Is Asari's Release Enough? (Sunday Vanguard)
It was wild jubilation in most parts of Rivers State Thursday when news of the conditional release of the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, by an Abuja High Court filtered into the state. Asari, as he is fondly called, had spent exactly one year, eight months and twenty-five days in detention at the federal capital.
He was arrested in Port Harcourt at the headquarters of the Rivers State Police Command on Moscow Road on September 20, 2005. According to his wife, Hajia Mujahid Daaba Asari Dokubo, in an interview with this correspondent some time ago, her husband was taken ‘hostage’ by the police. She may have reached this conclusion because Asari merely responded to a police invitation for a chat that Tuesday when he was detained and later bundled into a waiting plane and flown to Abuja. And since that black day, as many of his followers styled that day, it had been one legal trick or the other by his captors to continue to keep him behind bars until last Thursday when the court granted him conditional release.
Asari, at a time, was vice president Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, under the leadership of Felix Tuodolor. He later rose to become the president after his former boss completed his tenure. Sources in Rivers State said that he was largely instrumental to the emergence of ex-Governor Peter Odili in the 2003 election but fell out of favour with the political leadership when he reportedly maintained that the state and the region did not vote for the out gone President Olusegun Obasanjo in that year’s election. This position, many said, was later largely responsible for his troubles.
He found himself after sometime fighting what many called the greatest battle of his life on a structure he created called the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force. This battle, some called a clash of cult groups, claimed several lives. It generated so much tension in the oil rich state to the extent that Obasanjo had to meet with the warring parties to seek out a common ground for peace. Asari later redirected his energy towards the crusade for resource control by his region. He joined forces with other similar organizations in this new agitation until he was arrested and tried for alleged treasonable felony.
Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the conditional release. President Ijaw National Congress, Professor Kimse Okoko, said the release would calm frayed nerves among the youths and also open windows for serious dialogue with the region on how to resolve the sad crisis in the area. But he explained that the release was not enough to ease tension occasioned by hostage takings in the region. His words: “It is a welcome development. It will help to cool frayed nerves as well as calm restive youths. The window has been opened for us to go into serious dialogue. We have put together what we consider absolutely necessary to move the nation forward.
“The struggle has been on before Asari went to prison, there were people who were there before he came in. Unfortunately, most of you do not know that there are various camps in this struggle aside Asari Dokubo. Asari Dokubo is not the main camp in the struggle, Asari appears to be the only visible known group of all the groups to majority of you.
The struggle continues because Asari is not the issue. There were and are still fundamental problems affecting the Niger Delta which we have been raising with successive governments. Asari is not the problem, he was unjustly incarcerated and we sought his release but it has nothing to do with the fundamental problems affecting the Niger Delta. What we are just saying is that his release is a good gesture on the part of the Federal Government, we can now, at least,sit down with them, talk and address those fundamental problems. Certainly, his release will not ease any tension, it will only give a kind of window to start the process of dialoguing with the Federal Government.”
Tuodolor said the release was not a development worth celebrating, as it was long overdue. Nevertheless, he hailed the step by the Federal Government but added that all charges against him should be dropped. “The development is welcomed but also long over due. We call on government to drop the charges against him. The release will contribute to the peace in the region. Criminals into hostage taking in his name will have no place to hide henceforth.
They will not have any reason to indulge in it again. Let it be on record that we are not thanking government for the release because in the first place there was no cause for the arrest. It was just an attempt to supress the struggle of the region. Again we want to use this opportunity to call on government to demilitarize the Niger Delta region. Just Friday some of our youths were killed by soldiers,” the founding IYC president stated.
Scribe of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Front (the political arm of Asari-led Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force), Odums Onisanya James, also hailed the release. He said it would help fish out criminal elements in the struggle and as well eliminate them from it. “So there will be peace.
Now we are going to refocus and redefine the struggle. Whatever condition he was given for the release is not our headache. The issue is that he has been released. The so-called conditions will not soften him. The development has shown the sincerity of the government not like the insincerity of Obasanjo. Now we can talk about the issues of peace in the region”.
The head of Supreme Egbesu, Sergeant Werinipre Noel Digifa, had this to say: “We welcome the release but we call on the Federal Government to release all Ijaw in detention in the country on account of the struggle. We have one hundred and fifty Ijaws in different locations in the country. We are appealing that Chief D.S.P Alamiesiegha should also be released. Asari is just a step. We raised a Kaiama Declaration on the way forward, we want it discussed.
