Meets N'Delta govs, military chiefs
From Madu Onuorah (Abuja), Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba) and Julius Alabi (Akure)
PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will today meet with state governors of the Niger Delta and military chiefs on how to fast-track his peace-building process and the proposed amnesty to armed men in the region.
Presidency sources told The Guardian last night that Yar'Adua would use the forum to interact with stakeholders and unveil his agenda on the Niger Delta conflict, especially the details of the amnesty offer to militants in the region.
Yar'Adua has made the resolution of the crisis central to the realisation of his government's target of generating and distributing 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December this year.
The meeting will be attended by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole and Governors Goodswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.
Others are the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike, Minister of Defence Shettima Mustapha and Minister of Interior, Maj-Gen Godwin Abbe, the Chairman of the Committee on Amnesty.
The source said the President considers Niger Delta as central to his power agenda and is committed to resolving all the issues impeding the resolution of the crisis.
At the meeting, the President is also expected to brief the helmsmen on the conditions, procedures and mechanisms for the implementation of the amnesty.
The offer appears unattractive to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which in a reaction to the move, said the Federal Government was yet to address the issues that led to the lingering unrest in the oil-rich region.
Yar'Adua on Tuesday reiterated his commitment to the amnesty deal with the militants. MEND, however, argued that government's proposed amnesty fell short of what needs to be done to restore peace to the Niger Delta.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Port Harcourt Zone has lauded government's amnesty bid and demanded an early release of the details for the process to begin in earnest.
MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, in an online interview with The Guardian yesterday, said the Federal Government was desperate to halt militants' offensive against the oil industry.
Gbomo said: "We will wait and hear what he (president) has to say in the coming days. The whole process was unilateral without any input from the militants. So, I am wondering how this will work out. We are freedom fighters and not common criminals. There is a reason this struggle started and if those issues are not factored in, I wonder how this will work."
He explained that government's sincerity on the genuine resolution of the Niger Delta crisis and the proposed amnesty are no longer the concerns of MEND.
According to him, it would be in the interest of the government to be transparent.
"That word amnesty is vexations. We would prefer the use of a better word because it is the Niger Delta people who ought to be giving amnesty to our leaders, past and present, whose poor decisions and greed have put the region in this mess. The soldiers who rape and kill civilians with impunity also need amnesty from us," Gbomo said.
On the decision of Ateke Tom to accept the government's offer, MEND said, it is aware that Ateke promised to accept the gesture after it is well defined. "MEND will not impose its position on any other group. Ateke is not a member of MEND but we have some areas of common interest and can work together in certain circumstances. The government of Rivers State may be saying this because they believe Ateke may have an effect on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chances of winning a second term in the 2011 elections."
He insisted that the ongoing attacks on oil facilities would continue in tandem to any negotiations, adding that "we have decided not to use the release of Henry Okah as a bargain else the government would keep him to commit the militants to its own terms.
MEND said Okah must be part of the amnesty and further negotiation else the entire process would be incomplete. Gbomo said he has no idea if Government Tompolo is part of the amnesty and cautioned that it would make a lot of sense not to bypass him in any peace deal.
Gbomo insisted that true federalism and the release Okah to travel for treatment were non-negotiable. "We can only take orders from him (Okah) and not from Yar'Adua, which means it is when he is freed and convinces us that the whole negotiation is genuine that we will comply."
Also yesterday, Uduaghan met with the leaders of Gbaramatu Kingdom on how to restore peace to the area, where the Joint Task Force carried out a weeklong offensive last month.
Uduaghan, who presided over the meeting in Warri, said it was in line with the state government's initiative to restore normalcy to the community and the state after the May 13, 2009 military bombardment of the area.
He explained that the meeting was to review what happened in the kingdom, ascertain where the state or community went wrong and exchange ideas on the way forward.
"What happened in Gbaramatu on May 13 was least expected, l call this meeting for us to work out ways of restoring peace to the area. A lot of damage has been done and the economy of the area is at a standstill. Let us put our heads together and discuss on how to move forward."
The governor stated that the meeting was not to apportion blame, as that would not solve the problem, rather they should exchange ideas and information on the way forward.
He expressed disappointment at the incident and informed the elders that the solution to the problem of the area was in their hands and that of the state government.
Responding, the spokesman for the elders, Chief Bello Oboko, praised the governor for the peace initiative and promised that they would ensure that normalcy returns to the community.
Oboko, who condemned the military offensive, likened it to genocide. "The incident of May 13 was a genocide and war against democracy. It led to the killing of innocent people, animals, destruction and a standstill to road construction, healthcare delivery and education in the area," he said.
The JTF yesterday accused MEND of "crass display of ignorance" for its description of the troops as northerners. He said the Nigerian military, from which the JTF troops were drawn, remains "one indivisible body committed to the peace, security and territorial integrity of the nation."
JTF spokesman, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said troops in the JTF, like the larger Nigerian military, are drawn from different religious and ethnic groups across the country, adding that recruitment or enlistment, as the case may be, is based on federal character and not religion or tribe.
Abubakar said the way MEND characterises individuals and groups within Nigeria shows it has run out of ideas "other than enriching their pockets, unleashing terror and sabotaging the economy."
PENGASSAN's Industrial Relations Officer, Hyginus Chika Onuegbu, told The Guardian yesterday that the Federal Government needs to begin the massive development of the region so as not to give room to those who want the crisis to fester.
Onuegbu said the crisis has had adverse effects on PENGASSAN, whose members had been killed, kidnapped and their families traumatised. He said the resolution of the crisis had become imperative because most companies in the oil and gas sector were no longer keen in operating in the Niger Delta.
Similarly, Ogbakor Ikwerre in the United States (OIUSA), a group of Ikwerre indigenes in the US, has called on the Federal Government and JTF to be mindful of human co-lateral damages in their expedition in the Niger Delta.
The group also advised the government to show sensitivity to life and property in the JTF's operation in the region.
In a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, the group's spokesperson, Prof. Chris Ogbondah, said that while it might be appropriate to stem the tide of militancy in the region, the federal authorities should without further delay address the neglect and marginalisation of the Niger Delta people.
Ogbondah said: "The federal authorities should dust all the past reports of the commissions that were set up to address the
Niger Delta question, beginning with the Willink Commission report of 1958 to the most recent report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta headed by Ledum Mitee."
