Nigeria Security Update #1 180707

Shell Pipelines on Fire

An oil pipeline feeding Shell's Bonny export terminal in southern Nigeria is burning in six separate places but there is no impact on production, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

Precious Okolobo said Shell became aware of the fires on the Trans-Niger pipeline in early June and had been negotiating with local communities in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta to try and gain access to the sites.

"We have been denied access. We are deeply concerned about this situation and we are asking for access so that we can go in and fight these fires," Okolobo said.

"Production has been continuing but a little bit of oil has been pouring out from the six holes that have been drilled in the pipeline and burning off," he said.

Local rights group the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) called for the closure of the pipeline, which had been attacked twice in May by protesters in the same area, forcing Shell to halt up to 170,000 barrels per day.

MOSOP said the pipeline fires were started by local youths angry with the company over what they said were unfulfilled promises of jobs and benefits. Such disputes between communities and oil companies are common in the impoverished Niger Delta.

Oil production from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, has been reduced since February 2006 because of militant attacks on the industry in the lawless delta. The shortfall now stands at 547,000 barrels per day or 18 percent of Nigerian output capacity.

Attacks on oil facilities are just one facet of violence in the delta, where a dearth of jobs and basic public services fuel crime and militancy. At least 11 foreign workers are being held hostage by various delta armed groups.

HISTORY OF PROTESTS

Shell suspended production in Ogoni 14 years ago because of popular protests over pollution and lack of development, but the area is still criss-crossed by pipelines and many residents are still aggrieved about oil spills and what they see as neglect.

Okolobo said the government of Rivers state had asked local authorities in the affected area to allow Shell access and negotiations had taken place as recently as Tuesday afternoon in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.

MOSOP gave a different account of the situation, accusing Shell of failing to recognise legitimate community leaders. It blamed the company for severe environmental damage.

"Farmland beside the fires has been polluted while nearby villages have been constantly living under a cloud of smoke and pollution," it said in a statement.

MOSOP was Shell's main critic in Ogoni in the early 1990s when the protests were at their peak. The organisation's then leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, was hanged by the military government in 1995 after being convicted of murder on what were widely seen as trumped-up charges.

Ever since Saro-Wiwa's execution, which reflected badly on Shell in the eyes of many environmental and human rights activists around the world, the company has been trying to mend ties with MOSOP and with the broader Ogoni community.

But a government-sponsored peace process has failed to quell protests and discontent in the area.


Shell Gas Plant Shut Down

Angry youths of Oben community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State on Tuesday shut down Oben Gas Plant belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited.

The youths, led by one Prince West Ogienwonyi Uyigue, told our correspondent that they were protesting the failure of the Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, to appoint the Chairman of the Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Communities Development Commission from Oben, said to be the highest oil and gas producing community.

They sang protest songs and vowed that they would not leave the plant unless the state government gave in to their demand. They said they embarked on the closure of the plant as a last resort after their consultations with the government in Benin failed.

But several detachments of mobile policemen from Edo and Delta states moved in a few hours later and displaced the youths from the plant.

The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Peter Ogboi, said the action was a ”minor protest”, which had been put under control. He told our correspondent that the police moved in as soon as they got signal of the development and restored order.

The protest came just as the governor submitted the names of the members of the commission to the House of Assembly for approval.

The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Isaiah Osifo, who had been handling matters relating to the oil and gas producing communities, told our correspondent that the youths from Oben did not have to take their protest too far.

He said before the governor appointed members of the commission, he consulted widely among the oil producing communities, and that the traditional rulers and people of Oben even nominated their own representative of the commission.

He said the law setting up the commission gave the governor the prerogative to appoint the chairman from any of the three recognized oil and gas producing local governments of Orhionmwon, Ikpoba/Okha and Ovia North East.

He said having appointed the chairman from Orhionmwon Local Government Area, the governor appointed a full-time member of the commission from Oben community, which had been adjudged the highest oil and gas producing community in the state.

Freedom Fighters Demand Kingdom

NIGER-DELTA Freedom Fighters (NDFF), the militant group in Egbema kingdom of Delta State, which kidnapped four American workers of the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), May 8, and released them after 22 days in captivity, yesterday, called on the Federal Government, Delta State Government and the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to urgently begin the provision of development infrastructures and employment for the youths in the Ijaw province.

NDFF leader, Egbema One, told Vanguard that before the four Americans who were taken hostage by the group to draw government’s attention to the underdevelopment in the area were released May 30, “Negotiations were made, committee set up and promises were made, but these promises have not been fulfilled and no effort or positive steps taken to concretise these promises.”

According to him the demands of the people were made known to the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) during his recent visit to Okerenkoko in Warri South-West local government area but the NDFF was yet to see any serious effort to address the issues.

Egbema One said it was because of the discussions during the recent visit of the Vice President to the state that the group has restrained its fighters from launching further attacks, saying,“Enough is enough, we want an urgent solution to these issues or else, we will take the other option, which will render Niger-Delta ungovernable.”

In a letter to the chairman of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), dated 14 July, made available to Vanguard in Warri, yesterday, the NDFF leader said the government could put a final stop to hostage taking and other related crisis in Egbema kingdom and the Niger-Delta if qualified Niger-Delta graduates and school leavers were engaged to earn a living.


Cultist Warfare Plagues River State

Rivers State on Tuesday again witnessed an outbreak of violence when suspected cultists killed three persons in Umumei and Umuolu communities of Igwuruta in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

The cultists, said to be fighting for the control of communities in the local government area, also blew up the home of the Paramount Ruler, Chief Ugudu Nyeche.

Our correspondent learnt that the two cult groups started fighting around midnight and continued till 5am, wounding several persons and destroying properties worth millions of naira.

A source in the community confirmed that the paramount ruler had fled from his house before it was bombed.

The source said that cultists also blew up the homes of Mr. Sam Nwulu and Mr. Chibuike Ozu, all indigenes of the community before they disappeared into the bush.

The source however gave the names of those shot dead as Aham Wogu, Ogechi Ndawe and Akawu Olajide.

While the fighting was spreading to all parts of the affected communities, a report was made to the headquarters of the State Police Command said, the source said.

The police, it was learnt, immediately deployed troopers to the area in the early hours of the day to engage the cultists.

When the assailants could not match the fire power of the police troopers, they retreated into the bush.

Riot policemen were patrolling the communities when our correspondent visited the area in the evening while some resident who had fled in the wake of the fighting were seen coming back to their homes.

The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, who confirmed the attacks, noted that his men had brought the situation under control.

Kidnapping as Business (Vanguard)

THE reaction to the kidnapping of three-year-old Briton, Margaret Hills, was typical – so much noise that police failed to arrest the kidnappers, and the terms that returned the child to the parents remain unknown.

Kidnapping of children in Port Harcourt is not new. The poor security situation in Port Harcourt, where criminals can take over the city without an appropriate response from the security agencies makes the city a fertile ground for criminals. When criminal groups can invade the police headquarters, burn it, free suspects, and get away with it, what security will residents of the city have?

Hills got much attention, perhaps, because the father is British. Children are kidnapped on regular bases. It is doubtful if all the cases get to the police. The affected parents often resolve the matter quickly in favour of the kidnappers to save their children from coming to harm.

