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The Politics of the Nigerian Blasts
Hadiza Wada, DBA …October 16, 2010
While politics everywhere is just that politics, the way it is being played in Nigeria is not only pathetic, but it leaves much to be desired, especially given that personal interest has overshadowed national interest by far. Truths are hard to come by, because a greater majority of the Nigerian press is largely irresponsible. The national debate has been held hostage too, making many feel disgusted by the political climate in the country.
The Nigerian political climate, for example, is presently heated following the recent explosions that occurred during the Nigerian Independence celebrations. Planned or not, the Abuja incident has set in motion a chain of typical political game play. What did not help matters is the President’s own assertions which were uttered a day after the blasts at a gathering marking the 50th anniversary in Abuja, where he was quoted as saying “I grew up in the Niger Delta so nobody can claim to know Niger Delta better than myself, because I am from the Niger Delta. I know the person behind the attack and the person sponsoring it. They are terrorists, not MEND”
One simple incident has turned out to have a multifaceted dimension. All parties with stake in the incident agree at least with the basic fact that the perpetrators (MEND) have issued a prior warning of their intention within the country issuing a statement to major media outlets. And that further, foreign intelligence agencies have alerted the Nigerian authorities about the impending security threat. Why then is the Nigerian President taking a different route and coming out bluntly and accusing his fellow countrymen as quote and quote “terrorists.” What does he stand to gain by that utterance?
Before the independence celebrations event on October 1, 2010 every Nigerian that was aware of the threat knew it was coming from the members of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, the MEND camp. The threat was issued to the media and carried by many Nigerian dailies. In its statement, MEND claimed that it is issuing the security threat to detract international dignitaries from coming into the country to celebrate 50 years of Nigerian Independence. The reason being that the country has nothing to celebrate.
Sources say not only do foreign intelligence collaborate the threat, the threat was also responsible for the peculiar absence of dignitaries from Major countries, especially Great Britain who colonized and subsequently granted independence to Nigeria; and will usually be prominently present at such celebrations. Other reliable sources say the threat was just a partial reason. Before the mend threat, Buckingham Palace has decided that it will not send its highly respected representatives to the anniversary celebration.
That decision to keep its dignitaries away was mainly based on the level of the integrity of the inviters to the occasion. The sources say that a week before the celebration a delegation including Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister led by a representative of the Queen from Buckingham Palace, the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, were to represent the Queen and were preparing to attend. They were only half decided based on policy related discussions that preceded the decision, and were looking for a reason to dodge the event, when the threat provided one.
Nigerians will have to do their homework, as no one has Nigerian best interest at heart more than Nigerians. Everyone, apart from Nigerians themselves, is dealing with Nigeria only to the level of his native country’s or business’s best interest. Foreign intelligence whether British, American, or even South African (another black African nation) will only work with Nigeria based on some certain limitations and interests. No foreign government will walk in open day light with a government that has shaky credibility status. Most such nations have extensive dossiers on many Nigerian politicians and so called dignitaries. A policy slip by any nation, could be taken advantage of by another as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
A good example of how far any nation can walk with another, is when South Africa granted Al-Jazeera correspondent access to Henry Okah merely a day after the explosions, while in custody. Nigeria felt snubbed, but South Africa was following its state law and policy, and was not willing to transgress just because the Nigerian government who is used to committing such transgressions wanted it. It was at the interview that Henry Okah not only denied that he was working for some Northern Political interests as announced by President Jonathan, but also implicated Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidential Aide of contacting him by phone to call on him to have MEND blame the attack on Northerners. A quote from the interview runs thus:
Okah: “They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government. I declined to do this and few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do [i.e. implicate northerners] that President Jonathan issued a statement claiming that MEND didn't carry out the attack because they were expecting a kind of retraction from the group.”
Henry Okah was a former leader for MEND, now living in South Africa. According to the interview, the President Jonathan’s aide wanted Okah to reach out to the group, which he obviously still have some influence on, and persuade them to retract their previous announcement, and deny responsibility for the blasts. According to Okah, the Presidency did not want the nation and the world to feel that President Jonathan does not have the full support of his constituency in his presidential ambition.
The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta
To come back to MEND as a group, do they have a cause worth fighting for, is the way they go about it the only way to get results, does their struggle benefit the local people and their environment? These are pertinent questions to ponder at this juncture.
This writer has not only followed development in the region for more than two decades as an international journalist, she has personally been in the region to survey and write on the issue back in the late nineteen nineties just before the turn of the century. She was part of the Presidential Press Corp, for example, accredited from the White House to cover President Bill Clinton’s visit to Nigeria in August of 1999. Part of that assignment was to survey and report on the “Niger Delta Crisis.” She visited and spoke to all stakeholders in the crisis, from the local Delta population to local government representatives, state government leadership, to Federal government representatives at the NNPC.
