By Paul Odili
To correct a wrong,
it is sometimes necessary to exceed proper limits’. This
doctrine is attributed to Mao Zedong by his personal secretary, Lin Ke.
Mao, founder of the
modern communist state of China was a man of power, who had no
hesitation using whatever means he judged necessary to protect his power and
the state he founded. In this context, Mao was justifying the use of terror.
I do not
ordinarily believe in the use of terror by legitimate forces of the state, yet
there are times you just ponder what are the options before state actors under
certain circumstances. If Mao were to be the commander of Nigerian state, there
is no question as to what he would do in view of the dystopia in the Niger
Delta area.
The senseless
attacks and economic sabotage going on in the Niger Delta by a shadowy militant
group( Niger Delta Avengers) claiming to be fighting for the interest of Niger
Delta, you wonder if there is no great wisdom in Mao’s doctrine. We don’t have
a Mao here of course, we have PMB and PMB is no Mao clearly. And Nigerian state
is neither a communist state nor resembling a Chinese society. We are Africans
with our cultural mores and social and economic structure. But we are a society
that must survive and we are under attack by a merciless force. Nigeria is in a state of war.
In any state of war,
economic assets are legitimate targets. So what do we do? Let’s get inside
PMB’s head. A retired old school Army General, strict and unbending, prides
himself in promoting order and discipline above everything else, is now faced
with one of the greatest existential threat yet to his administration. At a
period of great economic stress, in which the main source of the government’s
economic power is being systematically sabotaged and somehow he is powerless to
do anything. This must be his worst nightmare! Naturally, his first instinct
would be to use military force and exterminate these saboteurs.
He said as much when
he declared that the Niger Delta militants would be dealt with like Boko haram.
So far PMB is wrong. The terrain and associated circumstances are different.
NDA have called his bluff. Almost on a daily basis one asset or the other has
been blown up. Minister Ibe Kachikwu is lamenting the effect of this on oil
production down to 1.4 million; the lowest production in two decades. With the
hapless situation he is facing PMB must be torn between armistice with the
militants or military operation to conquer. With public panic rising and economic
downturn worsening with the continuation of this act of war, what should be
done and done to end this conflagration once and for all?