Ijaws; How Dare you Dream

By Matilda Angaye

When it was announced that President Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 presidential elections, My heart stopped beating for a whole minuite, i was very sure i was going to die, for the days that followed eating and drinking became a bitter chore, Banga soup(my favorite) tasted as chloroquine, and fresh fish suddenly turned to stone. I thought my condition was bad until i finally summoned the courage to return calls from colleaques, family and friends.. It was then i found out that Marvin was hospitalized, Maria had Severe Migraine and swollen eyes, Tarila was preparing for civil war, Tony changed career(he became a lawyer overnight), Meya, Bobby(let me keep your actions to myself).

As days progressed into weeks we all started coming around, discussing and debating on where our beloved president went wrong... Was he soft on corruption.? Yes, Was he tackling Nigeria's problems head-on?.. No, Did his Govt impact at least 60% of Nigerians?.. No. Did he pay attention to the Niger Delta?.. No, did he atleast discipline and set a standard for the parastals, Ministries of the Niger delta?..No. Did he checkmate and discipline PDP elected Governors?.. No.

However all this does not change the fact that he was the Best president Nigeria has ever had.. Most of his policies and achievements are Long lasting.. Our Interstate Express roads and Railways for instance,his Working policies on Agriculture and food supply, His brilliant Automobile policy, Tertiary Educational institutions for all Nigerian states, His super policy on power etc.. He was indeed a silent achiever.

As I welcome him back home, i stand tall with my head held high in pride, for he has written the name" Ijaw" with a golden pen in Nigerias history books, he has given us Ijaws a sense of belonging in a Nation that we were as Visitors, he has made us relevant and now we know we can never be intimidated. We held the highest office in a Land that thought but for our oil we were worthless, and we will do it again for we have been set free to dream.

I honestly pray that this new Govt of the General, can deliver on 50% of their campaign promises, because Nigeria genuinely needs the Change, the Good Change.

All i can say is, i wish Nigeria's 16th President and commander in chief Goodluck.

I am looking forward to his administration.

Long live the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (once a general, always a general)

Niger Delta Youths Caution Buhari, Warn South-South Politicians Against Betrayal

Subtle protests by youths of the Niger Delta against some perceived policy initiatives of the incoming All Progressives Congress (APC) administration regarding the region may have gone full throttle, as the Niger Delta Progressives Alliance (NDPA) weekend, told the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, not to test the resolve of the youth to vehemently resist further suppression of the peoples’ interests.

The NDPA, a socio-cultural group with massive followership across the oil rich region, specifically warned Buhari against using the Presidential Amnesty Programme initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as political tools to settle a few bigwigs of his party in the South-south.

President-General of the group, Chief Tombra Ekpedekumo, said in a statement issued in Abuja weekend that the Niger Delta people should not be treated as conquered specie simply because the region is not on fire after the harassment, intimidation and political manipulation to force President Goodluck Jonathan out of power.

“The harassment, intimidation and political manipulation through the use of the ‘Card-Rigger’ by INEC and its collaborators in the recently conducted presidential election to force President Jonathan out of office remained a bitter pill to swallow for the Niger Delta people.

“The region is not on fire basically because of some considerations, which is the peace and unity of Nigeria that President Jonathan has been preaching”, the group noted. It expressed regret that while the Niger Delta people had for decades, suffered environmental degradation due to oil exploitation and exploration activities with attendant effects on fishing and farming, which would have been alternative sources of livelihood for them, the people were still being treated as second class citizens despite their huge sacrifices to the nation.

The group said that the outcome of the 2015 presidential election, in which President Jonathan, an Ijaw from the minority Niger Delta region was forced out of office through institutional and organised conspiracy, was a testament to the age-long view that Nigeria as a political entity merely existed in name.

Part of the statement reads: “Nigeria’s unity had been preserved by the petro-dollars from the massive crude oil in the Niger Delta region, whose people are ironically the least beneficiaries of their God-given wealth. While the inhabitants of the area are bearing the brunt of the destructive oil exploration and exploitation activities by the multinational firms, the proceeds are used to develop and industrialise other parts of the country that now regard the Niger Delta people as second class citizens.

“Yet, the people have exercised caution and refused to engage in actions capable of breaking up the country. This is not a sign of weakness, but sacrifice they’ve borne for decades even with the stark reality that the project called Nigeria is a total conspiracy against the Niger Delta.

