Showing posts with label Air Marshall Paul Dike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air Marshall Paul Dike. Show all posts

Friday, May 13, 2016

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.