Genocidal Actions By Successive Nigerian Governments

By Mike Ozekhome

Genocide In The Creeks

We continue today, government-driven acts of genocide across Nigeria, over the years.

The Setting
It was a hot afternoon at the Palace in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State. Dateline: May 14, 2009. The kingdom is of Ijaw (Izon) nation that contributes nearly 70 per cent to the nation’s economy. It is also the 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria, after the Hausas/Fulanis, Igbos and Yorubas, spread across Bayelsa (a whole state), Rivers, Edo, Delta, Ondo and Cross River states. The Oporoza community was in a festive mood, for the Amaseikumor festival, with influx of hundreds of guests into the community, to partake of the presentation of the staff of office to the king, the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, HRM, Ogie III. It also marked his one year anniversary on the throne. It was about the same time that nearby city of Warri was to be inspected by FIFA delegates, towards considering Nigeria’s hosting of the 2009, under 17 World Cup. Umaru Yar’Adua was president. Air Marshall Paul Dike was Chief of Defence Staff.

Suddenly, three low flying helicopters emerged from the serene skies. The people gawked, awed, clapped, salivated, believing erroneously the helicopters bore dignitaries to add to the glamour, razzmatazz and panache of the royal ceremony. But they were wrong, dead wrong. The helicopters were actually harbingers of death; deadly gunboats, deployed by the Joint Task Force (as ordered by then President Umar Yar’Adua), to mow down Gabaramatu Kingdom. The kingdom came under a hale of bombs, the Palace inclusive. Two naval warships identified as “NNS Obula” and “NNS Nwanba”, 14 gunboats and four Air Force helicopter gunships completed the awesome armada of the JTF codenamed “Operation Restore Hope.” About 3, 000 troops were involved in this genocidal warfare that targeted the Ijaw enclave that housed the dreaded “Camp 5” and “Iroko Camp.”

Ironically, one of the villages destroyed, Oporoza, had hosted the crew who made the movie, “Sweet crude.” But the crude was now sour.

 Genesis Of The Crisis
The Niger Delta is buried in the creeks. Fragile, swampy and neglected by successive governments after the discovery of oil at Oloibiri in 1956, the people felt short changed. Where they asked for fish, they were given stones. When they asked for bread, they were given bullets. Like in the ancient Mariner, they have “water, water everywhere, but none fit enough to drink.” They defecate in still, spirogyra-infested ponds from which they also drink. The perennial gas flaring leaves cancerous skins and diseases. Aquatic and agrarian life is completely destroyed. The black gold, rather than be a blessing, has thus become a curse. There are no roads, hospitals, schools, infrastructure. No nothing! The people live in pains, pangs, sweat, blood, exploitation and crude marginalization.

Tired of brazen exploitation, MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), an affiliate of JCR (Joint Revolutionary Council, with the others being the Martyrs Brigade and the Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force), headed by the then 40-year-old Ijaw struggle exponent, Government Ekpemupolo, alias, Tompolo,’ controlled “Camp five” and the “Iroko Camp.”

MEND had issued an ultimatum to the oil companies operating in the region to shut down and evacuate their workers. The Federal Government felt insulted, and went beyond this muscle flexing, to launch a major dawn operation, to dislodge the militants. Two days earlier, MEND had engaged the JTF in a fierce battle in which several soldiers were feared dead, and their weapons seized. 15 foreign workers were also said to have been taken hostage by the Militants.

 The Military’s Account
President Umaru Yar’Adua was said to have been greatly miffed by the number of casualties on JTF’s part, and consequently ordered that the Militants’ Camps be invaded, with the leaders captured, dead or alive.

JTF’s then spokesman, Col. Rabe Abukakar, confirming the operation, said the troops were on a rescue mission, to free hostages, hijacked ships and fish out the “hoodlums” who attacked military personnel on legitimate duties. Said he: “We deliberately went on search and rescue operation in some coastal communities in Delta State… to apprehend and fish out criminals who are involved in abduction of crew members of two ships and those behind the hijack of the ships. We are also after the criminals who attacked our personnel in legitimate duties. But in the process, the so called militants mounted resistance and this expectedly led to a serious gun duel and they retreated to their camps and hideouts. Our men also pursued them to the camps but heavy shooting is persisting as you are talking to me now”.

 Ijaw’s Account
Not so fast, cried the acclaimed Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, after rehashing his people’s years of suffering: “The military has declared total war on our people in Escravos in Delta State. They are bombing from the air and water, killing innocent children and women in Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Kurutie and Kunukunuma. They (Ijaws) are seeking for safety in the bush. Please, intervene immediately by telling Mr. President not to declare total war on fellow Nigerians particularly when the vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is away in Europe on an official mission”.

Ms Cynthia Whyte, spokesperson for the JRC also accused the JTF of attacking civilian settlements, including the Palace of Agadagba of Gbaramatu, schools and other public places, vowing that the soldiers would be made to pay for the “desecration of Ijawland”. 
(To be continued next week).

*Chief Ozekhome is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)