By Ochereome Nnanna
Two Nigerians
from Katsina State have been Presidents of Nigeria in the past ten
years. The first was Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who assumed power on May 29th
2007. He was an academic from a Fulani elite family. The core of his government
comprised mainly Northerners because unlike his late elder brother, Major
General Shehu Yar’Adua, he never really had much opportunity to interact with
the wider Nigerian society before he joined politics. He was imposed as
President on the nation by – you know who – former President Olusegun Obasanjo,
his immediate predecessor in those days when the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) did just as it liked without any challenge from any quarters.
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| *Buhari |
Having finished his eight years as the Governor of Katsina State,
Yar’Adua had wanted to go back to the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria,
teach Chemistry pro bono and look after his failing health. Next, Obasanjo went
to the creeks of the Niger Delta and dragged in another gentleman who had
already won the PDP ticket for Governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Goodluck Ebele
“Azikiwe” Jonathan. I remember that day in November 2006 when Obasanjo paraded
Yar’Adua and Jonathan on television as the Police usually parade crime
suspects. Jonathan in particular looked like a school boy on a forced errand.
The president-to-be never knew his Vice-president-to-be apart from the
fact that they sometimes met as governors. When eventually they were elected
into office, the militancy in the Niger Delta was at its peak. Many analysts
had argued that Obasanjo was forced to bring Jonathan into the presidential
pairing as a peace offering to the Ijaw militants and their loud and
troublesome “father”, Chief Edwin Clark, in place of the more fancied and
popular Dr. Peter Odili, the Rivers State governor. That Obasanjo bowed to the
Clark/Ijaw faction of the South-South People’s Assembly (SSPA) rather than the
more broad-based pro-Odili faction led by Ambassador Matthew Mbu/Raymond Dokpesi,
was seen as an application of common sense. Obasanjo must have realised that
ignoring the demands of Clark and
his Ijaw militant tribesmen would keep the economic livewire of the nation in
the Niger Delta at great risk.
The disruptions would never stop, and the economy would continue to
suffer. When Yar’Adua assumed power, he came under pressure by hawks from his
native Northern Nigeria to “crush” the Niger Delta militants.
He actually mobilised the Nigerian troops towards that effect, but as an
intelligent, wise and commonsensical leader he also listened to the argument of
Niger Delta campaigners who were very rampant in the media, especially
television. These included Dr. Chris Ekiyor; my sister, Ann Kio Briggs, Dr. Oronto
Douglas, Comrade Joseph Evah, Dr. Ledum Mitee, Dokubo Asari and a host of
others.
Most of them advised that rather than launching a full-scale military
campaign to “crush” the militants as the Federal Government had already started
doing when it attacked Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State in search of the
Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) leader, Government
Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), an offer of amnesty for voluntary disarmament of
the militants should first be tried. Yar’ Adua sent his Vice President,
Jonathan, to the creeks to discuss with his kinsmen. Eventually, by August
2009, the militants accepted the offer of amnesty and surrendered their arms.
Thus, began the post-amnesty programmes, which saw the “repentant” militants
being given education and training on various trades in Nigeria and abroad. The big boys or
“ex-generals” got hefty contracts and became visible and loud in Abuja hotels and the Aso Villa, especially
during the reign of Jonathan as President. In fact, the biggest ex-militant,
Tompolo, was awarded multi-billion naira contracts to safeguard the network of
oil pipelines in the Niger Delta and he also became a major player in the
maritime industry. There was absolute quiet in the Niger Delta.
