Niger Delta crisis continues: Can hope be restored?
cc. In the wake of the death of alleged militant Tubotamuno ‘Boy Chiki’ Angolia at the hands of Nigeria’s Joint Task Force (JTF), Chioma Oruh considers the consequences of the Nigerian state’s crackdown on the militant efforts of organisations such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). While much of the mainstream international press lauds the state for the stability (and enhanced official access to oil resources) achieved under the watch of the JTF, Oruh contemplates the inequity behind a system that will happily find funds to enforce order yet comes up empty in the face of local people’s abject poverty.
In July 2008, President Umaru Yar’Adua set forth Operation Restore Hope in Nigeria and, consequently, unleashed the military might of the Joint Task Force (JTF). Since last summer, the JTF has reportedly shut down over 300 illegal refineries and promises to be yet more effective in 2009. A major focus of the JTF has also been its concentration on nullifying militant efforts, with a particular focus on suspending the activities of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Many MEND leaders and other militant organisations have been under the surveillance of the JTF, and operations have been intercepted and attacked by this collaborative effort of various legs of the Nigerian armed forces. Although Nigeria declared a ceasefire with Niger Delta militants following brokered peace talks last summer, many recent activities of the JTF since December 2008 have created more tension in the region. For example, on 25 December 2008, the JTF was noted for killing three militants and injuring four others at an Agip-operated Tebidaba flow station in Bayelsa State. Shortly after news broke of the Agip attack, Nigerian military spokesperson Lt. Col. Rabe Abubakar issued a statement that accused the MEND of provoking the events in Bayelsa. The MEND denied participation in this attack. Tensions continued to rise in the region and, most recently, the MEND called off the ceasefire due to a JTF report of the capture and provoked killing of alleged militant Tubotamuno ‘Boy Chiki’ Angolia. The JTF pronounced Boy Chiki’s death a consequence of his attempt to escape military custody, but MEND-spokesperson Jomo Gbomo made several public statements accusing the JTF of unlawful murder.
Is this the final straw that will break the back of the oil pipes in Nigeria? Most importantly, what impact will the potential firearm free-for-all have on the indigenous population of the Niger Delta? It is hard to tell at this point, but one thing is for certain that whatever comes out of Nigeria can never be said to be unanticipated.
Without the need to recount the history of Nigeria since the discovery of oil in 1956 at Oloibiri by Shell-BP, it has been obvious that Africa’s top oil-producing nation has been on the verge of warfare for several decades. With blood on all hands, the noted crisis has earned its name with corruption coming from the side of the government, militants and their mutual sponsors in the shape of foreign interests. Many have accused the Nigerian government of failed leadership on the national and local levels due to their inability to regulate oil companies for bad environmental behaviour as well as their refusal to properly address the needs of the masses of disenfranchised citizens.
What continues to go unaccounted, however, is the impact that protecting the interests of transnational corporations has had on the region. For example, even though much of mainstream international press has praised the JTF for its efforts at restoring stability in the Niger Delta, very little has been reported as to how Nigeria (one of the poorest economies in the world) can afford such an elaborate military project while its citizens live in abject poverty. The JTF’s protection of the interests of Shell, BP, Julius Berger and host of other companies from Europe, Asia and North America is a direct mockery of Nigeria’s professed democracy. This failed democracy has its citizens wishing for the ‘good ole days’ of military dictatorship, where marginalisation was a more honest and straightforward affair. Now, Nigeria enjoys elections with questionable results while being seduced by US training and equipping programmes under the new military project of AFRICOM. So while MEND gets a CNN special, the Nigerian leaders visited by a delegation of US congressmen pleading the case for an AFRICOM base conveniently goes under the radar.
It is safe to say that Operation Restore Hope has failed, but all is not lost (hopefully). Perhaps this is the moment for an African internationalist remedy, one that connects the dots of the oppression of the indigenous population of Niger Delta to the 500 hundred-year old story that gave birth to the military might protecting the transnational corporations that did the legwork for the slave trade and that sustained both slavery and colonialism. And as the world waits for the other shoe to drop in Nigeria, perhaps Africans everywhere can seize this moment to finally unify. What more needs to happen to Africa’s children before their fate is changed? The time is ripe for reconsideration and it is Africa’s duty to reconsider everything. And if this be the moment that Africa begins to re-examine its role in history, deconstruct capitalism, pick back up the discourse of unity without borders and finally have its renaissance, let that be the hope restored.
* Chioma Oruh is a graduate student at Howard University in the African Studies Department with a focus on music and liberation movements. She is also a member of the African People’s Socialist Party and is one of many organisers for the upcoming African Socialist International North American Conference.
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