Politicians ‘hijack’ Niger Delta crisis - As mafia pushes for Jonathan’s replacement in 2011 - 2011 is in God’s hands -VP - Police invade Odi, arrest militant leader - Tompolo’s camp destroyed, aide arrested, soldiers search for another - Ijaw youths protest
From Sylvester Idowu and Donald Ojogo - 27.05.2009
http://www.tribune.com.ng/27052009/news/news1.html
FORCES against the return of Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term in 2011 as the nation’s number two citizen re-surfaced at the weekend, using the current crisis in the Niger Delta region as grounds to stop him as President Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate.
Anchor of the group is a prominent member of the PDP Board of Trustees from the South-South who wants a former governor from the region to take over from Jonathan. Also in the group are three former governors, a former minister as well as two serving governors; one from the North central and the other from the South-South. Both are believed to be backing the agenda secretly.
Widespread condemnation, especially from the North, as well as their inability to read President Yar’Adua’s mind, had made the anti–Jonathan forces to beat a retreat in the last three months. But the lingering clashes between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the militants in the creeks of Delta State as well as the call for the resignation of the Vice President by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) were the subjects for discussion at a meeting of the group which was held in Abuja on Saturday at the Governor’s Lodge of a South-South state.
But Vice President Jonathan says he is not bothered about such things, stressing that only God makes man. This is even as the Ijaw National Congress (INC) has chided those behind such moves, saying they are responsible for the current crisis in the region.“Although, the gathering was meant to be an informal one at the initial stage to appraise the situation in the creeks, the momentum it attained later was beyond a mere appraisal of the Niger Delta crisis,” an impeccable source told the Nigerian Tribune.
“Politicians cannot change at all; they capitalise on every opportunity to discuss anything under the sun; could you believe that when we first went into the house, the issue was how the crisis could be better managed than the military option so that it does not spread to other areas of the region.“But somehow, somewhere along the line, late into the evening, some other big men started coming in and the topic changed suddenly from how to solve a problem to 2011 scheming, and that was how some people were eased out of the meeting.”
The meeting, which was said to have lasted for over three hours, the source said, centred on the need for the ruling party to take a careful look at the issue of who would be Yar’Adua’s running mate in the 2011 presidential election.“Some people talk as if the position of vice president or even the president is their birthright, it is not at all. As I told you some months back, anybody can show interest in the position; that is the beauty of the system.
But to the President of the INC, Dr. Atuboyedia Obianime, the nation has a duty to stop such people from returning to power through foul means.“It is not a new thing to hear all these, but the position of the INC is that Nigerians know those who propped up the militant camps and various cult groups in the region; these are people who should by now be in jail if the nation was serious about its anti-corruption crusade; that they still parade the corridors of power, posturing as leaders, which they are not, is the unfortunate thing, this is the time for Nigerians to ‘shine their eyes’ and disallow these criminals to return to power again,” he said.
“One of the greatest things former President Obasanjo has done to the nation is that he retired with this set of pretenders who were the major sponsors, beneficiaries and patrons of militants in the region. Prior to 2003, there were no militant camps in the region, but because of their selfish political ambitions which they failed to realise along the line, they introduced political criminality into the system, set one group against another and got us entangled in this mess.
“As far as INC is concerned, we are at home with Jonathan because the seeds of this crisis had been sown by the same people calling for his replacement; to say the least, the Niger Delta crisis goes beyond Jonathan, they should not forget what happened to his private residence in 2007 before they plan their evil,” Obianime said on the telephone. A credible source in Abuja last night, confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was not unaware of such moves, saying, however, that 2011 was not one of his priorities.
“It is not as if he is not aware that some people want to be in his position in 2011; it is their right but who told them that the man is disturbed, he is not at all; the truth of the matter is that 2011 is not part of his top priorities for now; those who want the job should equally know that only God makes a man, whatever capacity he will serve this nation subsequently is in the hands of God and Mr. President,” he said.