In the last two months, the kidnapping of two-year-old Sam Amadi is the fourth reported case of child kidnapping in Port Harcourt. The child of a Rivers State legislator, and another belonging to a businessman were also taken. In all the cases, the children were on their way to school. Armed men took the children, and in each case, demanded ransom from the parents.

The kidnaps absolutely reflect the collapse of security in Port Harcourt. They need to be checked before they spawn similar criminality in other places. It would be too bare to see security just in terms of some armed people moving around, thinking their presence would scare criminals away.

What is the profile of those carrying out these acts? Are they unemployed? Would they abandon crime if they had jobs? How are they able to evade our security system? Is the ransom the motivation for the crime or is it used to cover activities that are more criminal? Is anyone protecting them from the law? Kidnapping is organised crime, there is no acceptable reason for condoning it.

No society that wants to make progress would accept this situation. The solution, however, does not lie in the limpid threats of military action in the region. Already there is too much militarisation of the zone, a ready admission of the police’s failure, and a confession of government’s unwillingness to make the police the premier security agency in the country. Unfortunately, for the populace, there is still no substitute for the emasculated police.

The inherent danger in consistently ignoring the problems in the Niger Delta, or addressing them with speeches, is that new levels of lawlessness develop. Government’s inability to tackle new crimes, embolden new converts to try something new, and of a more dangerous dimension.
Parents everywhere in Nigeria should be scared of this new business.

As we grapple with this new reality we wonder when Section 14 (2) b of the 1999 Constitution which states, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” will be effected.

New Hopes for Peace in Niger Delta (ISN)

With a new president taking office, Nigerians hope for a fresh start in the talks to quell the restive Niger Delta region.

By Dulue Mbachu in Lagos for ISN Security Watch (19/07/07)

When Umaru Yar'Adua assumed office as Nigeria's new president at the end of May, he pledged that his top priorities would include bringing peace to the country's troubled Niger Delta oil region, where violence has recently escalated as armed militants and criminals target the oil industry, deeply cutting into Nigeria's lifeblood crude oil exports and causing jitters in the world oil markets.

At least a quarter of Nigeria's oil exports of three million barrels per day have ceased in the past 18 months - a period that has also seen the kidnapping of more than 200 foreign oil workers. Most of the hostages have been freed unharmed after ransom payment. Militants fighting for greater local control of the oil wealth produced in the region say they will shut down the entire industry if their demands are not met.

Within two weeks of taking office, Yar'Adua freed Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the top militia leader in the region who had been jailed by his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo on charges of treason. Dokubo-Asari's release was a key demand of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militia group spearheading attacks on the oil industry for the past two years.

Working in Yar'Adua's favor is his choice of vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, a former state governor in the Delta and an ethnic Ijaw, the dominant ethnic group in the oil region from which the militias draw most of their fighters. Jonathan has ventured into the winding creeks of the Delta without his security escorts to meet with Dokubo-Asari to persuade the militia leader and his followers to give the government a chance to deal with the impoverished region's grievances.

"The emergence of Jonathan has put our struggle in a dilemma," Dokubo-Asari told ISN Security Watch in Lagos during an interview. "The majority of the Ijaw people support Jonathan and want us to give him a chance. And we're going to give him a chance."

All-out war

Dokubo-Asari, who led the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), declared an "all out war" in September 2004 against oil multinationals operating in the region - which produces more than 95 percent of Nigerian oil - including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ENI subsidiary Agip. The threat helped lift world oil prices to over US$50 for the first time.

A worried then-president Obasanjo invited Dokubo-Asari for talks, pledging to address the Delta region's demands for more local control of the oil wealth, which is mostly in the hands of the central government dominated by the bigger ethnic groups. Obasanjo granted the militia leader amnesty, but this truce unraveled when the government appeared slow in addressing the militants' demands. When he announced that he would fight for the break up of Nigeria, Dokubo-Asari was arrested in September 2005.

However, his arrest and trial triggered a dramatic escalation of violence against the oil industry. With their commander in jail, many militia fighters took to banditry or joined MEND, which emerged as the vanguard of the Delta's militia groups in place of the NDPVF. Militias and bandits alike attacked oil installations largely unimpeded due to the military being unfamiliar with the terrain.

"It was a serious error of judgment on the part of Obasanjo to have incarcerated Dokubo-Asari," Johnson Ekong, a Nigerian oil industry security expert, told ISN Security Watch. "The consequence was that there was no known leader of the fighters to talk to and at the same time the military had no solution to the violent activities going on in the creeks."

MEND, which claimed most of the attacks on oil installations, has no known leader. The group only communicates with the outside world through e-mails sent from a Yahoo account by a "Jomo Gbomo," which is most likely a pseudonym. The group's kidnappings have spawned copycat attacks by regional criminal gangs who seize hostages - recently including children- and release them in return for ransom, making the Niger Delta by number of incidents the most dangerous oil region in the world after Iraq.

With the release of Dokubo-Asari, who has pledged not to renew attacks on the oil industry, the government hopes he will help rein in the violence that currently rules in the region. Yar'Adua has also met with political and community leaders representing various aggrieved ethnic minorities in the area to discuss ways to accelerate the long-neglected region's development.

"If the people can see that their leaders are honest, they will understand, but once they see that their leaders are in power to make money there will be a problem," Yar'Adua told ISN Security Watch.

According to Dokubo-Asari, since his release from prison early in June, he has been in contact with key militia commanders active in the Delta in an attempt to convene "a central command meeting" to seek ways of ending the current banditry sweeping the region. Yet, he is quick to warn it will not be an easy task.

"We can't stop this kidnapping immediately because those involved have enjoyed the money and will find it hard to give up," he said. "It may take six months to another one year before it will begin to die down."

Inalienable rights

In the meantime, the militants are holding on to their demands that the federal government cede more control over the oil wealth produced in the Delta to the region's inhabitants and expect Yar'Adua's government to propose concrete options about how to achieve this.

Outlining the militants' position, Dokubo-Asari said the treaties signed between the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta and the former British colonial power never included forcing them into a country called Nigeria. According to the Ijaws, if they must belong to Nigeria, the terms of membership will have to be negotiated.

"The issues at stake are fundamental," Dokubo-Asari told ISN Security Watch. "We have inalienable rights and it is our fundamental right to own our land and its oil."

People close to Yar'Adua expect some form of compromise will be agreed upon. One such person, former president Shehu Shagari,says the crisis in the Delta is the biggest problem facing Nigeria. As he sees it, dialogue is the only solution.

"They [people in the delta] have been placed in a difficult terrain and they deserve the sympathy and support of their brothers and sisters in the hinterland," Shagari told reporters recently.

"They should always bear in mind that it could be the other way round. All we need to do as Nigerians is to try and understand each other's problems and join hands to tackle them sensibly as a team," he added.

Nigeria Security Update #1 170707

Two American Carriers Add Nigeria Routes

TWO American airlines are set to commence operations on lucrative Nigeria - United States routes.

The visiting four-member team from the United States Federal Aviation Administration that arrived on Sunday for the initial technical assessment of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and three Nigerian carriers, said this in Lagos on Monday.

The leader of the team, Greg Michael, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday in Lagos, said that Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines would begin services into the country, after meeting all the requirements of the Nigerian aviation regulatory bodies.

