By Uche Igwe
Since the results of the Presidential election were
announced with the emergence of the General Muhammadu Buhari, many people have
voiced one form of concern or another. In particular, the results took many
people by surprise, especially in the South-South and South-East. Although many
of them knew that the incumbent President was unpopular, they were expecting
that some last minute rigging and manipulative magic could happen that would turn
the tide in favour of the ruling party. For me, I knew it long ago that such a
thing would be difficult to pull off. Many of us had publicly supported the
need for Nigerians to experience a change in government this time around, and
told anyone who cared to listen that the re-election of President Jonathan was
mathematically impossible. As someone from the Niger Delta region (whether you
say oil producing state or NDDC state), I was called all sorts of names
including unpatriotic, betrayer, sell-out, traitor and others. Even some of the
prominent leaders who promoted other political parties were described the same
way. I remained and still remain unmoved. However, as I have done in the past,
I am once again forced to ask – what, exactly, is the true Niger Delta cause?
How did we contribute to betray it?
I cannot claim to be an authority on the underlying
problems in the region. However, anyone who attempts to reduce the Niger Delta
struggler cause (whatever that means) to the Jonathan presidency is at best
being simplistic and at worst being unfair to the people of the region. With a
flashback, I remember the early days of the agitation for resource control
which initially crystallized into the symbolic Ogoni Bill of Rights sometime in
1990, and the centrality of environmental concerns to the people of our region
in that document. One will not forget the sacrificial role of many persons,
including the late Ogoni political activist Ken Saro Wiwa, who brought
international attention to the issues at that time.
Then almost eight years later in 1998, representatives
of communities of Ijaw extraction met, re-echoed and amplified the same issues
of neglect, environmental devastation and resource control raised earlier and
agreed to the Kaiama Declaration. The Declaration called for increased
infrastructural attention to the people and ecological rehabilitation of the
region. Those were the two issues uppermost on the agenda at that time. In
between these years, many of leaders were actively involved and made important
contributions to keep the issue on the front burner, both locally and
internationally. Others paid with their lives in many peaceful protests and
non-violent struggles against the military and the high-handedness of
multinational corporations.
Put together, the period of the Ogoni Bill of Rights
and the Kaiama Declaration still represents the most intellectual and
non-violent phase of the struggle. This was before the 'struggle' was hijacked
by miscreants, criminals and conflict entrepreneurs in the name of armed
struggle and militancy. Given the descent into nearly absolute anarchy, which
grossly affected, in the negative, on the economies of the various producing
states witnessed under this era, it remains debatable whether this phase of the
struggle was really worth the while. Many observers agree that this era of the
struggle, despite its “nuisance value” of further escalating the message about
the plight of the Niger delta people, remains the darkest days of the struggle.
This era is characterised by increased oil theft, rape and
kidnapping-for-ransom (in many cases of the same Niger delta people whose
interests the militants claim to be protecting or furthering), and by
disruption of oil installation and production.
One must admit that the Obasanjo administration gave
some attention to the people of the region by establishing the Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC). Subsequently, the late Yar Adua extended an
amnesty to the militants, which led to the cessation of the escalating conflict
and hostilities.
What about our own son? With the emergence of Dr
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, first as Vice President and later as President, the
Niger Delta people heaved a sigh of relief. While the outgoing President could
be said to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the struggle, he could not do
much. Many people who took it for granted that the issues of the region would
be given priority attention under him, are now completely disappointed. After
almost six years of the Jonathan Presidency, the same issues contained in the
Ogoni Bill of Rights and the Kaiama Declaration still persist. During his
campaigns a few weeks ago, he claimed that he deliberately did not give
attention to the region until he is re-elected. Is that a sufficient
explanation for the neglect? Now that he has lost the election, what are the
options open to the Niger Delta people?
As I write, the most important road in the region, the
East-West Road is yet to be completed. The coastal road project is still a pipe
dream. No concrete effort has been made to clean up the heavily polluted
communities in Ogoniland or elsewhere in the Niger Delta. Even with the effort
of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), this published a
comprehensive report with clear recommendations. The proposed clean-up program
mas marred by selfish politics, and the US$1 billion counterpart fund
reportedly provided by Shell and other partners has not been utilized. The
reluctant establishment of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project
(HYPREP) was staffed with incompetent people and starved of operational funds.
The consequence is that no clean-up activity has taken place to date. Not in
Ogoniland and not anywhere else.
It is sad to recall that there were sons and daughters
of the Niger Delta like Chief Edwin Clarke, Mr. Kingsley Kuku and even Ken Wiwa
Jnr that became cheerleaders for the President, but hardly pointed him in the
right direction. I remember that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State once
raised alarm about the danger in continuous neglect of the East-West road. He
was later confronted by the then Minister of the Niger Delta, Elder Godsday
Orubebe who quickly branded the governor a betrayer of the Niger Delta cause.
Now, which cause was Orubebe referring to? The one that has brought public
resources into the pockets of the few to the detriment of many?
Now that the Jonathan administration is coming to an
end, it is safe for observers try to find out who are the real betrayers of the
Niger Delta struggle. Is it President Jonathan, the chief beneficiary of the
struggle, who neglected the region for almost six years? Or is it people like
Edwin Clark, Godsday Orubebe, and Government Ekpumepulo aka Tompolo, Ateke Tom,
Asari Dokubo, Ann Kio Briggs, and others, that benefitted from the neglect? Or
is it Mrs. Patience Jonathan who made NDDC a personal farmland (or is it
fishing port or Bori-Kiri) rather than an interventionist agency operating in
the general interest of the people in line with its mandate? Or Governor
Godswill Akpabio who knew where the President was headed yet kept cheering him?
Or others like Governor Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe who kept raising
concerns about the issues of non-development of the Niger Delta and warned
about the unpleasant consequences? Or is it a few of us citizens that believe
in change and managed to vote for General Buhari and his All Progressives
Congress amidst intimidation?
Having lost the Presidency from the region, we know
that our problems may likely persist, because we no longer have the morality to
complain about marginalisation and neglect to other Nigerians. Everyone assumed
that President Jonathan had all the time in the world to attend to our teething
problems, but he refused, failed, and/or neglected to do so, preferring instead
to pursue and advance his personal ambitions.
Many argue that if the outgoing president had spent
half the energy and zeal that he exerted in the pursuit of his re-election bid
in the pursuit of the Niger Delta cause, the Niger Delta would have been an El
Dorado. Here we are with gaseous and often-carcinogenic hydrocarbons still
being flared all over the region, with the Petroleum Industry Bill still
pending, our ecosystem still heavily polluted, and our people inexplicably
impoverished.
So back to the question – who are the real betrayers
of the Niger Delta people? We must take an excursion into history and set the
records straight for our children and the coming generations. We must answer
that question for the sake of posterity. In so doing, we must be truthful to ourselves.
We have been, thus far, untruthful and hypocritical to ourselves. We elevated
sycophancy to the next level and, in the process, missed yet another
opportunity to move our region forward. It will be self-destructive to turn
around now to continue to blame others for our misfortunes, for the heavens
help only those who help themselves.
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