Meanwhile, ten years after, Odi returned to the news again on Tuesday as the police engaged suspected militants in a shootout in the Bayelsa town. Militant leader, Keniwonimo Niweigha was arrested in the process. It could not be confirmed at press time if the arrest was in connection with reports that wanted MEND leader, Government Ekpemukpolo was in Odi. In the heavy shootout, reports had it that many militants sustained injuries as they were taken by surprise.
Odi was ravaged by soldiers in 1999, following the murder of some police officers, a development which led to the arrest and detention of Ken as the militant leader is fondly called.
Before the latest development, Ken had enjoyed a chummy relationship with the Bayelsa State government having served as the coordinator of the state security outfit, Bayelsa Volunteers, in his native Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government area. All efforts to reach the JTF spokesman, Col. Rabe Abubakar, were not successful as his lines were busy at the time of filing this report.
Also, operatives of the JTF discovered and destroyed the wanted Tompolo’s observation Camp 2 mounted on a houseboat hidden inside a dredged creek in between Okerenkoko and Jones Creek Village in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Nigerian Tribune learnt on Tuesday night that crack detectives from the special security outfit discovered the observation Camp 2 and called for reinforcement of heavily armed soldiers to invade and destroy the operational boat. “We discovered, in continuation of our Search and Rescue operations, and destroyed Tompolo’s militants observation Camp 2 with a houseboat hidden inside a dredged creek in between Okerenkoko and Jones Creek Village,” a security source told the Nigerian Tribune.
It was gathered that the fleeing militants used the Camp 2 as emergency treatment area for some of their colleagues that sustained bullet wounds during the onslaught by the military.“It was glaring that, judging from spots of blood stains dotting everything found in the camp, it must have been used as emergency treatment area for wounded militants,” the source added.
Coordinator of Joint Media Campaign Centre of JTF, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, confirmed the development, noting that the special security outfit was determined to destroy all vestiges of militancy in the region. He debunked the widespread insinuation that operatives of the JTF killed and burnt civilian houses in the operation and challenged one Obodo Bello and “his MEND collaborators to justify their claims of killing civilians.
“We are now putting it straight to Bello that he, Tompolo and other miscreants are the ones behind sensational campaigns against JTF since such will open more channels of illegal wealth for them,” he added.
Colonel Abubakar recalled the Red Cross Society, Delta State Chapter has confirmed that no civilian houses were bombed in the course of JTF search and rescue operations in the area. Also on Tuesday, crack undercover agents were deployed in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State in search of an aide of Tompolo, Kingsley Odiete, alias Opuye, in connection with last Monday’s attack on Chevron’s crude oil pipeline at Abiteye.
Security sources told the Nigerian Tribune that the men in plain clothes were dispatched to the Ijaw communities believing that Opuye might still be around the area and might perpetrate another sabotage if not caged on time. “We have deployed our undercover agents to comb that area, particularly the communities around Abiteye to fish out that small fry that has caused the nation the loss of 200,000 barrels a day because of the sabotage of Chevron’s crude oil pipeline. We have to cage him on time before he commits another act of sabotage in the area,” he said.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that more troops were also deployed in Abiteye to beef up the security already put in place around Chevron Flow Station to prevent the remnants of militants in the area from having access to the facility as well as cover more pipelines.
Commander of the JTF, Major General Sarki Bello, said his men were closing in on Odiete, adding “we are on his trail.” In another development, a combined team of mobile policemen and soldiers on Tuesday dispersed some Ijaw youths that staged a peaceful protest in Warri and its environs against the continuing military operation in Gbaramatu Kingdom.
The placard-carrying youths with a red cloth wrapped round their heads, something associated with militants in the creeks, went round the major roads singing anti-government songs. Some of the placards read: “Stop shelling our communities,” “Our women and children are dying in the creeks,” “Stop this madness in Ijaw communities” and “If you kill all of us who will you govern.”
The mobile policemen and soldiers, who were said to be acting on intelligence report that a prominent Ijaw leader in the town sponsored the protest, blocked and dispersed the youth on Effurun-Warri Road by Airport junction. Though the youth defied the initial warning to discontinue their protest, they dispersed when the mobile policemen shot canisters of tear gas into their midst.
Socio-economic activities were paralysed around the area as owners hurriedly closed their shops while security men at nearby banks took strategic positions.