Michael said that the team was pleased that the NCAA had worked very hard to make the airspace safe.

The commencement of flight operations by the two carriers will bring to three, the number of American airlines operating into Nigeria.

North American Airlines started operations into Nigeria, July last year under the ‘Open Skies’ Agreement between Nigeria and the US Airlines, with Nigeria designating three carriers, Bellview, Arik and Virgin Nigeria to fly to America.

Delta Airlines is a US-based airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates a large domestic and international network that spans North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Delta Airlines currently flies to 463 destinations in 95 countries.

The Director-General, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren was confident that after the successful passing of the International Air Safety Assessment for the category one audit, Nigerian carriers would fly seamlessly to the US, from Lagos.

Demuren said, “This is the initial assessment of that, initial review if you like. We are happy that they are here. They will still come back to do the theory aspect, so that Nigeria can pass and be certified.



Asari Calls for Trial of Obasanjo

HEAD of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, has said that the Niger Delta will not witness peace until former President Olusegun Obasanjo is tried in the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity.

He maintained that a sovereign national conference was also needed to be convened by President Umaru Yar’Adua to discuss how justice would be done to the people of the area by the Federal Government.

Dokubo-Asari, while speaking with journalists in Ibadan on Monday at the burial of one of his guardians, said the former president’s eight-year tenure was characterised by injustice which he said demanded prosecution.

He disclosed that he had instituted a legal action against the former president for the alleged injustice meted out to him and for depriving him of his fundamental human rights.

He claimed that Chief Obasanjo did not have respect for the rule of law and humanity, this he said made him to deprive people of their fundamental human rights.

According to him, “a lot of people were murdered. He destroyed Odi and other communities, where he killed many people. There was no security of lives and property in all parts of the country, even in Ibadan here, nobody can move out freely.

“He facilitated crisis in the town. He took power from a democratically elected president and installed a stooge. He is a devil, he must be tried at the International Court of Justice and I can assure you that he will surely face the trial.”

The NDVF chieftain said, “I will not rest the struggle until Obasanjo is brought to book. He has committed crimes against humanity. A lot of people were killed during his tenure, but we shall let him know that he is not above God.”

Speaking on his detention which he said was just a mere threat to stop his fight against injustice, Dokubo-Asari said that though “it was a bad one, experienced in a positive way.”

According to him, “it was just a threat. That will not stop me from the struggle. The struggle has just begun. We shall not stop it until our prayers are answered in Ijaw land.

“Our land has been taken over. We are deprived of our rights in Ijaw land and in the entire Niger Delta. We must be liberated from the economic shambles, oppression and poverty,” he said.

Asked if the people had any hope in the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as a saviour to fight for the cause of the land, Dokubo-Asari said: “He may try, but a tree does not make a forest. I don’t think that he can solve the problem alone,” he said.

A sovereign national government, he suggested, would provide a lasting solution to the crisis.

He maintained that such a conference should not be politically motivated, but should comprise various groups from all the Nigerian nations to discuss the sources of problems ravaging the country.

Speaking on kidnappings, especially of toddlers, in the area, he described them as “heinous acts that are evil and criminal in nature.”

According to him, “kidnapping is evil and nefarious. It is a sin against humanity which should be condemned by the entire Nigerians.”

He called on President Yar’Adua to ensure that the “sovereign national conference is convened to bring justice, equity, peace and tranquility to the country."

Dreams of Biafra Still Alive

The wife of Nigerian secessionist leader Ralph Uwazuruike says she is still committed to his cause, even though he has spent two years in jail.
"The struggle continues - it is not negotiable," Ngozi Uwazuruike told the BBC about the desire for independence for the south-eastern Igbo people.

Mr Uwazuruike's treason trial is due to resume on Monday in Abuja.

Mrs Uwazuruike, however, said the children had been affected by not seeing their father for two years.

"Our four children are out of school now and they miss their father," she told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Mr Uwazuruike was arrested in October 2005 and has been in detention since then.

"The little one is emotionally sick now," Mrs Uwazuruike said.

"He needs to see his father. But I don't know how I could possibly take that little boy to prison to see his father."

The Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) says 37 years after the Biafran civil war ended, the Igbo people are still "marginalised" in Nigeria.

"We are not wanted," Mrs Uwazuruike said.

Recently, former Biafran leader, Emeka Ojukwu said the Igbo have more reason today to seek independence from Nigeria.

Mr Ojukwu's declaration of independence on 30 May 1967 led to a three-year civil war, in which more than 1m people died, mostly from hunger.

Mr Uwazuruike, a lawyer, abandoned his law practice to take up the Biafran campaign.

New Trend in Nigeria's Most Lucrative Illicit Industry (Daily Champion)

Michael Stewart was the first, Margret Hill, second and now it is Samuel Amadi all minors who have had a taste of the kidnap experience.

Michael Stewart is the son of a female house of assembly lawmaker, Margaret Hill, a daughter of a Briton and Samuel, a prince.

What makes their abduction unique is that the three took place as the children were being taken to school respectively.

Another unifying factor is that their cases have only sharpened a sudden developing trend of child abduction in the volatile Niger Delta Region.

The most recent of them which calls for a lot of concern in the child abduction cases is that of Samuel Ovundah Amadi which happened barely four days after the release of Margaret Hill.

According to the driver of the Chief, identified as Knneth Akobezuko, the event took place at the East-West road at about 7am.

The act, he said was perpetrated by four armed men.

"I was taking the boy to school as I usually do. Then some people used a Volvo car to block me.; four of them carrying guns. All of a sudden, I heard a big sound on the glass door beside me.

I thought it was a gunshot because one of them had entered and pointed a gun at my head.

"After two of them had entered into the vehicle with me, they told me to drive on towards University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). The brown volvo car was following me.

When we got to a bushy place, they took the boy and told me that I should go. They collected my phone so I could not make any call. So I came back here," he said.

Not long, the abductors called the Iriebe community chief, Francis Amadi.

According to him, they demanded N50 million ransom. He was also told to pay the said amount into a First Inland bank account with name, Dyke Otuonye and account number 301450821801.

Later the kidnappers called to say he should not pay the money into any account rather he should stack it in N1000 denominations and wait for further instructions.

According to Amadi, he tried negotiating with them adding saying that he told then he could pay only N5 million. The chief who is from Iriebe community. Obiakpor Local Government Area suspecting foul play in the accused his driven Kenneth of complicity.

Not long after, the abductors called Chief Amadi again saying that his driver was not involved in the abduction, when the local chief wanted to ascertain the driver's innocence in the kidnap. They also added that if Amadi did not heed to their instruction, they would chop off Samuel's hands and send to him in an envelope.

As the conversation was going on, a neighbour and Computer Science student, in Rivers State University (RSUST), Innocent Onokure eavesdropped into the conversation and it seemed to him that he recognized the voice of one of kidnappers speaking.

He alerted the traditional chief and when they called his friends number, he said he was in Lagos. Not satisfied with what was , Chief Amadi stated that he called in men of the police force to arrest the duo. His reason for arresting Onokure is that he had not seen him for over one year now and why must he come back to his village after over a year on a day his child was kidnapped.

Rivers State police spokesperson Ireju Barasu who confirmed the abduction said that the kidnappers have been in contact with the family of the boy.

