The Niger Delta Crisis

I read with great interest the article ‘Niger Delta: Restoring the rights of citizens’ (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/38222) by Ike Okonta on the Niger Delta crisis. One thing, however, left me with some doubt about the explanation provided by the author for a very complex situation.

The author does not mention that one of the MEND requests is that Nigerian authorities release former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, jailed on corruption charges. His story should be well known in the UK since he managed to escape from house arrest in that country while under guard for money laundering.

It is difficult to believe that such requests can be in line with the principle or idea of "bringing the civic back in".

Probably one of the reasons why Oporoza (or other villages in the Delta) is in the condition described by the author is because the money which was supposed to be used for development was instead used by the Bayelsa (and other state governors) to build mansions in the UK, USA or South Africa, and to build refineries (in the case of Alamieyeseigha) in Latin American countries.

The situation in the Niger Delta is not so clear and the links between so called militant groups and the corrupt government officials is not very well understood. So the claim of MEND militants being political subjects forced to pick up AK47’s to restore their rights as citizens is, in many instances, questionable.