The Ogoni Bill of Rights is there; government should discuss with all ethnic nationalities in the region: Urhobo, Itsekiri, etc. Again let me add here that President Yar'Adua would have started on a wrong note if he had continued with the summit on the region. The government quickly corrected itself.”
Prince Jumbo Jasper, a youth leader from Bonny, who also spoke on Asari’s release, said: “We are very happy with the release. It shows that the new government appreciates the suffering of the people and is ready to work towards the development of the region. But it will not end the crisis in the region. It will go a long way in assuaging the bitterness. Peace is not just absence of violence but also the presence of justice. Until fairness, equity and justice prevail, the struggle will continue. We want resource control and true federalism. The struggle is going to be refocused with the release.”
On his part, Siloko Siasia, chairman of South South Youth Leaders Forum, described the release as the beginning of good things to come in the Niger-Delta. His words: “It is a right step in the right direction. Government has shown a high level of commitment towards resolving the Niger Delta problem. The release has shown that President Yar'Adua will be committed to resolving the Niger Delta question. The release gives us a lot of hope. We are all happy, I am personally happy. With this, we are ready to work with the present government to actualize her goals in the region. This will also stop hostage taking in the region. We are going to try as much as possible to network to see that all criminal elements in the struggle are fished out. It is a good beginning for our people.”
Unconditional release
For Patrick Nagbaaton, coordinator, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, Asari’s release should have been unconditional. Said he: “The Asari Dokubo phenomenon is one we got to contend with in the Niger Delta. The government should have given him unconditional release because the arrest had further deteriorated the situation in the Delta.
The situation we find ourselves now is such that Asari can’t cause an end to the security problem in the region. Peter Odili and Olusegun Obasanjo created the problem. Our organization called for sincerity on their part then but they gambled with the idea.
This led to the problem in the region. And those behind the security problem many don’t have any link with Asari in any way. We are calling for unconditional release for him. It must be noted that Asari is all the same fundamental to resolving some of the conflicts in the Niger Delta and his release is a welcome development”.
But for the militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, the release is a welcome development. Jomo Gbomo, spokesman of the group, said thus in an online statement to Sunday Vanguard: “We consider the release of Asari as justice served, albeit late.
This gesture by the new government is an indication of its preparedness to dialogue and has effectively bought time for the oil industry while the more serious issue of resource control for the Niger Delta is considered.”
Fresh Tenions Brewing in Delta - An Analysis (Sunday Vanguard)
FRESH tension is now brewing in the creeks of Bayelsa State when normalcy appears to be returning to the troubled Niger Delta where armed groups have in the last two years sustained daring attacks on the nation's oil industry thus reducing its output by about 25 per cent.
The rising tension is coming on the heels of the Tuesday killing of nine suspected militants by men of the Joint Task Force, code-named “Operation Restore Hope,” fuelling fear that it could trigger fresh outbreak of hostilities in the creeks.
Militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, it would be recalled, had, in an online statement, announced suspension of hostilities. “We will suspend attacks on oil installations for one month. A period which we hope the government will take advantage of to ruminate on positive and realistic measures towards a just peace in the delta.
Following this period, we will resume attacks on installations and oil workers in the delta with greater purpose,” the group had said about two weeks ago.
Though it was learnt that the deceased militants were not members of the dreaded MEND, the latter called for caution on the part of the armed groups in the region so as to give the Nigerian government the opportunity to deliver justice to the families of the dead. It, however, warned that it might be forced to avenge the deaths if government failed to act decisively on the matter.
“Those were unarmed civilians murdered by the military. These deaths will not go unpunished. We will however give the Nigerian government the opportunity to deliver justice to the families of the dead. If that does not come quickly, we will surely act to avenge the deaths of our murdered brothers.”
These were the exact words of the MEND spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, in reply to Sunday Vanguard enquiry on the killings in the creek which is now causing fresh tension in the waterways. The tough stance of the MEND spokesman notwithstanding, Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva-Sam, had, penultimate Saturday, allayed the fears of investors in the state when he told newsmen of a new rapprochement in the region which he noted would eventually curb youth militancy. His words, “We believe that this wind (peace deal) will begin a process of dialogue and I promise that we are going to start the process of engagement, empowerment and enforcement in the region.”