At the end of the day, boy Samuel was released to his father. Though it is not clear how much was paid as ransome, it is an open secrete that ransom is paid for every kidnap though the family of the person will not disclose it.

The Obiakpor Local Government Area Chief confirmed the release of his son adding that he has since taken him to the hospital for medical examination.

Recall that this was exactly what happened in the case of baby Margaret and had also attracted a lot of attention.

For the mother of three, the experience was simply a nightmare.

Even the governor of the Rivers State, Sir Celestine Omehia did not mince words in condemning the act.

"What has happened is very unfortunate, criminal, inhuman and evil and we shall not tolerate it any more. We are no longer going to tolerate this type of criminal action." he said at the Government House, Port Harcourt when he received, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Oluchi Hill, parents of the three-year-old British girl that was abducted on Thursday, July 5,2007 on her way to school.

Hostage taking, kidnapping or abduction is now a daily occurrence in Rivers State and every other area of the Niger Delta region. Before now, it was limited to Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states but now every part of the region has one tale of kidnapping or the other to tell.

Miss Margaret Hill was being taken to to school in the morning of Thursday, July 5 when some yet to be identified gunmen smashed the passenger's side of the vehicle she was traveling in and snatched her to a yet to be disclosed hideout.

Margaret was released after four days due to an international outcry and pressure particularly put on the Nigerian government to secure her safe release by her home country, the British Government.

A week before Margaret was abducted, Master Micheal Stewart, a son of a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly was abducted by gunmen on Tuesday June 26 within his school premises when her nanny was taking him to his classroom few minutes after he alighted from the vehicle that brought him to school. Stewart is about three and a half years. He was released few days later after the family allegedly paid a ransom of N10 million. A news agency quoted Oluchi Hill as saying that her daughter kidnappers were ready to free the girl but had asked for an undisclosed amount as ransom.

Though security agents and government officials claimed that both Margaret and Stewart were released unconditionally without any payment of ransom. As the saying goes they can tell that to the Marines.

A day before Miss Hill was abducted, five expatriates working for Lone Star Drilling Nigeria, an oil servicing company working for Shell Development Company in the Soku oil field in Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State were taken hostage by some unidentified gunmen who are yet to claim responsibility or state their demands.

Even Omehia has had a taste of the agony of kidnap victims' families. Few days after he was elected governor, his mother was taken hostage.

Alluding to this incident, Omehia empathized with the Hills thus: "I know how you feel since your daughter was taken some days ago and we share your agony. The government and people of Rivers State are with you in these agonizing moments of your life and we pray that it comes to an end soon."

Condemnation for the abduction of baby Hill came from far and wide even the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta [MEND] a militant group was irked by the abduction of Margaret and announced its decision to fish out the culprits and ensure safe release of the child. Nsirimovo lamented that the current trend of kidnapping is nothing short of a disastrous development in the region.

Condemning the kidnapping of children,Nsirimovu called on all those who have profited from kidnapping to recognize that this senseless industry cannot continue. Atake Tom, leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement directed the immediate stoppage of all forms of kidnapping and hostage taking in RIVERS STATE. Ateke appealed to youths and youth groups in the state to sheate their sword.

Inspector general of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro on his part declared that those involved in hostage takings and other anti social activities in the Niger Delta should be regarded as criminals and treated as such. Okiro who disclosed that some of these criminals are non-indigenes of Niger Delta, declared that they are doing it for their selfish interest.

Some years back hostage taking was alien to the Niger Delta Region. It was a taboo among the people and can lead to communal or tribal war. While in some communities' culprits of this act and their families could be banished from their community as a punishment for abduction. Hostage taking was only tolerated during war or during the various boundary clashes among communities in the region. But times have change and things are no longer at ease.

Hostage taking took a center stage in the region when some groups resorted to it as a means of drawing attention to the plight of the robbed, neglected, oppressed and marginalized people of the oil rich Niger Delta who live on the bank of a river but wash their hand with spittle. Hostage taking was seen as a legitimate weapon that could be used in the struggle for the control of its oil and gas resources and emancipation of the region from an oppressive Nigerian Government.

Kidnapping in the region took a new dimension when the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunterer Force, Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo Asari was arrested for alleged acts of treason. Most of the groups involved in hostage taking were claiming that they were doing this to press home their demand for the unconditional released of Asari. But last month Asari was given bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja. Regrettably, kidnapping has not abated. Infact, Asari himself is a victim of the criminal agents who now parade their region as freedom fighters: an SUV van belonging to his was snatched a fortnight ago at gunpoint. Speaking at a stakeholders meting in Port Harcourt, Omehia lamented "The truth is that kidnapping has become business and no more a fight for the emancipation of the NIGER Delta."

Though some schools of thought believe that kidnapping gangs proliferated when Asari was in detention and would reduce when he is free, the reverse has been the case. Even Asari wife, Alhaja Mujuhadeet held the opinion that the release of her husband would reduce hostage taking. Some are of the opinion the rising wave of kidnapping is to show that Asari is not really in charge of the entire so-called militant group in the region. Some of these groups and their various sponsors are angling to get the kind of relevance and attention that Asari receives from both the federal government of Nigeria and the international community. Asari has admitted that he has no control over the criminal gangs operating in the region and his release may not be an immediate antidote to kidnapping in violence in the Niger Delta.

A wise man once said that wherever there is original there must be a counterfeit. Though there are genuine groups in the region that are agitating for improvement of the welfare of the region others have latched to this struggle to perpetuate crime and violence. Some people claimed that some of these criminal elements were originally part of the Niger struggle but greed overwhelmed their "patriotic" view and they decided to help themselves. Having been identified with the struggle the boys decided to go into hostage taking, bank robbery and other violence crimes. Like they say in Akwa Ibom, a dog that has tasted the entrails of an animal will not stay away from the bush. These boys have tasted fast money from these crimes and they are not ready to repent of it.

A spokesperson for NDPVF, who claimed to be Asari second in command, General Gabriel Asabuja absolved members of the Asari group from the crime of kidnapping and other acts of terrorism. He disclosed that the boys involved in hostage taking cannot be controlled again because of the pecuniary gains inherent in the bisiness as "the monetary involment has opened the floodgate for formation of more militant groups in the state and until government establishes community police to checkmate them, there will be no end to this terrorist acts."

Asabuja regretted that kidnapping and hostage taking is yet to stop despite the release of Asari and blamed government for this development.

According to him, government officials who benefit from these activities have been the major hindrance stalling all sincere efforts to curb the activities of these criminal elements.

On Monday, July 2, 2007 Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on behalf of the Federal Government inaugurated a Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee. The committee is expected to coordinate similar committees set up by the various Niger Delta states to see how the current violence in the region can be brought under control. Before now, Rivers State Governor, Omehia has set up a Peace and Rehabilitation Committee for the state headed by Alhaji Hassan Douglas. Omehia promised a reward of a million naira for the first one hundred cultists and militants who would repent of their criminal activities. But this reward for repentance has drawn a lot of criticisms from the public. There is a story going roun that during former Governor Peter Odili administration, a self acclaimed repentant cultist collected money from the government and instead of using the money to set up a business he used it to buy guns, which he rents out to criminals.

