Niger Delta: The abyss stares back

Triumph of Ijaw Diplomacy
Professor Lawrence Baraebibai Ekpebu, diplomat, administrator, is the first African to graduate from Harvard with BA, MA and PhD. His internationally acclaimed and multi-award winning “Zaire and the African Revolution” serves as handbook for world leaders in their dealings with post-colonial Africa.

In analysing the Biafran/Nigerian conflict, the erudite professor posited that four Ijaw diplomats won the war for General Yakubu Gowon. The first was Ambassador BA Clark from Kiagbodo in Delta State. The second was Ambassador Joe TF Iyala from Bakana in Rivers State. The third was General George Kurubo from Bonny in Rivers State; while the fourth was the grand old man of Ijawland, Harold Dappa-Biriye from Peterside in Bonny.

One, when hostility broke out the British-backed Gowon but not the American. Biafran propaganda convinced newly elected American President Richard Nixon that the war was a “jihad” by the Islamic North against Eastern Nigeria Christians. Nixon was pro-Biafra to the extent his wife entered the street with the begging bowl to solicit funds for persecuted Biafrans. It was at this point that Gowon’s ambassador to US, Ambassador Clark, turned the table.

Clark told the American establishment that he was also a Christian from the Ijaw ethnic group of former Eastern Nigeria. He said the war had nothing to do with religion or jihad because Ijaws and other former Eastern Nigeria minorities were also Christians even though they supported Gowon and not secessionist Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Clark’s argument was so overwhelming that Nixon backed out. Had America armed Biafra, Ojukwu would have pulverised Gowon.

Two, Biafran diplomacy also won overwhelming victory for Ojukwu at the United Nations, by cleverly projecting the war as an “international conflict” between two countries-Biafra and Nigeria. The UN was to take a vote when Gowon’s UN representative, Ambassador Iyala, changed the course of history.

In his submission Iyala told UN the conflict was purely a domestic affair that did not call for intervention. He told UN not to set a dangerous precedent dabbling into Nigerian internal matters as Gowon enjoyed the confidence of Niger Delta minorities where he, Iyala, came from. The UN also backed off depriving Ojukwu the international recognition he desperately needed.

Three, in Moscow Gowon’s ambassador, General Kurubo, convinced his host government that the conflict was an “oil war.” He did not have to say much before Russia pledged its MiG fighter jets to Gowon. In his Introduction to Captain August Okpe’s classic,“The Last Flight,” Ojukwu frankly admits that the deployment of these jets “erased a significant measure of the military successes the Biafran had achieved.” It was a disaster his famed Biafran Babies aircraft could not completely reverse leading to Biafran capitulation.

And four, at home Biriye rallied Niger Delta minorities behind Gowon. He educated Gowon on the political implications of carving out South Eastern State and Rivers State from the Eastern Region. Such would pull the rug from under Ojukwu’s feet. Gowon listened and the minorities lined up as one man behind him. Biriye’s Niger Delta produced the oil and the West backed the protagonist who enjoyed Biriye’s confidence. That protagonist, according to Professor Ekpebu, was Gowon.

No Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba diplomats could have done for Gowon what Ijaws did for him by just declaring in Washington and UN, “We are also Christians from former Eastern Nigeria but we do not want to be part of Biafra.” Ijaws took this survivalist position as pre-1966 Igbo nationalism side-lined them. Remember this point when it’s time to later interrogate post-Amnesty Ijaw nationalism vis-à-vis other sidelined Niger Delta minorities.

Ijaw diplomats can still win for President Muhammadu Buhari the war against militants in Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, and Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, JNDLF. We honestly believe Buhari is amenable to negotiation. Our aim is to (1) identify the Clarks, Iyalas, Kurubos and Biriyes of 21st Century Ijawland; and (2) arming them with a Kaiama Declaration-based, as opposed to Ijaw-only, list of demands.