The governor who preferred not to call the armed youths in the creek ‘militants’ had said there were fundamental issues raised by them that needed to be addressed urgently to restore the confidence of the people in the rural enclave. Giving an insight into what transpired during his meeting with them at their den in the course of securing the release of the last batch of hostages held in the state, Sylva-Sam said, “The militants made some demands just as the government also made demands…we are also hoping to show good on our part because their demands are quite genuine. There is real neglect in the area.”
It is still unclear what sparked off the bloody shootout in the waterways Tuesday leaving nine suspected militants dead with two managing to escape with injuries. Many feared that the militants who had earlier promised to cease hostilities for one month to afford the new administration of the 56-year-old President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua the opportunity to demonstrate that he would accord the development of the region a different treatment from what his predecessor in office did had reneged on their pledge and taken up arms again.
But others said the attack was done in bad faith by the soldiers in the creek who are also in constant fear of being ambushed by militants whose vast knowledge of the maze of creeks has made it difficult for security forces to put a stop to their activities. However, what is certain is that it was the worst aggression seen in the state waterways since the recently brokered peace between the militants and Sylva-Sam, who personally visited the militants’ camp in the dense jungle of the mangrove swamp and succeeded in extracting a promise from their leaders to cease hostilities leading to the release of the last batch of hostages in Bayelsa which many saw as a vista of hope for the young state, in dire need of massive direct foreign investment if it must come out of the woods.
The tragic incident of Tuesday stands as grim reminders of the nearly two years of the near state of anarchy and insecurity in the waterways where many innocent Bayelsans and non Bayelsans have lost their lives.
Once again, the relative peace of the waterways was shattered and turned into crimson of blood as nine suspected militants fell to the superior firepower of men of “Operation Restore Hope” in a bloody gunfight. Two Nigerian soldiers were also reported to have lost their lives in the encounter, although this was denied by military authorities as the spokesman of the JTF, Major Omale Oshaguba, confirmed that nine militants were killed in shootout while no casualty was recorded on the part of the military.
It was learnt that for nearly two hours the battle lasted in the creek, commercial boat operators plying the route were forced to make a detour for fear of being caught in the cross fire having lost their colleagues in similar circumstances in the past. However, the identity of the slain youths has been a subject of controversy with some groups especially from the militants’ camp claiming they were victims of undue military aggression, a claim dismissed by security sources as cheap ‘blackmail’ insisting the deceased were militants armed to the teeth and killed in gunfight with soldiers.
A military source who spoke anonymously told Sunday Vanguard that the occupants of the boat were militants as “they were not only armed but also tying fetish objects on their bodies believed to be their source of invincibility.” “The situation in the creek is now different as the soldiers now have the right to defend themselves when attacked by militants,” the source said, adding that the military was not only on red alert to safeguard the nation oil installations but also make the creeks a safe passage for all users.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that trouble started when some soldiers at a military checkpoint attempted to stop a boat along the Ogboinbiri waterways some distance away from an oil facility belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), which refused to stop.
The occupants of the boat who were said to have tied white native cloth on their heads and arms were returning from an initiation ceremony at Ogbotobo in Delta State thereby raising the suspicion of the soldiers that they were militants in ‘Egbesu’ regalia and opened fire on them which they replied. They were, however, said to have succumbed to the superior firepower of the soldiers. Two managed to escape by jumping into the river.
A security source told Sunday Vanguard that four of the corpses were airlifted Wednesday to the Airforce base in Port Harcourt where they were later conveyed to the JTF base in Warri in a Toyota Hilux jeep with the inscription “Operation Restore Hope.”
As at the time of filing this report, it could not be ascertained if the bodies of the remaining militants had been evacuated as Sunday Vanguard source informed that NAOC refused to release its chopper to the military for further use when it was discovered that its initial offer was for the evacuation of the corpses of those killed in the violent skirmish between the soldiers and suspected militants.
Informed sources in the area said that security has been reinforced around the NAOC facility with commercial boat operators avoiding the Ogboinbiri waterways for fear of harassment by the soldiers as well as being caught in any cross fire between the military and militants.