Ledum Mitee, President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People [MOSOP] described the offer of money for repentant cultists and militants as an incentive for violence. According to Mitee, there is every reason for people to go into violence to get millions overnight. We are against giving money to cultists and militants for them to renouce cultism. There has to be a comprehensive strategy to be sustained in ensuring that the money does not go into wrong hands," Mitee maintained. Chairman of the Niger delta Civil Society Coalition, MR. Anyakwee Nsirimovu recalled "In 2004 we saw the mistakes of careless distribution of cash for weapons and so-called rehablitation of youths which had little credibility and no follow up. Now we are seeing promises of one million naira to youths with absolutely no sign of a strategy." Rather than the rewarding of violence, Nsirimovu suggested a roadmap, which would address resource control, accountable government, self determination and the protection of the environment.

Nigeria Security Update #1 100707

Four More Oil Workers Abducted

Four more people have been abducted in the Niger Delta, authorities said on Monday, underscoring insecurity in Nigeria's oil-producing region hours after a 3-year-old British girl was freed by her kidnappers.

Margaret Hill was released on Sunday night after four days in the hands of unknown ransom seekers who snatched her from the car in which she was being driven to school on July 5 in Port Harcourt, the delta's main city.

On Monday, Britain's Foreign Office said a Briton was among two foreign workers kidnapped on Sunday night from a production barge near Calabar in Cross River state -- an area in the east of the southern delta that is usually relatively safe and peaceful. A Bulgarian foreign ministry official confirmed one of its nationals was the other worker kidnapped in the attack.

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said one of its teams had been attacked in Rivers state in the delta on Saturday and two Nigerian workers had been taken hostage.

Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said gunmen had attacked the workers while they were repairing the Soku-Buguma trunk line, an oil pipeline that had only just been repaired on July 2 after being sabotaged in 16 different places in 60 days.

Okolobo said the team attacked on Saturday had been repairing three new leaks. He said no output was affected because the pipeline had been sabotaged so many times that production had been diverted through another line.

Nigerian oil production is currently down by more than 20 percent because of militant attacks on oil facilities.

Supply disruptions in Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter, have pushed up world oil prices and on Monday analysts cited news of the new kidnappings as one of the factors in a price spike above $76 per barrel.
NEGLECT

Oil from the delta has enriched foreign oil firms and corrupt Nigerian governments for five decades but the region has been neglected to the point that there are few basic services.

This state of affairs breeds militancy and crime. Some armed groups attack the oil industry to press their demand for "resource control" or local power over oil revenues, but numerous criminal gangs have made hostage takings a business.

The main rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said on Monday the abduction of the British toddler was unrelated to political violence and the struggle for resource control would continue.

"This criminal act against a minor was perpetrated by common thieves and even as they have released the child, I promise you their punishment is unspeakable," said the MEND spokesman, who uses the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo.

"This incident changes nothing amongst the groups truly agitating for resource control in the Niger Delta," he said.

Abductions of adult expatriates are so frequent in the Niger Delta that they rarely make headlines in Nigerian newspapers, but the kidnapping of Margaret Hill drew outrage from the government as well as from politically motivated armed groups.

About 200 foreigners have been snatched in the delta since the start of 2006. Most were released unharmed.

A small number of abductions in the Niger Delta are carried out by MEND and other rebel groups seeking to press their demand for resource control, but most are the work of ransom seekers.


Militants Set to Talk with President (Vanguard)

PRESIDENT Umaru Yar’Adua is to meet with Niger-Delta militants in Abuja soon over their demand for the creation of two more states - Oil Rivers and Toruebe for the Ijaws and an additional Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, as part of the conditions for peace to reign in the region.

It was learnt with authority yesterday that the demand for the creation of two more Ijaw states and one more Local Government in Bayelsa State to bring the present seven Local Governments to eight were made to the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by leaders of the militant groups in the region when he visited them in the creek recently.

Dr. Jonathan reportedly told the militants that he, as Vice President, could not guarantee the creation of two more Ijaw states and a Local Government in Bayelsa, suggesting that it was his boss, President Umaru Yar’Adua that had the power to give a dependable answer.
“It was on this basis”, hinted our source, “that it was agreed that the militants would meet with President Umaru Yar’Adua.”

The date for the meeting could not be confirmed, yesterday, but Dr. Jonathan is facilitating the parley between Yar’Adua and the militants.

Asked if the militant leaders would attend the meeting with Yar’Adua personally, our source said some of them would be there while others would send their representatives.
Besides, Vanguard gathered that the militants agreed to cease hostilities for three months to give the Federal Government opportunity to address their demands, and not the earlier one month, which had already lapsed, that a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) gave the government previously.

To ensure that all the militant groups in the region were carried along in the high-level parley with the government, the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND), Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) boss, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and others recently convened an enlarged meeting of Ijaw freedom fighters at Oporoza, the administrative headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom to brief the entire Ijaw youths.

The meeting, held, last Thursday, was attended by Ijaw youth leaders from all over the country but it was not conclusive, as it was shifted to this weekend, to enable other representatives attend the meeting.


Lonestar Evacuates Workers (Guardian)

SIX days after five of its expatriate workers were abducted by unknown gunmen in Rivers State, an oil firm, Lonestar Drilling Company, has evacuated 120 of its employees from the Nembe area of Bayelsa State.

The oil firm's move followed fresh threats of attack from militants.

A source disclosed to The Guardian that the oil company received a fresh threat by militants demanding an unspecified amount of money from it.

The militants were reported to have threatened to attack the oil firm if it failed to provide the demanded sum of money.

Meanwhile, the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has condemned the abduction of workers of Lonestar Drilling Company and reiterated that hostage-taking was not only sending negative signals to the outside world, but also having adverse effects on businesses in the Niger Delta.

With the whereabouts of the five expatiates who were abducted from Soku in Akuku-Toru Local Council Area of Rivers State still unknown, the management of the oil services company which drills for Shell Petroleum Development Company decided at the weekend to evacuate all its workers from Nembe.

The kidnapped Lonestar expatiates are messes Kiwis Brent Goddard and Bruce Klenner both from New Zealand; Jason Lane, Australia; George Saliba of Lebanon and Andreas Gambra from Venezuela.

Piqued by the persistent attacks on oil workers, the spokesperson of PETAN, Mr. Bank-Anthony Okorafor, warned that hostage-taking and kidnapping was having adverse effect on the oil service industry in the Niger Delta, particularly in Rivers State.

He said: "We believe the world has heard our message. We advise the hostage-takers to desist from this act which is turning our vibrant Rivers State into a ghost town with the consequence of companies relocating out of the state and the resultant loss of jobs, loss of revenue as well as inability to develop and sustain capacity and loss of entrepreneurial development."

Okorafor implored the militants to encourage the development of local entrepreneurs and send positive signals to the outside world that Rivers State is a good place to invest in and do business.

"The time is now for us to all come to the table for a more constructive dialogue that will see the transformation of our Niger Delta. Nigeria belongs to us all, enough is enough, let hostage-taking not be a brand name for us in the Niger Delta so that we don't have to live with it for the rest of our lives. We are a smart group of people. So, let us work toward that goal," he added.


