After the long stressful working days, my friends and I get together in Abeokuta to visit our farm which we resorted to after the economic meltdown to support our families. Am an Egba man and my friend Bayo equals as an Egba man and our third friend Osagie is from Edo which qualifies him as a Niger Deltan.
The issue is that every time the topic of militancy in the Niger -Delta we are always divided in opinion. Osagie and I share the same view that militancy can never and has never produced any good result anywhere it is been used to demand for rights. We believe that militancy can never achieve any meaningful goal, rather it brings more hardship to the people they claim to be fighting for. No militant group that engage the Central government in arms battle can yield good result. No international body will support any militant group that wage war against its elected government. The people intended to be liberated are always the casualties of the war. Example is that of Gbaramutu village in Delta state .This prompted our decision that any group fighting for equity in distribution of national wealth or liberation of its people will never carry arms and engage the central government in battle. Bayo on the contrary believed long negligence and in sensitivity of the Federal Government prompted the youths of the Niger Delta to carry arms and the government is still not doing the right thing to redress the issue. He sees militancy as the only way the goal can be achieved. He also accused the Multinational oil companies operating the region of not doing enough to uplift the condition of there host community. He further accused them of destroying lands and water of the host community .In conclusion he sees nothing wrong in militancy in the region.
This brings me to point of this article. Analyzing various militant groups around the world showed that no single militant group have been able to achieve any meaningful goal, they only metamorphous into deadly terrorist group which MEND as been labelled by international communities. The examples of Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka comes to mind, after fighting for a decade with the Sri Lankan government ended up loosing the battle and thousands of Tamil ethnics who they intended to liberate from Sri Lanka. The Pakistani government are successfully wining the battle to take over strong holds of militant groups in the Sway Valley and Mangora city which has been controlled by the rebels for long.
The evidence is there for all to see that no militant group can win a war against any elected Government. No matter how strong a militant group is or how strong the support is ,it will surely bow to the authority in power.
I see militancy in the Niger-delta region as a camouflage to steal and export oil, and kidnapping is a criminal act that send no message than personal enrichment of jobless few all in the disguise of fighting for resource control. They attack oil pipe installations, kidnap innocent citizens, invade innocent communities and turn them to camps. Their leaders sits in Lagos and Abuja and scream in front of the screen and print media about atrocities happening in the Creeks when Government forces invade and try to flush out the militants, while their boys are working underground siphoning crude oil for them. Anytime the JTF steps up its act to protect lives and pipe line installation in the creeks what we hear is cry of government killing their people. Is the lost of 12 soldiers meant to be an act of freedom fighting?, killing of government soldiers is an invitation for war, no matter the quarter it came from. Should the Federal government fold its arms and watch a bunch of crooks kill its soldiers all in the name of resource control?. Should we wait until third mainland bridge or carter bridge is blown up before we regard the militants as enemy to all? .
Statistically quoting, the states in the region got a larger chunk of money from the government compared to others between 1999 and 2007: Rivers, N517 billion; Delta N463 billion; Bayelsa N414 billion; and Akwa Ibom, N384 billion. Why are the militants not targeting the state governors and their families. The question is what are the governors doing? The militant don’t mince word in saying their enemy is the federal government, but when did the state government ceased to be and arm of the central government. Little or no attack are carried out against the States government of the oil producing state, only notable and rich civilians with links to the Federal government are attacked in the form of kidnapping their wards.
Are we suppose to believe the State governments are sponsoring this attacks on Federal government interest, or what are the security aims of the affected states where kidnapping is carried out undeterred and communities are turned into militant camps. Fellow Nigerians lets not mistaken this Free oil fighters for Freedom because no act of militancy can achieve any meaningful goal, if we all have to show our grievances through militancy where will Nigeria be today. Nobody can shoot his/her way success and live to enjoy the fruit, what will happen will be counter militancy because the militant groups are not even fighting a uniform goal. Lets not be deceived by this freedom fighters and work together to fight this Free oil Fighters.
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