SHELL, ASARI DOKUBO AND THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS

ASARI DOKUBO

In the Western world, they say that ignorance is bliss
But in Africa we say ignorance kills.
~ Orikinla Osinachi ~

The majority of the employees of the Royal Dutch Shell Overseas are more interested in collecting their fat salaries than in social responsibility in the host communities. And the corrupt kleptocratic governments of the host communities have made matters worse by plundering the natural resources of the host communities and squandering the revenue allocations and accruing profits from crude oil and gas exports since when the Royal Dutch Shell first struck its commercial oil well in Nigeria in 1956, at Olobiri now in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region to date.

The ignorance of these facts and mercantile conspiracy by the multinational oil companies and corrupt governments in underdeveloped oil producing countries have only aggravated the critical conflicts of interests over the years and these abuse and misuse of power and control of natural resources have been most pronounced in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

When I approached TellShell with my honest to God daily reports of the bloody conflicts of the terrorist militias on rampage in Port Harcourt, Yenogua and Warri in 2004 and proposed the production of a feature documentary film " Winds of Fire, Winds of Change: New Dawn in the Niger Delta", TellShell was cordially receptive to the highly laudable and beneficial public enlightenment project to address the persistent problems of the host communities from the grassroots and Yaabari.Uebari@shell.com was communicating with me until the Smart Alecs at Shell thought they had better and wiser ideas.

Then, when the ruling government tricked and arrested and detained Asari Dokubo over his confrontational outbursts in the Nigerian Press, I told them that they must release him or there would be breakdown of law and order in the Niger Delta, they all ignored me and thought they had the upper hand since they have captured Asari Dokubo.

I am a non-violent Christian pacifist and I have been talking to my hot-headed brothers in the Niger Delta to address our grievances and agitations in peace and cooperation with Shell and the other multinational oil companies operating in our communities. And Asari Dokubo was very cooperative until the ignorant, arrogant and inefficient authorities of the Nigerian government arrested him and detained him and arraigned him on ambiguous and erroneous charges of treasonable felony along with some leaders of the other secessionist movements of the micro nations of the Odua Peoples' Congress(OPC) and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra(MASSOB). But the government later released the leaders of the OPC and still detained Asari Dokubo and MASSOB Leader Barrister Ralph Uwazuruike and his comrades who are all from the South of Nigeria. Whereas the Yoruba President of Nigeria let go the Yoruba leaders of the OPC. Showing his nepotism and partiality in his persistent violations of the Rule of Law.

You have heard of the Niger Delta Peoples' Volunteer Force(NDPVF) aka "Akumafiete
AKUMA FIETE - THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE NIGER DELTA
Akumafiete - The Struggle Continues. www.akumafiete.org/ and suddenly you now hear of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta(MEND ), because MEND has come to mend the erroneous misconceptions of the Nigerian government and the dishonest multinational oil companies operating in our plundered and ravaged communities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

But the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which abducted four foreign oil workers on Jan. 11 from an offshore oilfield, have said they would not exchange the hostages for ransom. They threatened to kill them all if the American hostage, who is gravely ill, died.
"If they kill the hostages, that really changes the game," said a security consultant to a multinational oil company in Nigeria. "The impact would be huge. Investor confidence would be shaken and people will say this is something new."

Reuters

But it is an exercise in foolhardiness to expect Asari Dokubo to give up his guns when Nigerian soldiers, Navy ratings, and riot police are still firmly in place in the delta, working with the oil companies to enforce the regime of depredation that has reduced the Ijo, Ikwerre, Itsekiri, and all the other oil-bearing communities to a state of near-animal existence. No self-respecting patriot will stand by while aggressors are delivering the death-blow on his people.

How then might Dokubo be meaningfully engaged so that he will not only see,
but also agree, that de-commissioning his guns and disbanding his insurgents is the
only forward? I shall outline three main steps the Nigerian government must take,
and in good faith, to achieve this objective. One, the Nigerian government must turn away from the comedy of relying on one or two Abuja-based NGO 'leaders' to broker a peace-process in the Niger Delta. These 'Executive Directors' represent only themselves, and they are out to corner as many bags of Naira as a naïve Aso Rock is willing to pass their way.

The Ijo and the other delta communities do not lack credible civil society leaders. Some of them, like Professor Ebiegberi Alagoa, author of the classic book, The Brave Small City-State, have been writing and reflecting on the problems of the area for over four decades. These revered personages, and an emergent generation of younger delta scholars like Dr Lucky Akaruese and Asume Osuoka, should be asked to provide an intellectual framework, backed by solid evidential research, to power a meaningful peace process.

Two, Asari Dokubo's call for a Sovereign National Conference wherein his people might be enabled to air their grievances and dialogue with other Nigerians about ways in which resources might be produced and allocated equitably, must be heeded. The Wole Soyinka-led Citizen Forum and Dokubo are at one here when they stress that this national dialogue must be sovereign, and rid of the usual rigmarole of stuffing the deliberations with government nominees.

Third, the Federal Government, as a demonstration of good faith and its
commitment to a peaceful resolution of the delta crisis, must lead the way by de-commissioning its own guns in the delta first before calling on Dokubu to follow suit. As I write, the George Bush government is dispatching yet another batch of fast-attack boats, armed with lethal weaponry, to President Obasanjo, to be used in 'policing' the Niger Delta. It is no use calling for peace in the Niger Delta while at the same time consorting with the most aggressive government the people of the United States have ever seen, to further militarize the Niger delta.

The Nigerian government would be making a grievous mistake to think that the likes of Asari Dokubo can be used and easily discarded like a shoe that has outlived its usefulness. The Dokubos are symptomatic of a larger, and quickly spreading national crisis. This is the crisis of Nigerian youth, now numbering over fifty million young souls, whose future has been squandered by one of the most corrupt and enlightened elites our continent has ever seen.

In the Niger delta, which is Nigeria's ground zero, these angry Young Turks are now armed. And they are about to storm the city gates. It is not yet too late to persuade them to put down their guns.

Ike Okonta
Black Looks

I am here living on Bonny Island and I know that we have more than NDPVF and MEND. There is the Niger Delta Revolution Army(NDRA) that is even more lethal than NDPVF and MEND. And the NDRA is waiting in the wings to swing into action whenever the emergency demands such an expediency in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

The solution to the catastrophic problem in the volatile Niger Delta region of Nigeria has been addressed in this letter.

Ignorance kills.

May God help us to be more honest, just and sincere to ourselves in love, peace and unity.