Naked Man Causes Concern on Abuja Highway (Daily Trust)

A naked man was last Friday night seen crying for help at a lonely spot at Kugbo along the Abuja- Keffi highway. The man, whose identity could not be ascertained, appeared huge and was standing by the road side between Mogadishu barracks and Kugbo, in the Federal Capital Territory

The reporter observered the man waving at motorists to come to his rescue at 9.30pm, in a spot very close to where a civil servant was burnt inside his car last year. Drivers instead of waiting to help the man increased their speed and the driver of the bus that carried the reporter described the spot as a criminal's den.

"That is a bad spot where people's cars are snatched and robbed people are dumped," the driver said. He said any person who stops at that place would risk having his car snatched. Passengers in the bus were of different opinion of what must have happened to the man.

While one of them said the man might have escaped from ritualists, another stated that he could have been a victim of car robbery, who might have disposed him of his car and clothes. One of the passengers reasoned that it would be good if the police take their check point to that spot instead of close to AYA in Asokoro.

"The police are aware of that spot and I wonder why somebody should build a structure close to the place and inside a bush," a female passenger said.

The reporter sent a text message to the police hotlines and the FCT police spokesperson, Nwoaha Uzoma said he passed through the place and did not see the man. He advised motorists to always report such incidents to the nearest police station for immediate action.

Nigeria Security Update #1 090707

Toddler Home

Margaret Hill, the three-year-old British girl kidnapped in Nigeria, has been freed.
She is back with her family who say she is in good health. No ransom was paid.

An offical said the youngster was handed over to state security servces in Port Harcourt, where she was snatched on Thursday.

Her father Mike Hill told Sky News she had been in the jungle and was covered in mosquito bites Otherwise she was fine.

Mr Hill, who works in the Nigerian oil industry, said: "She has not told us anything yet."

He added: "The pressure has been unbelievable. We stopped eating and couldn't think of anything else.

"The kidnappers did not say who they were, but we don't think they were rebels

"They wanted to swap Margaret for myself but the police said 'no'.

"They also demanded a ransom, but we did not pay anything."

Gunmen grabbed the child from the car in which she was being driven to school when it got stuck in traffic.

Margaret's mother Oluchi said the kidnappers had called her, first demanding the swap and then money.

Mrs Hill said the kidnappers had also threatened to kill her daughter.

Abductions for ransom are common in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where Port Harcourt lies.

However, it is rare for children to be targeted.

Margaret's abduction sparked outrage in Nigeria, not least among militant groups.

They said it would only serve to undermine their campaign for greater local control of oil revenues.


Oil Companies Fed Up

Total SA, Europe’s third largest oil company has said crude production in Nigeria is threatened by insecurity in the West African nation.

“We have decided with other oil companies, especially Shell, that the situation cannot continue like this over the long term,’’ the Chief Executive Officer, Total, Christophe de Margerie, told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a conference in Aix-en-Provence.

“We need lasting solutions for this instability.”

Oil production, the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, fell to 2.15million barrels a day in the first quarter from 2.34million barrels in the same period of 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Saturday said.

The drop was caused by the “continued restiveness in the Niger Delta area,” which accounts for all the country’s oil output, it added.

More than 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of last year by militants and other criminal groups in the oil-producing region.

A three-year-old British girl was abducted on July 5, the third child to be kidnapped in the area, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

A day before the girl’s kidnapping, Nigerian gunmen abducted five expatriate workers from a Lonestar rig that was working for Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Nigerian venture in the Soku field.

Shell’s venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Co, pumps about half of Nigeria’s oil.

Almost two-thirds of the company’s daily production has been halted as a result of leaks, community disputes and militant attacks.


Asari Vehicle Carjacked

A Land Cruiser Jeep, belonging to the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has been snatched by suspected armed robbers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

According to sources close to the Niger Delta ‘nationalist’, as he prefers to be called, Dokubo-Asari was not in the black Jeep when it was snatched around the Agip Junction area of Port Harcourt at gunpoint.

The sources said that the jeep was being taken to where it was bought for servicing when the robbers blocked it with their vehicle and took it at gunpoint, adding that it was bought just a day before it was snatched.

"The robbers took the car with its occupants as 'hostages', drove them to the waterside and ordered them out.

The leader and spokesperson of the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), Cynthia Whyte, confirmed the incident, but said since he was not in town when the incident took place, he did not have enough details on it.

When called for confirmation, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said no such report had reached his office.

In another development, there are fears that three unidentified expatriates might have been abducted by a group of armed hoodlums in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

The expatriates, said to have been abducted around Elekahia area of the city, could not be identified as at press time.

Though Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, said she had heard of the kidnap, she said she had no further detail.


Airport Traffic Causing Missed Flights (Nigerian Tribune)

Road traffic situation at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, has worsened as many travellers now miss their flights as a result of frequent traffic congestion.

The congestion, which has made movement for airport workers and passengers difficult, was traced to the right granted vehicles outside the airport to use the airport road as an alternative to get to their destinations.

This negates the civil aviation rules as against emrgency periods. According to findings, most of the vehicles now drive through the airport as a way of beating traffic on public roads and for safety.

Some of them are said to be prepared to pay any amount as toll at the gate to have access to the airport road.

Following the problem, especially between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., when international flights begin their chek-in, it takes travellers close to two hours to move from the local to the international wing, a situation which makes them miss their flights.

The development is coming even as the terminal building of the international airport is becoming congested for passengers.

The congestion is noticeable at the departure hall and the passport control areas where arriving passengers are screened by security officers before going to board.

The situation often leads to passengers going through inconveniences during check-in of their luggage and other security protocols, a situation further compounded by the influx of passengers’ relations who come to see off their loved ones.

Some passengers who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on the development said that there was urgent need to expand the airport to change the situation and make the atmosphere more conducive.

How Militants Paralyzed Bayelsa's Economy (Nigerian Tribune)

Although the constancy of hostage taking in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has nose-dived in recent times, Soji Ajibola examines its impact on the socio-economic development of Bayelsa State, which has struggled tenaciously to end the scourge in its areas of jurisdiction.

Created in 1996, Bayelsa State remains one of the underdeveloped states in the country, no thanks to hostage takings and other related vices perpetrated by the suspected militant youths under the excuse of fighting for their legitimate rights. Multi-national oil companies operating in the state are on the verge of relocating to neighbouring states as a result of what they described as insecurity to lives and property.

Successive administrations in the state had tried to put a stop to what the vice-president, the then the governor of the state, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, described as “criminal act”, blaming some traditional rulers in the state of aiding and abetting the committal of these crimes. This development has led to the abandonment of most of the on-going developmental projects in the state. Besides, millions of naira are also being deducted from the monthly allocation of the state as debts incurred as a result of ransom paid on hostage taking in the state.

Also, the ongoing dualisation of the East-West Road has been temporarily stopped as a result of threats to lives and property by one of the major contractors handling the project. The development was confirmed by the outgone president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, during the ground-breaking of the Brass Liquified Natural Gas in Twon Brass. One of the contractors wrote to the president of his intention to pull out of the project because of threats to the company’s property and lives of its workers, especially foreigners.

As if this was not enough, the monthly allocation of the state for the month of June 2007 dropped sharply to N4billion and this may affect the continuation of some of the projects embarked upon by the former administration in the state. This development has forced the present administration to cut down its expenses. To redeem the image of the state, Governor Timipre Sylva, after being welcomed into the state by the militants with the kidnapping of nine oil workers at the platform of the National Agip Oil Company, took the responsibility upon himself to defy every odd to visit the militants in their den.