Many of the natives along the Ogboinbiri, it was further learnt, are relocating from the area following speculation that the colleagues of the deceased militants might embark on revenge mission. “What we have in the creek presently is peace of the graveyard as there is apprehension among the natives. We have been living in perpetual fear since the tragic incident of Tuesday as nobody can predict the next line of action of the youths whose colleagues were killed by soldiers,” a local from the hinterland said.
Twelve Taken Hostage Update #3 (Media Reports)Suspected militants on Sunday attacked the Nigeria Agip Oil Company flow station in Ogboinbiri, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, in what was described as reprisal attacks.
They also held 12 workers of the company hostage. The attacks came barely four days after the killing of nine militants by the men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in the same area soldiers were said to have exchanged fire with the militants.
The militants were said to have mobilised themselves to avenge the death of their colleagues who were said to have been killed by the soldiers. The youth arrived on the platform early in the morning and allegedly forced the soldiers to beat retreat.
The militants succeeded in blowing up the flow station and taking over the entire platform.
The soldiers, according to a security source, seemed to have asked for reinforcements to curtail the activities of the rampaging youth as a gunboat was said to have been moved towards the area from Yenagoa.
Also, some of the vehicles of the JTF were seen moving towards the Yenagoa waterside.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for JTF, Major Omale Ochagwuba, said, “yes they attacked. Details are still sketchy.”
In his own comment, the coordinator of the state security outfit, Bayelsa Volunteers, Joshua Benamaisia, said, “The boys have taken over the flow station this morning, but no casualty has been recorded.”
The attacks came barely 48 hours after the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujadid Dokubo-Asari, who was recently released on bail by the Abuja high court, promised to find a lasting solution to militant activities in the region.
The state police command could not confirm the shootout, as its Public Relations Officer, DSP Iniobong Ibokette, said he was yet to receive information from the area with regard to the attacks.
Reacting, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) denied involvement in the shootout.
Task Force Trails Hostage Takers (Nigerian Tribune)
Crack detectives from the police and intelligence unit of the Joint Task Force (JTF) code-named “Operation Restore Hope” are closing in on the armed gang that abducted four workers - three Indians and a Pole - in Sapele, Delta State, on Friday.
Security sources told the Nigerian Tribune yesterday that one of those arrested shortly after the incident had provided the security outfit with information which were being acted upon.
“The information has been very useful and our men are working on it.
“Infact, before the week runs out, we will fish out those hoodlums.
We are up to the task. We will no longer give these boys the breathing space again because they have no reason to engage in that act again with the release of Asari-Dokubo,” he said.
The four foreign workers, who were abducted while on their way to work at a rubber firm at about 9.00 a.m., were said to have been monitored over time by the kidnappers until they executed their plan.
The source said the driver of the speed boat scheduled for the evacuation of the hostages spoilt business for his colleagues because he did not keep to time.
“The driver of the boat came to the jetty shortly after his colleagues had hijacked another boat with its driver and escaped with their captives.
So, immediately the security agents discovered that he came for the kidnappers, they swooped on him and interrogated him to see if it was possible to immediately resue those foreigner”, he added.
The identities of two of the Indians kidnapped were given as Murughan Gopal and Anthony Marian, while those of the other two were yet to be known as at the time of filing this report.
Unions Meet Today to Confirm Strike Date (Media Reports)
The National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the leadership of the Trade Union Congress will meet on Monday (today) to decide whether or not to commence a nationwide strike on Wednesday.
The President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, M. Peter Akpatason, made this known during a telephone interview on Sunday.
The NLC and the TUC had on June 5, 2007 given the government a two-week ultimatum to reverse the new prices of petroleum products and the Value Added Tax.
They also want the government to cancel the sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries.
Three trade groups – the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria; the National Association of Road Transport Owners; and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers – are currently on strike over the sale of the refineries.
Our correspondents learnt on Sunday that the meeting would hold at the Labour House in Abuja.
Akpatason, who also disclosed that the government had sought for an extension of the 14 days ultimatum by one week, said that Monday’s meeting was to work out the modalities to ensure the success of the strike.
He added that Tuesday had been scheduled for the final round of mobilisation for the strike by the State Executive Councils of the NLC.
He said that letters would be dispatched directing workers to proceed on strike by Wednesday morning.