Having maintained their peace for so long, the Niger Delta people should not be stretched beyond endurable limits. “It is glaring that the only reason why they were bent on removing Jonathan from office was because he is a minority from the South-south region who has become a stumbling block in their quest to perpetually control the oil wealth in the Niger Delta.

They are pained and angry because it was no longer business as usual, and perhaps, the resources, which they had brazenly starched away in local and foreign currency over the years had depleted to unimaginable level. “

Since it is all about oil politics, we shall ensure that those lusting to grab political power as a means towards amassing our oil wealth will no longer see a single drop of oil.

We shall henceforth take appropriate measures to ensure that our God-given wealth is protected from the grip of people who do not wish us well.”

The group sternly warned some unnamed APC top shots of South-south origin against further betrayal of the peoples’ cause, declaring that such moves would be met with “unpleasant consequences.”

Noting that the Amnesty programme for ex-Niger Delta agitators and particularly the NDDC, were major programmes that had facilitated human and infrastructural development of the South-south, the group asked emerging political gladiators from the region not to trade the collective hope of the people by angling to alter the present status and composition of the NDDC for their personal gains.

“After the last presidential elections, it is speculated that some political bigwigs from the South-south are already on the loose, angling to take charge of affairs of the NDDC as settlement for their contributions to the electoral success of the incoming government.

We pray that it is a mere rumour; otherwise, it would definitely attract some unpleasant consequences.

“In fact, the tensed mood and uncertainty that has enveloped the Niger Delta as a result of the “Card Rigger” official manipulation by INEC and its cohorts, will shatter the eerie peace in the entire region. People should not take the prevailing imaginary peace for granted”, the group warned.

SOURCE; http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/05/niger-delta-youths-caution-buhari-warn-south-south-politicians-against-betrayal/

Norway regrets selling warships to ex-Niger Delta militant, Tompolo

Norwegian Defence Chief, Haakon Bruun-Hansen, an admiral, has apologised to the country’s lawmakers for the sale of a fleet of a decommissioned naval battleships and combats boats to a former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.

Mr. Ekpemupolo was the leader of one of the several militias in the Niger Delta region that led a devastating campaign of violence against the Nigerian state for several years until he was awarded a multi-billion pipeline protection contract by the out-going Goodluck Jonathan administration as part of an amnesty deal with ex-combatants.

After giving up fighting, surrendering his arms, and leading his men to hand over their weapons, Tompolo in 2012 received at least six decommissioned Norwegian battleships, a Norwegian newspaper, Daglabet, found in December.

Among them were six fast-speed Hauk-class guided missile boats, now re-armed with new weapons.

The most recent hardware was the KNM Horten, a fast-attack craft allegedly used for anti-piracy patrol in the Nigerian waters.

Daglabet reported that the sale was implemented through a shell maritime Security Company based in the United Kingdom, CAS Global.

CAS Global was used to evade a requirement by Norway that arms dealers obtain export license from their country’s foreign affairs ministry, the report adds.

Mr. Ekpemupolo runs Global West Vessel Service, which handles maritime security issues for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

After the deal became public in December, the Director General of NIMASA, Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi, claimed the vessels were purchased as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement in conjunction with the Nigerian Navy. He said the Navy has rearmed the vessels to enable it effectively carried out its anti-piracy patrol.

“As an arm of the government responsible for maritime safety, security and regulations amongst others, we work in conjunction with the Nigerian Navy and other relevant security agencies to use their men and arms to patrol and provide safety of the country’s water ways, as mandated by the global body, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

“It is the Navy that has fitted their guns on the vessels to aid their policing of the maritime domain,” he said.

The Norwegian government also, at the time, defended the transaction, according to Daglabet newspaper, saying the export “followed correct procedure and terms of export to Great Britain. The re-export from Great Britain to Nigeria is a question to be handled solely by British export control authorities”.

But the report that Norway sold such military hardware to an individual with a history of violence angered the country’s lawmakers and triggered an investigation leading to the arrest of three Norwegian civil servants, now being charged for corruption.

Speaking during a parliamentary disciplinary committee enquiry into the sale of the battleships this week, the defence chief, Mr. Bruun-Hansen, admitted that military officials did not do proper due diligence before selling the decommissioned ships.