Sylva left the state capital with some top government functionaries and headed for Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state to engage the militants in what could be best described as meaningful discussion. The visit eventually paid off as the governor was not only recognised and accorded due respect by the militants, but the captives were also released without payment of any ransom. The governor, who said he identified with the plight of the militants, said before any discussion could take place, the hostages must be released and they obliged his request, after which they were told to be civil in their approach to issues, most especially issues relating to the operations of the oil companies in the region. After the discussion, the governor returned to the state around 12 midnight with the hostages.

The people of the state actually heaved a sigh of relief with the visit of the governor to the area. But, then, this was short-lived as militants struck again on what they described as “reprisal attack” in protest against the killing of their colleagues by the government’s task force set up to dislodge them and end militancy in the region. The militants took over the Agip flow station and forced the stoppage of the oil exploration.

This development led to the state losing millions of dollars. Apart from this, nine militants were felled by the soldiers’ bullets. Although some soldiers were said to have been wounded, the casualties’ rate was more on the part of the militants than the security forces. The governor was disturbed on hearing the news and decided to engage in meaningful talks with all the stakeholders in the state so as to find lasting solutions to the militants’ attacks on the oil installation, having known the danger it portends for the socio-economic development of the state.

Most of the attacks were hinged on the call for the release of the self-styled leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo. But the surprising aspect was that barely a few days after Asari was released on bail by the Federal High Court, Abuja, the militants struck again, leaving 12 of his (Asari’s) members dead. Many people, including indigenes and non-indigenes of the state, fled the area as a result of insecurity. Also, the staff of NAOC stopped exploration activities.

However, the governor, while receiving Asari, allayed the fear of the people over the development, saying that the military was now fully in charge of the flow station while exploration activities were expected to resume any moment from now.

End to hostage taking, in the governor’s opinion, is the responsibility of all and sundry, including elders from the region. This challenge prompted Asari to volunteer to fight hostage taking to a standstill in the state. “Ijaw people are not known for criminality and the struggle has nothing to do with hostage taking and related vices”, he told the governor.

Although the multi-national oil companies operating in the region are largely said to be insensitive to the plight of the people, that does not justify the involvement of youths in the area in criminal activities. Asari said that there are other civil ways to make their demands known not only to Nigerians but also to the outside world. Asari has begun consultations with various interest groups in the region with the aim of finding lasting solutions to the social menace (particularly hostage taking) in the region. Many youths, according to him, are jobless, that is why they take to crime.

On his part, he said that he has established a skill acquisition centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. This, according to him, would go a long way in addressing the problem of hostage taking in the region if other state governments established similar centres to train their jobless youths in various vocations.

In any case, the state governments and the respective oil companies are part of the problems. Many top government functionaries are said to be serving as intermediaries between the government and the militants ostensibly because of what they tend to gain from the ransom paid to the militants before the release of hostages in their custody. It is wrong, according to Asari-Dokubo, for both the government and the affected oil companies to pay ransom before securing the release of the expatriates.

Asari stated that shortly after his release, some suspected militant youths went after the staff of Schlumberger and demanded for N100million before they could be released. The company said they could only pay N24million and the militants refused. "Even though some of the militant youths have been threatening to kill me because of my uncompromising stand on the issue of ransom, the more I hear of this death threat, the more I become annoyed. When I was informed of these militants' demand for the N24m ransom, I told them that if truly these people are held hostage because of my incarceration, now that I have been released, these people should also be released.

"I told the company not to pay them more than N24million and this is what they were given. Even though the said amount has been paid, the approach is wrong. The act must be discouraged. Bayelsa is the only state that we, Ijaws, can call our own and if we pursue all the foreigners away from our land, then, how can we be talking of development?" That indeed is food for thought for wayward “militants”, who have criminalised the genuine struggle for the development of the Niger Delta region.

Nigeria Security Update #1 070707

Swamp of Despair (London Times)

The threat to kill the three-year-old British girl kidnapped in Nigeria’s Delta region brings a dangerous new element to the violence and lawlessness endemic in this impoverished oil-producing region. Until now, the campaign to force the Government and international oil companies to return some of the wealth to the polluted and ravaged villages of the Delta has largely targeted foreign oil workers, regularly seized as hostages and exchanged for ransom. This year more than 100 foreigners have been kidnapped, and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has just called off its moratorium and resumed attacks on the oil workers. But in recent months dozens of splinter groups, most of them ordinary criminal gangs, have also resorted to hostage-taking. Margaret Hill, the daughter of a Nigerian mother and British father, is the latest victim of this downward spiral into lawlessness.

Local support for Mend and other militant groups is understandable. Although the Delta accounts for 90 per cent of Nigeria’s export income, the swampy region gets almost no return on the money. The infrastructure has collapsed, roads have become impassable, once-thriving businesses have moved away, farmlands have been destroyed and fishermen thrown out of work, while the miasma of oil pollution hangs over all. The federal Government in Abuja has regularly promised to revive the region, but corruption, tribal antagonism and conflicts in other parts of the vast country have thwarted all plans.

The international oil companies, long pilloried for their indifference, have made great efforts in recent years to clean up the pollution and spread the benefits of their activity. But they have been unable to prevent the theft of oil from pipelines (often with disastrous consequences), the corruption of local administrators and the growing number of attacks on their staff. Shell, by far the biggest foreign company, is now so constrained by violence and criminality that its operations have been affected severely. Oil production is down by 25 per cent this year and Nigerians fear that the multinationals will leave with catastrophic results for Africa’s most populous nation.

Before leaving office, former President Obasanjo drew up the Niger Delta Master Plan, replacing an earlier plan that failed to produce results. His successor, President Umaru Yar’Adua, has promised to tackle the problems of the Delta. But although he proved to be a competent governor, free of the stain of corruption, the flawed election that brought him to power has already constrained his authority. The problem for Abuja is that it cannot afford to return the oil profits to the Delta, as this would hurt the already cash-strapped federal Government and lead to increased unrest in other part of the country, especially the restive Muslim north.

The prospect of spreading violence in Nigeria, where tribal divisions undermine many federal attempts to fight corruption and improve local administration, is deeply disturbing. The country has suffered one devastating civil war and numerous coups since independence. It cannot be allowed to become Africa’s largest failed state. Multinationals must persist in attempts to improve conditions in the Delta, and Mr Yar’Adua must focus on this endemic dispute. The first step is to ensure the release a small, vulnerable girl, whose seizure is a symptom of all that is wrong.

Nigeria's President Appeals to Kidnappers

The President of Nigeria, Umaru Yar'Adua, has appealed for the immediate release of a three-year-old British girl kidnapped by gunmen.
Mr Yar'Adua has ordered the Nigerian security services to ensure that Margaret Hill is returned unharmed to her family.

The girl's parents said the kidnappers were demanding a ransom.

Margaret Hill was snatched from a car on her way to school in Port Harcourt, in the volatile Niger Delta region.

Officials said that security forces would not resort to violence in order to free the girl.

A statement released by the president's office said "President Yar'Adua... appeals once again for a total cessation of all acts of violence in the region, the release of little Miss Margaret Hill and all other hostages."