The NUPENG President said, “It is going to be total, every strike has to be total at this point in time.
“You know this is a new government and we must convince the government and Nigerians that we are serious and credible. Possible failure will determine how the government is going to perceive us.”
Akpatason, however, said the NLC and the TUC had rejected the request for an extension of the deadline by government.
He said the government had two days to respond to the demands of the labour unions to halt the national strike.
He said, “Further extension of the ultimatum is not possible at this time because the government was given a whole 14 days to respond to the demands of the labour unions.”
The Zonal Secretary, Western Zone of NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, also confirmed that the strike might begin on Wednesday.
Korodo said, “By virtue of the circular sent out, there will be no strike between Monday and Tuesday until the outcome of the SEC meetings.
“The NLC will meet tomorrow (today) between 10am and 2pm to finalise actions,” he said.
The SEC is expected to meet by 1pm on Tuesday to brief all the unions under it of the outcome of the Monday meeting.
NARTO leaders will also meet on Monday with the government to decide whether to direct their members to continue with their strike or not.
The Executive Secretary of NARTO, Mr. Enoch Kanawa, said the group would conclude discussions with government on Monday.
Kanawa noted that because of the nature of the operations of NARTO and tanker drivers, products scarcity might remain if the meeting with government or that of the NLC with government ended in a deadlock.
He said, “We are the owners of the trucks, and if we did not reach an agreement with government, the tanker drivers would remain on strike.
“Also, the PTD is a member of NUPENG, a branch of the NLC; and if NARTO suspends its strike and the NLC continues with its own, the tanker drivers will still be on strike. So, it is a dicey situation.”
A meeting between the government and those of the Congress on Friday night ended in a deadlock.
Representatives of the government and the NLC are expected to meet again on Thursday.
“The NLC will meet tomorrow (today) between 10am and 2pm to finalise actions.”
Also on Sunday, the National Association of Nigerian Students said it was in full support of the strike.
The NANS President, Mr. Olalekan Soyombo, told our correspondent in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, that the strike by the NLC would have far-reaching consequences on the ecomomy.
Soyombo, therefore, appealed to President Umaru Yar’Adua to do what was right by heeding the call by the NLC and the TUC.
He said, “The average Nigerian lives under abject poverty; a majority of Nigerian workers are pauperised while our leaders are basking in opulence.
“The President should prove to all Nigerians that he is truly a product of the university. He should see his current situation as an opportunity to instill sanity into the polity.”
India Again Advises Its Nationals to Leave Nigeria
India's government Sunday issued a second security advisory asking Indians to leave the oil-rich Southern Niger Delta in Nigeria after a fresh kidnapping incident was reported, news reports said Sunday. The latest Ministry of External Affairs advisory was released after the Indian High Commission in Nigeria learned that two Indians were kidnapped Saturday in separate incidents, even as 10 other Indians who were kidnapped on June 1 were released late Friday, reported The Times of India.
The released victims, who were kidnapped at the compound of Eleme Petrochemicals, a franchise of the Indonesia-based Indian Indorama group, were kidnapped from the company's compound, have since been evacuated to India. The kidnapped included Indorama's managing director Arun Taneja.
The kidnappings has forced Eleme to partially shut down production after some 120 members of its expatriate staff - mostly engineers and technicians - left the country.
In the first incident, two Indians were kidnapped on May 19 and held hostage by armed groups and later released on Jun 11.
The Indian High Commission in Nigeria is facing problems in evacuating the workers as many Indian workers in Nigeria are not registered. Only four of the 10 Indians who were released Saturday evening had been registered with the high commission.
There has been a recent upsurge in kidnappings of oil workers in the Niger delta. According to reports, over 190 foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria within the last 12 months.
Criminal gangs and rebels are behind the kidnappings for ransom, reported The Times of India, and are demanding that the oil money that accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports should be spent in the impoverished delta area.
Indian media reported that militants in southern Nigeria freed the 10 Indian hostages after a court ordered the release of a separatist leader Mujahid Asari Dokubo, head of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, who had been held since 2005 on treason charges, and whose detention sparked a wave of kidnappings in the oil-rich region.
Recently, ambassadors of 10 countries including India met with Nigeria's national security advisor to press for government efforts to free the foreign hostages.
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