The Missing Opportunities of the Niger Delta Militants

Apart from the region of Southeast who believed that outright secession from the country would guarantee a steady development in their communities, the next region in which a total break away  or at least a regional government would catalyze their development is the people of the Niger Delta region.

Incidentally the Niger Delta is the only region that is capable of bringing down Nigeria to her knees at the shortest possible time, altering the national status quo and ensuring the country is regionally restructured even before the 2019 elections.

Unfortunately, whenever the youths of this region want to show their grievances by taking up arms to cripple the oil industry (which is the only ligament holding this entity together) the government  would call them by the side and gave them peanuts, a token taken from their fathers wealth behind their father's compound. Pathetic!

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The MEND Factor

Before the recent entrance of the "fake" Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), there existed an original MEND which  was created in 2004 and used as a tool to negotiate the greater demand of the Niger Delta people at the national affairs during the Obasanjo and Yar'adua administrations. 

MEND, an aggregate of various militant cells, gave the former President Obasanjo so much headache that he picked Goodluck Jonathan, as the running mate to Yar'adua in 2007, in order to pacify them. Yet even after their electoral victory MEND continued their operations unabated, disrupting the free flow of oil and continued with the kidnapping of expatriates.

Before his last minute change of mind to give them amnesty, the Yar'adua government had wanted to use force on them but it backfired. At a time he picked up Henry Okah from Angola where he (Okah) went to negotiate an arms deal for MEND. However, little did Yar'adua knew that Okah was just a business man, an arms dealer and facilitator of MEND (as later described by Asari Dokubo) and not necessarily their leader.

It was later discovered that the leader of MEND was a man of few words and the 'lord of the creeks', known as Chief Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a.Tompolo).

Before writing about Tompolo and his capabilities of bringing down this "shithole" country, I will like to enumerate some of his former collegues and fellow lieutenants most of whom had a unity of purpose in the days of MEND and were in unison during the Jonathan's administration. However, some of them were later bought over at the inception of Buhari's administration by the APC government which made them turned to dissident voices against Tompolo.

Mr. Victor Ben Ebikabowei, also known as 'General Boyloaf,' was a second-in-command of MEND. He was a leader of his own militant group which operated around Bayelsa axis. 'General' Boyloaf rattled the nation in 2008 when he blew off the Bonga Oil field which was located at 2000-nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria. Yar'adua summoned an emergency security meeting in Aso Rock and queried them of capability of a militant group (using speed boats) reaching such a far distance said known to be reached by ships only. 

We have Mr. Africanus Ukparasia, a.k.a. 'General' Africa; Mr. Eris Paul, known as 'General' Ogunboss and the late 'General' John Togo, known as 'Warlord'. Recently General Africa and General Ogunboss worked for Rotimi Amechi and Timipre Sylvia's APC during the Bayesla governorship election and was characterized with violence. It took the intervention of Tompolo's boys and Shoot-at-Sight for PDP to wade them off.

Niger Delta Militants

The late General John Togo was the leader of the dreaded Niger Delta Liberation Front (NDLF) who  later backed out of government's amnesty program accusing them of insincerity. He continued his operation in the creeks and was declared 'Wanted' by the Nigerian Army. The fearless John Togo in response declared the Chief of Army Staff 'Wanted' too. He was later killed in 2011 by Air Strike near his camp known as "Israel Barracks."

Also we have 'General' Ezekiel; 'Major General' Godswill Tamuno; 'General' Pastor Reuben Wilson; Commanders Joshua Mackiver, Farah Dagogo, Osama bin Laden, Shoot-at-Sight, the Late Soboma George and the late Gibson Kala, also known as Prince Igodo. 

The late Prince Igodo was one of the few men that turned their agitation into criminality. He reportedly involved in all manner of social vices including robbery, rape, piracy and kidnapping of locals. He was the one that kidnapped the mother of the then sitting governor of Rivers State, Sir Celestine Omehia, in 2007 and collected a ransom. He was later killed in 2008 by a rival militant group during a battle for territorial control in one of the creeks. A myth surrounding his death revealed that few days before his death, a sea goddess that gave him his power appeared to him in the middle of the night, withdrew his power due to abuses, and disappeared.

High Chief Ateke Tom, the Okirika warlord, who rears untamed lions in his compounds, is comfortable playing the politics of the state rather than regional politics for the future. Although of the PDP, Ateke was a strong leader of the MEND. He came to limelight in 2003 when he fought a bitter battle of supremacy with his former master, Asari-Dokubo, which engulfed the entire city of Port Harcourt before the intervention of the government. At the end of the day over 2000 souls perished. 

Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari

The Kalabari High Chief is one of the few trusted freedom fighters of the Niger Delta Struggle. Many believed he's the first known freedom fighter who believed in arms struggle. He's vocal, opinionated, assertive and naturally intelligent with historical facts. He has given publicity to the Niger Delta struggle more than any other fighter from the region. Although he has relinquished the arm struggle in the creeks, he's still steadfast and uncompromising. 

He openly rejected Yar'adua's offer of amnesty after he was released from the prison insisting he wasn't a criminal, that only criminals are given amnesty. Asari-Dokubo was the only known Niger Delta ex-fighter who joined the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in advocating for a United States of Biafra comprising the Niger Delta and Southeastern States.

Tompolo and the Niger Delta Avengers

Unbeknownst to many Tompolo is one of the oldest contemporary freedom fighters in the Niger Delta. Spanning from the days of late General Sani Abacha when the two nations of Ijaw and Itsekiri were embroiled ethnic clash. He fought for the Ijaw side and thereafter, continued the fight for the better treatment of the Niger Delta. 

Having known his capabilities, Tompolo is one of the militant leaders the Nigerian State would not want to joke with, either as a friend or a villain. He's the reason Yar'adua government gave amnesty to the militants in the first place. He operated the strongest militant camps in the Niger Delta with its headquarters in Camp 5 at Oporoza, in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West LGA of Delta State.

Before he was declared 'wanted' in 2009 by the Yar'adua government, his 'Camp 5' was said to be a Mecca of sort to various degree of politicians and multinational oil companies who throng to him for  support and protection of their assets and businesses. He's said to be principled, trustworthy, and deadly as well. He ran the Camp 5 like a military garrison with thousands of fighters and each militant having an I.D. and a registration file containing his bio-data. He was connected to the high and mighty and even among the military hierarchies.

Five minutes before his camp was raided in the middle of the night via Ariel bombardment in 2009, he got a tip and escaped. Although some of his boys were killed, his escape bolted Aso Rock as the operation was said to be a top military secret even among high ranking military officers. After raiding and ransacking his camp, the then JTF Commander Brig. Gen. Sarki-Yaki Bellow was  surprised to see a copy of security report submitted to Yar'adua on how best to destroy the Niger Delta militants, in his camp. They also saw a copy of Jane's Dane magazine fuelling suspicion he might be at the verge of purchasing a fighter jet.

Before his 'war' with the government, Yar'adua sent Jonathan to visit him in Camp 5 for a peace talk. Tompolo agreed but with a condition that only Jonathan will enter Camp 5, not even his Aide-de-Camp would follow him. Gov. Uduagha and all the security men waited for Jonathan in a far away across the sea while Tompolo's boys sped with boat and brought Jonathan in.

He fears no one. When Jonathan was having difficulty in becoming an Acting President during the Yar'adua illness with people like James Ibori and Timipre Sylva opposing him, Tompolo warned them sternly revealing that any governor from the Niger Delta region that will oppose Jonathan would face his wrath. 

Because of his antecedents and military strategies, when the Niger Delta Avengers sprang up in 2016, many believed he was the founder of the Avengers especially as he was having a running battle with the federal government. Despite his repeated appeals, press conferences, open letters, that he knew nothing concerning the Avengers, the military continued hunting for him and destroying villages.

The Missed Opportunity

The Niger Delta Avengers who brought down Nigeria's Oil output from 2.5 million barrels per day to an all-time low of 700,000 barrels per day under one month of "Operation Red Economy" and were threatening to bring it down to "zero" production if their demands were not met, would have stuck to their major demand of total restructuring or break up. 

They achieved this feat of crippling the oil production without killing a SINGLE soul in the process.

But they were compromised. They accepted 'dialogue' - a deception by the Fulani government, Britain and America to keep the South in perpetual servitude to the North. Oh yes! The US Embassy source, in a recent interview to Vanguard newspaper, agreed that they facilitated dialogue between the Avengers, PANDEF and Federal government. Why would they facilitate dialogue? Did Avengers kill anybody? No!

It's a shame that the West will never facilitate a "dialogue" when innocent and peaceful protesters are being killed, but will rush to facilitate dialogue when oil output are been cut. To them Nigeria's crude oil is more precious than an African blood. A Black man's blood can be wasted as much as they care provided it doesn't affect the general output of oil.

Chike Nnamani, a public affairs analyst, writes for the destruction of the British edifice called Nigeria.