The lack of development in the region is strikingly apparent. If I were an indigene or resident of the region I might as well have become an outspoken social critic, seeking to change things for the better. But would I take the same route? No. Before you embark on any cause, you first look within and see the causes of the problem you are trying to eradicate, making sure you are not part of the problem. And if you are part of the problem, then fix yours first before you start pointing fingers at others. The lack of development in the region could not be credibly pinned on the federal government.
Just as any other state of the federation, the oil producing states of the Niger Delta area derive revenue from federal income based on the same set of rules clearly spelt out in the Nigerian constitution, upon which every state receives its statutory allocations from federal coffers. With all the agitations none of the militant groups has ever tabled any data that shows that the federal government has denied those states their share. Apart from that, those states that produce oil have retained a right to additional revenue commiserate with the amount of oil they produce. At the inception of oil production in 1958 the oil rich states were retaining as much as 50% of all revenues collected as taxes from all oil companies in the region, but the formula was adjusted during various regimes and now stands at 13%. So why are those states still reeling in poverty?
This writer’s investigations revealed that the lack of development could largely be rested squarely on the shoulders of the local leadership, who are immensely corrupt. They do not seem to care what happens to the local population as long as they could enrich themselves. Apart from siphoning from the allocation meant for public service and provision of amenities for their local population, they also engage fully in oil bunkering, meaning illegal siphoning of crude and shipping it out using foreign agents and shipping lines. They become stinking rich within a short time. This writer could vividly remember the striking difference between the barely clothed local residents of a village in Eleme Local Government area she visited, vis-à-vis the arriving local Government chairman in an immaculate black Hollywood style car wearing expensive Western style attire with gold chains hanging around his neck, reminding her of the legendary TV action star Mr. T.
What then is the position of armed militants groups? The militants you see on TV armed to the teeth roaming the creeks are usually the goons maintained by local leadership to do their dirty work of oil bunkering. In a country where the right to bear arms is not recognized, you could only imagine how such goons feel. They thrive on the thrill of holding the weapons and terrorizing people. To some degree they contribute to the high rate of criminal activity that has no equal in other states of the nation. They gain some meager income and some degree of freedom from local leadership that use them.
Then there are some educated local residents who run loosely organized groups, such as the Late Ken Sarowiwas and the Henry Okah's. They use a different method and command respect from a different category of people. Though they try to table their position and demand, appealing to the world community at large, their agitations lack the degree of credibility it might command had they been sincere in their approach. They hardly weigh the issue objectively. Had they sincerely acknowledged their local leadership role in underdevelopment, they could have worked towards solutions. They instead put all efforts fighting the federal government, who has limited powers over local leadership in matters relating to how the state and local government funds are spent locally.
As for environmental pollution, the federal government could surely do better in holding all companies drilling in the region accountable for environmental pollution. Not as much pressure as necessary is being placed on foreign companies to control pollution. While occasional spills may be normal, the incessant flaring of natural gas that turns day into night in some areas of the region is completely unnecessary. To date after decades of regular announcements about putting an end to flaring, successive governments have come and gone without implementing the ban on gas flaring.
The Politics Surrounding the Blasts
Finally on the blasts and the resulting politicking that ensued, surely other political contenders retain the upper hand, up and above Mr President. President Jonathan certainly slipped by making such a statement. It is very possible that the statement he made, which he might have made to win two points (a) smearing his political opponents before the primaries and (b) pleasing foreign hands by claiming that terrorism exists in his country, a move usually exploited by opportunists to attract foreign funding for eradicating a fictitious claim, have instead cost him a lot. He has now by his utterance alienated the largest voting group, the same northerners he has labeled terrorists, only for the truth to remain that it was MEND, his own kith and kin, and they would not retract responsibility for the blasts.
What President Jonathan failed to realize is no one wins the country as a whole without winning the Northern votes. It is simple mathematics. The North has the majority population, majority states and the largest land mass by far. Even Moshood Abiola that NADECO and other groups keep yapping about the annulment of his apparent victory at the polls back in 1993 could not have made it without the blessing of Northern voters, the only major group willing to vote based on reasoning, political conviction and performance and not ethnicity. He should consult his mentor Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he also got the blessing of Northern leadership and the votes of its population to make it to the presidential seat, even though he later betrayed and even swore that rotational presidency was never a credible party policy.
As for other politicians who to date stay by the way side instead of stepping up to the plate to make things better, or yet still speak up by calling a spade a spade for reasons of personal aggrandizement, the whole country is watching and history will record their positions and the role each one played as poor Nigerians continue to linger in poverty and neglect while they play dirty political games or allow others to do so. It is very disheartening to realize that the few credible upcoming politicians who could give the country the vigorous and credible leadership it deserves are all out of the loop. The ones who made it back into politics like Nuhu Ribadu are pitching their tent with a parties that do not have much popularity. It is only God, if Nigerians are lucky that He has answered their prayer, who could save the country from the grip of power drunk politicians, by playing the best hand possible as easily as only He could.
(c) The Optimist Voice. All Rights Reserved.