Identifying Ijaw Diplomats/Negotiators
Ijawland is not a political orphan. It has a nationalism that oscillates between war and diplomacy. Instructively, war triumphs whenever Federal might stifles diplomacy. It was when Biriye was muzzled following the proscription of his Niger Delta Congress, NDC, in the wake of 15th January coup, that Isaac Adaka Boro cried havoc.

It logically follows that Ijaw militants are neutralised by the sterner argument of Ijaw diplomats. The two cannot be right at the same time as the means favoured by one contradicts that preferred by the other. With the exception of Boro who was Students Union Government president at University of Nigeria, Ijaw militants appear anti-intellectuals who spite their better educated opposites.

For instance, in 2009 warlord Bibopre (Shoot-at-sight) Ajube and his militants publicly booed members of Committee for Security and Development in the Niger Delta. Comprising of Dr. Felix Tuodolo, TK Ogoriba, Asari Dokubo, Comrade Oyeinfie Jonjon, Sgt. Weri Digifa, Dan Ekpebide, Mike Wenebowei, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, Claudius Egba and Eng. Udengs Eradiri, the committee went to consult Governor Olusegun Mimiko on how to end the Oil War through dialogue. Ajube got wind of it and laid his ambush; restraining himself from harming them only by the grace of God. Ijaw militants detest educated Ijaws and their meddlesomeness.

Ijaw war wears human face in Boro, then Asari, Tompolo and elements in today’s NDA/JNDLF. But we are not interested in this group as peace is our goal. Ijaw diplomacy, however, is identifiable in persons manning certain institutions. Ijaws have diplomat/negotiator in Barrister Boma Obuoforibo who heads the Ijaw National Congress (INC). Ijaws have authentic diplomat/negotiator in Eng. Eradiri who heads the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC. Members of pre-Amnesty Committee for Security and Economic Development in the Niger Delta, cited above, are trusted Ijaw diplomats/negotiators.

Pro-Kaiama Declaration Demands
One, the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, conceived to benefit oil-producing communities was openly opposed by northern senators. What no one is telling Buhari is that this is payback time. Ijaw negotiators must put PIB on the front burner in their discussion with Buhari.

Two, that Buhari orders the immediate commencement of academic activities at the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko.

Three, Buhari should as a matter of urgency reconstitute the management board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, without compensating any politician with the office of Managing Director, MD.

Four, Buhari must bridge the growing schism between the region and Aso Rock. Alienation in the wake of 2015 presidential election was what boiled over in volatile Delta State, prompting Delta Ijaw APC Leaders under Pastor Power Ziakede Aginighan to attempt the impossible.

Exclusion and Crisis of Confidence
Ijaw ex-militant leaders cornered the benefits of armed struggle to the exclusion of Ogonis, Isokos, Ikwerres, etc, contrary to the spirit of Kaiama Declaration. Their greed is why none believes NDA/JNDLF today. Ayiri Emami and Itsekiris, considering post-Amnesty realities, have right to pursue a separate self-determination in any manner they deem fit. In the eyes of these minorities Ijaws have become the problem in the same manner Igbos once were.

Ijaw leaders who started it all with the 1998 Kaiama Declaration must now use in-house structures to seize the initiative from militants and reverse the drift towards a fragmented struggle. They must give Ijaw nationalism a fraternal face by reconciling Ijaws with Itsekiris and Urhobos, in particular; and other aggrieved minorities sidelined by Amnesty Office and billionaire ex-militant leaders. This must be done before negotiation with Buhari who consistently maintains development, rather than war, is his mission in the region.

Failure to reconcile means a day may come when Ijaws will call on Ibibios, Edos or Ekpeyes, etc, for solidarity only for these minorities to tell Washington and UN, “We are also Niger Delta minorities but we are contented and happy with President Muhammadu Buhari.” What then?

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster, Friedrich Nietzsche warned. And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.

Email: chigachieke@yahoo.co.uk