“The fact that the vessels have landed in Nigeria under Nigerian flag reflects a breakdown in our systems, and I apologize for that,” Mr. Bruun-Hansen said during Thursday’s hearing.

Mr. Bruun-Hansen was not the Chief of Defence at the time when the battle ship were sold to CAS Global.

News bureau NTB reported that Mr. Bruun-Hansen’s predecessor, Harald Sunde, who was in-charge when the deal was struck, also apologised saying he was disappointed over all the mistakes made.

He however blamed the breakdown of due diligence in the sale of the vessel to a reorganisation at the defence department’s logistics organization (FLO), at the time the sales was made.

Also speaking during the hearing, Norwegian Foreign Minister, Børge Brende, said a lot about the sale and export of the vessels are still not known and the state prosecutor has been ordered to seek possible criminal violations.

Dagbladet, which uncovered the shady deal, reported that a simple google search would have revealed that CAS Global only had a post office address, yet the military went ahead and allowed Nigerian representatives of the firm, probably handpicked by Mr. Ekpemupolo, to inspect the vessels before they were sold.

“Does this mean that anybody can buy these boats, as long as they sign a declaration?” asked an irate Member of Parliament, Erik Skutle. “Even terrorists? How on earth could this happen?” he added.

During the hearing, Petter Jansen, the head of FLO also tried unsuccessfully to answer questions about another revelation by Dagbladet that Norwegian military had another former Norwegian Coast Guard vessel, the KV Titran, through a South African brokerage company, Nautic Africa, which in turn sold the vessel to an unnamed Nigerian company.

Mr. Jansen admitted that that transaction didn’t also follow due diligence.

SOURCE: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/182368-norway-regrets-selling-warships-to-ex-niger-delta-militant-tompolo.html

Shell agrees to start clean up of 2008 Niger Delta oil spill

LAGOS - Shell has agreed with Nigerian fishing community of Bodo in the Niger Delta to start the clean up of two devastating oil spills in 2008, activists and locals said Saturday.

Fishing boats are abandoned on Bodo waterways polluted by spilled crude oil allegedly caused by Shell equipment failure in Ogoniland, Nigeria, August 11, 2011

"Shell officials met with representatives of Bodo community in Port Harcourt yesterday (Friday). The meeting was attended by officials of the Dutch embassy, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), Amnesty International and some local activists," Steven Obodekwe of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development lobby group told AFP.

"It was agreed that the clean up would commence in July or August," he said.

Local fisherman Christian Kpandei who is among the 15,600 affected by the spills, said a foreign contractor had been hired for the job.

"The company involved in the clean up of the massive spills in the Gulf of Mexico is handling the job. The clean-up will start by August," he said.

He said Bodo residents were looking forward to the exercise, adding that almost all the people affected by the spills had been compensated.

"Virtually all the 15,601 claimants have been settled. I am one of the beneficiaries. There are only 150 people that are yet to collect their compensation because of some issues of inheritance," he said.

Shell officials were not immediately available for comment on the development.

Godwin Ojo of Port Harcourt-based Environmental Rights Action said the clean up was belated.

"Shell should stop breaching its agreements with its host communities. The clean up is long over due. It should have started in January," he said.

Under a compensation deal hammered out in London in January, Shell's Nigerian arm agreed to pay pound sterling55 million (77 million euros) to people in Bodo following a three-year legal battle over the 2008 spills that devastated their environment.

The Shell Petroleum Company of Nigeria (SPDC) was to pay around pound sterling35 million compensation to 15,600 Nigerian fishermen whose livelihoods were affected, and a further pound sterling20 million to the wider community.

Each individual was to receive around pound sterling2,200, equivalent to around three years' income on the Nigerian minimum wage, said their London-based lawyers Leigh Day.

SPDC, a major oil operator in Nigeria, has repeatedly insisted that most oil pollution in the Niger Delta region was caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest crude producer, exporting some two million barrels per day but much of the Niger Delta oil region remains deeply impoverished

Source; http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/549759/shell-agrees-to-start-clean-up-of-2008-niger-delta-oil-spill

Nigeria: Kolo Creek Oil Spill - Help for Affected Bayelsa Farmers

The Bayelsa Government said on Thursday that it would assist farmers whose farmlands were affected by the April 15 oil leak from Shell oil field in Otuasega community.

