some of the blood she had lost. The task was made even more difficult because of her rare and finicky O- blood group, which only accepts donor from similar group.
At the time our reporter spoke with Michael on Monday afternoon, the woman was breathing normally for the first time in seven days. The oxygen mask had been removed from her face and her prospect was brighter. But by Tuesday afternoon when our reporter returned to the hospital, she was again back at the theatre where a delicate operation to save her right leg took place.
It was learnt that a bone transplant was done to replace part of the damage bones on the leg.
However, her jobless husband told our reporter that they were not out of the wood yet. “The cost treatment, drugs and things like the bone that we just bought is exorbitant. The doctors and everybody involved in the case are doing their very best and it is impressive the efforts they are putting in, but without being able to get drugs and everything they need, there is really nothing they can do. And the cost of the drugs is very high.
“As I am talking to you, we have spent about N2million on drugs, blood and other medical supplies”, he said on Tuesday evening.
Earlier on Monday, he explained that he had a list of drugs worth over N100,000 that he had to buy, adding, “I am going to Warri now to get at least two pints of blood. When I was leaving this (Monday) morning, I left N50,000 with my sister, that money has been spent and we are spending more. Every day I spend up to N200,000.
“I cannot leave my wife to die; God has spared her life till now, but I need the assistance of public-spirited persons, organizations and anywhere help can come from,” Michael Akporode added.
The troubled husband lamented that neither the management of the bank nor the police had given help of any sort.
Consequently, he said when he is not with his wife, he and other family members are going from place to place begging for alms. He said the search for money had taken him to churches, market places and even the home of politicians.
“Hon Loveth Idisi is the only prominent person that has assisted us so far. he gave us N50,000 when he came here to see a different patient. He had pity on us when he heard my wife’s story.
“So, it has not been easy and we are doing everything in our power to raise money, because without the money there is nothing the doctors can do; they need the drugs to treat my wife.
“Please help me appeal to the State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and other public spirited persons all over the country to come to my aid because without money my wife will die. Please tell those that want to help to go to Diamond Bank and pay anything into the account in my name (Michael Akporode) and account number 0067122001,” he added.
IGP gets petition
Delta State based human rights lawyer and National Coordinator of the Centre for the Vulnerable and Underprivileged, Oghenejabor Ikimi Esq, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police over the fate of Mrs Akporode.
Oghenejabor Ikimi, who said he was briefed by Mr Michael Akporode, expressed disgust at the attitude of the bank and the Nigerian Police, when he spoke in a telephone chat with our reporter.
He lamented that the police and management of the bank have not deemed it fit to visit the victim and bear the responsibility for her medical bills, in spite of the devastating effect on her physically and psychological.
Ikimi, in a petition to the Inspector General of Police, while noting that the left leg of the school teacher had already been amputated, Ikimi added that “Doctors are still contemplating on amputating the right leg for her to survive.”
He said: “Our client had spent over One Million Naira (N1million) for the medical treatment of his wife since the 13th day of July, 2015 till the time of putting up this petition, while the owners of the Bullion Van, the 911 Mercedes Lorry and the bank in question including the erring Policemen are silent on the issue.
Police Public Relations Officer, Delta Police Command, DSP Celestina Kalu, who was contacted by our reporter, confirmed the incident, adding that the matter was under investigation.
The police spokesperson however said she was not aware of Ikimi’s petition to the IG.
Our independent investigation revealed that the policemen involved in the reckless driving that caused the accident are facing orderly room trial at the State Headquarters, Asaba, the state capital.
Three other suspects arrested in connection with the accident were said to be awaiting arraignment. The arraignment slated for July 21 could not hold due to the failure of police to conclude investigation.
A source at the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) told our reporter: “The VIO has not inspected the vehicles involved in the accident and the Ovwian Divisional Police Officer failed to do the needful which is a proper investigation on the case before taking the suspects to court.”
The streets of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, seem to be paved with refuse these days. Not that all the roads have become dumpsites but the rate at which people dump refuse at every available space is alarming. It has become an eyesore and may soon assume an epidemic proportion. Government too seems to have been overwhelmed by it. But, there are fears that diseases, such as cholera, may soon find a safe ground in Yenagoa.
Streets where this bad habit is rampant include Ebi Road, Sani Abacha Road, Etelebou Flow station Road and so on.
In a bid to have a first-hand knowledge of the state of affairs of the hospital and also feel the pulse of the patients, the wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel recently visited the Qua Iboe Church Leprosy Hospital, Ekpene Obom in Etinan Local Government Area. She donated several food items and toiletries to inmates of the hospital.
The governor’s wife said she came to identify with the inmates because God appreciates it when the affluent in the society visits and donates to the needy. She added that because they have been confined to the health institution because of their plight, it was pertinent they do not give up on themselves because God has not given up on them either.
Mrs. Emmanuel urged the inmates not to be dejected by their plight but rather be prayerful and cultivate the ‘I can do spirit’. She promised that government would also look at measures to empower some of them who have undergone rehabilitation in order to be re-integrated into the society. She thanked the staff and management of the hospital for their continued services, praying that their labour of love to the needy would not be forgotten. The first lady also promised to be visiting them more often.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Archibong Afia, said they were thrilled to receive her. He congratulated the governor’s wife for her husband’s emergence as winner of teh last election, praying that God would grant the First Family the grace to stay focused.
Dr. Afia informed the governor’s wife that the hospital, established about 80 years ago, was administered under a tripartite arrangement between Qua Iboe Church Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State government and the Leprosy Mission, noting that it was quite unfortunate when the Leprosy Mission withdrew their staff and services in 2010 due to world economic meltdown. The CMD added that since then it had been difficult with the hospital.
He also highlighted various challenges facing the hospital to include dilapidated buildings, patients’ feeding, rehabilitation of patients, tarring of access road, water reticulation, security fencing and the absorption of some mission staff into the civil service.
The CMD called on the government to help solve these problems.
An inmate of the hospital, Mrs. Offiong Bassey, who doubles as the President, Joint Association of Persons Living with Disabilities, Akwa Ibom chapter, thanked the governor’s wife for the visit, adding that her coming had given a sigh of relief to them. She bemoaned their lack of inclusion in the scheme of things in government, advocating that they should also be considered for positions.
Similarly, Mrs. Emmanuel visited the Goodnews Gospel Village Community, Abak where she donated cash, food items and toiletries to the home for their upkeep. She appreciated the founder of the home and wife, Arch. Bishop and Apostle Elijah Mboho for their love and vision for the less privileged in the society, saying that what they had achieved over the years was a no mean feat. She also took time to admonish the children of the home to be of good conduct and respect their elders adding that they have what it takes to become successful in life.
Apostle Mboho thanked the first lady for her support and donations towards the home, pointing out that they were answers to prayers. she prayed for her success and bountiful rewards. Apostle Mboho said the home, which has produced many graduates, had recorded many signs and wonders .
Commissioner of Information Mr. Aniekan Umanah, who is an indigene of the area, appreciated the governor’s wife for visiting the home, adding that since time immemorial, the home had been doing a great job. He also thanked the founder for his consistent running of the home, praying that God would sustain him.
There children sang and danced to the admiration of all.
On the governor’s wife’s entourage was Commissioner for Women Affairs Dr. Glory Edet, her health counterpart, Dr. Dominic Ukpong as well as Science and Technology, Dr. Elizabeth Obot. Others were legislator’s wives, chairmen of board and parastatal and other government female dignitaries.