"He has directed the security agencies to make every possible effort to ensure that she is returned to her family unharmed and he remains in touch with all efforts being made to secure the girl's release," the statement said.

Her mother, Oluchi, says the kidnappers have threatened to kill Margaret unless her husband takes the girl's place.

Crying

Margaret was snatched by gunmen at 0730 (0630 GMT) on Thursday after they smashed a window of the car as it sat in traffic.

The kidnappers telephoned Mrs Hill and said they would free the child but only if her father, Mike, took her place.

Mrs Hill, a Nigerian national, told the BBC that the kidnappers told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region, but that neither she nor the police had been able to locate it.

She said they then allowed her to speak to her daughter, who was crying.

"They say I can bring my husband to swap with the baby," Mrs Hill said.

"He wanted to go down for his baby but the police commander told him not to."

Mrs Hill said the kidnappers threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours.

After the deadline had expired, Mrs Hill said Margaret was being fed just "bread and water".

Ransom demanded

The family says the kidnappers have also asked for money.

Nigerian national police chief Mike Okiro has gone to Port Harcourt, where he held meetings with security officials.

The region's main militant group - the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) - has offered to help find the child.

"We will join in the hunt for the monsters who carried out this abduction and mete out adequate punishment for this crime. We abhor all forms of violence against women and children," the group said in a statement.

The UK's Foreign Office has called for Margaret's "immediate safe release".

The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says Mr Hill is ill and had been due to fly to the UK for medical treatment.

He says that no hostage has ever been killed by kidnappers in Nigeria and more than 200 have been taken by armed groups in the last 18 months.

Almost all were freed after a ransom was paid.



Cultists and Port Harcourt (Vanguard)

Gunmen suspected to be cultists go on a shooting spree in the oil city, leaving no less than 20 persons dead at different locations of the Rivers State capital

IS there any part of Rivers state that is safe? This is the question on many lips since Sunday evening when suspected cultists took over major streets in the state capital shooting sporadically. And at the end of the shooting spree, no fewer than twenty persons lay dead at different locations.

It was wailing that night in many homes. It was not clear if it was a cult clash but the shooting according to eye witnesses started around Water lines, a place where most travelers to Lagos, Calabar etc board vehicles. Sources could not speak on how the assailants came to the area, but they said what they heard were shootings from all directions. And as usual those around scampered for safety. Nobody could say if any life was lost but they said many people sustained severe gun shot wounds.

The shooting spree later spread to Diobu area of the state capital at about 6.45 pm where scores of people lost their lives. At Njemanze about six persons reportedly died, including a little girl said to be assisting the mother to sell roasted corn by the road side. At Emenike, a lady was reportedly killed. Meters away from her corpse was that of another girl that was shot on the chest.

At Abakaliki Road , a pregnant woman was allegedly killed by stray bullets in a church where she had gone to seek the face of her creator. Another lady who was on her way to get drugs at a drug store on Okija street met her untimely death in the hands of the gunmen. Three friends said to be drinking at a beer parlour were also shot dead.

The total death toll at press time could not be confirmed. When Saturday Vanguard went round some of the streets the following day families were seen crying and wailing that they had not seen some of their relatives.

“I have not seen my brother since that night. We went round some of the corpses people drew our attention to. I just pray he is still alive’, somebody who gave his name as Akpan said.
The shooting lasted about three hours. In almost all the nooks and crannies of Diobu that black evening people scampered for safety. Families lucky to be indoors when it started quickly locked themselves inside. The market that springs up at Mile one every evening hurriedly packed up with traders and buyers fleeing at different directions. By 7.30 p.m. that evening, vehicles had disappeared from the busy Mile One to Mile Three portion of Ikwerre Road. Few motorists on the road were forced to drive through Okija and other adjoining streets because the Police Station in Mile One quickly barricaded a portion of the road with vehicles, ostensibly to protect the station from any invasion.

It was hell for passengers that were caught in the cross fire that night as no commercial vehicles were in sight to pick them. Most of them had to be begging motorists racing to safety for lift.
“I never pray for this kind of evening even for my enemy. That I came out alive was God’s grace. No taxi or bus to pick any of us. The few private cars on the road were on top speed to see how they too could disappear from the shooting scene. Bullets were flying over our heads from all directions. I had to trek miles that night before I could manage to get a bus’ one of them told the Vanguard.

When contacted the following day for the actual figure of the dead, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu who said he was in Abuja said the police were yet to come up with a tally of casualties, because they recovered about seven that night and the following day they were still recovering more corpses.

But why will any sane mind open fire at a market place, not minding if a relative could be hit is one of the issues that have been agitating the minds of many since that black Sunday evening in Rivers state.

Some people said the shooting was a reprisal attack on another cult group by their rival body. But again, many had thought that if it was truly a reprisal action then the assailants should have limited themselves to their targets. But in this case several of those consumed by the shooting were innocent passers-by. For instance what business will a little girl of about thirteen who was roasting corn with the mother by the road side have to do with cultism? Well! for some others, the whole tragic drama that night was aimed at creating an atmosphere of tension in the state. Again , what kind of tension? Because the state in the opinion of many has been tension soaked even before the mindless killings that night.

Conjectures will never end on the reason behind the callous and brutal killings of many innocent and defenseless Nigerians that night by their own brothers but one thing that cannot be given to the realms of speculations is that the state is not safe. There is need to declare the area a security emergency. In the same week a paramount ruler was murdered in Kpor, Khana local government by suspected cultists. According to the Police Commissioner, he was accused of having aided a cult group in the area. His death triggered off reprisals that claimed several lives.

The Kpor incident came barely days after a similar one in Rumuolumeni where the alleged killing of a youth leader sparked off a crisis that also claimed several lives and destroyed properties running into millions. When the crisis thickened in the area most residents had to vacate their houses for safety. As at press time peace had not fully returned to the area. Residents who fled were still not set to move back. One of them Mr. John Bull said he was not sure peace had truly come to the place.

“Peace has not returned. Was it not last week they came again in the midnight to kill two persons. The trouble is still very fresh in the minds of many of assailants there. So it is not safe to go back now”.

Just when many thought the Rumuolumeni trouble was enough headache was when unknown gun men stormed a private school in the state capital to abduct a three year old son of a female legislator. They reportedly threatened to blow up the head of the house help who took the child to school if he was not released to them. They later reportedly fled with the lad and kept him away from his parents for days, until according to sources close to the family money exchanged hands before the child regained his freedom.

Disturbed by the insecurity problem in the state wife of the governor, Mrs. Tonia Omehia publicly called for prayers to rescue the state and the region from the “satanic” grip. She decried the action of those who kidnapped the three-year old child. Her lamentation is just one in several millions. The cry for peace in the state is so loud that governments, both at the state and national levels must rise to do something to save the state.

For most residents, government should take bold step to stem the tide of cultism, after all according to them it was a monster created by the political class in the state. They argued that before 1999 the state was calm and peaceful. But with the advent of democracy cultism was institutionalized as another arm to provide security for politicians and also secure political victories for them .

There is also appeal to soldiers to assist in curbing the situation. Flash points like Emenike, Ojoto round about, Azikiwe street, Nnsuka, Njemanze should be manned daily by security operatives. Again, they urge police to clamp down on brothels in these areas. More often, shooting had always started from these red light spots.
A stitch in time they say, saves nine.