The Bayelsa Commissioner for Environment, Mr Iniruo Wills, in a NAN report from Yenagoa said that the government would ensure that the impacted areas were cleaned up and remediated.

According to Wills, the state government is considering a review of the Joint Investigation Visit report on the April 15 spills.

The Commissioner confirmed that the state government had received reports that more areas impacted by the spill were not captured by the investigative team.

Wills said that the state government would verify the reported exclusion of impacted sites and ensure the firm compensate the victims.

"We have to look at the information and verify it and if it is true that the impacted area was larger than what was originally captured, we shall find a way of addressing the issue.

"Nobody can hide under the cover of technicalities to say a fact that is real will not be captured.

"We have to look at it and address it one way or the other even if it means paying another visit to the area," Wills said.

The commissioner dismissed the allegation that the spill was meant to sabotage the farmers.

According to him, the spill in Kolo Creek is an operational failure rather than sabotage because the facility is supposed to be a restricted area.

"It is a failure of the operational methods put in place by the operators in their field and this puts a big question mark, especially when you consider the frequency of the occurrence," he said.

Source; http://allafrica.com/stories/201505030396.html

Diaspora Group Claims There Is Conspiracy Against Ijaws

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warns against pulling down Ijaw leaders

The Ijaw professionals in the diaspora, a socio-cultural group dedicated to the preservation of the Ijaw interest worldwide, has cried out against what it calls a conspiracy to destroy the Ijaw course, through the pulling down of its leaders, following the loss of the Presidency by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The Group rose from an extraordinary congress in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, last week with a resolve to sensitize Ijaw people of this deadly plot by her enemies, to be carried out, by using fellow Ijaws as was done to the President.

In a statement read out to the Press by its General Secretary, Mr. Akpoebi Okrowanta, the group lamented that, the loss of the Presidency was avoidable, if the President was not betrayed by some of his fellow Ijaws he trusted, warning that, such political miscalculations could repeat themselves, if they were not careful.
The Ijaws must void making similar mistakes by not pulling down its leaders, who can fill the big leadership vacuum existing today.

The group was particularly, concerned about attempts to destroy the stability of the only homogeneous jaw state for narrow political reasons, adding that, any attempt to disregard the larger interest of Ijaw Nation in the new dispensation will quickly erase the giant strides already recorded by the Ijaw race, especially in Bayelsa State.
To this end the group appeals to politicians to always consider what their actions will do to the overall wellbeing of the Ijaw cause and subordinate their narrow political interests to it.

The group is taking other steps to implement its resolutions to prevail on Ijaw leaders to work in synergy with others and to punish offenders by exposing publicly their divisive activities.
It has set up a five-person committee to independently investigate allegations against prominent Ijaw leaders and draw up a code of conduct for all its leaders.

The group believes that, the Ijaw race must not have a leadership vacuum at a critical moment like this and believes that the legacy of the outgoing President, should strengthen Ijaw cause as well as strengthen and empower up and coming leaders, such as Governor Dickson to play a more nationalistic role and to mitigate the collapse of the Ijaw cause.
It is to this end that, it frowns at the latest attempt by some detractors to tarnish his image, so as to make it impossible for the Ijaw race to continue in its upward progress, despite the loss of the presidency.

Already the group has investigated and found to be untrue, the latest attempts to destroy the unblemished record of performance of the leader of the only purely homogeneous Ijaw State to the mud by linking him to a spuriuos claim of misappropriation ofFUNDS with what it claimed as a First Bank Chairman, as being distributed in the social media.

We confirmed with the EFCC, that no such complaints have been received contrary to claims that the EFCC was handling the case.
With a fake website, the sponsors, who are strangely prominent Ijaw sons did not consider what the big picture of their action would be, but only concentrating on the immediately perceived political advantage.
This is just one of the many cases we have investigated and if those concerned does not stop this self destruction, we shall publish their names for the world to see.
Once again we appeal to all well meaning Ijaw people to prevail on the larger Ijaw community to work for their collective stability and progress as a way to ending the unfavourable tide that the enemy has woven for our people.

Signed:
1.Terry Leandon
2. Akpoebi Okorowanta
3. Sunny Engi
Ijaw Professionals in Diaspora,Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Source; http://www.spyghana.com/diaspora-group-claims-there-is-conspiracy-against-ijaws/