Do you remember JESSE people?
By
Temilade Akerejola
As
I write this piece I am crying. I am not given to outward emotional outburst,
but I cannot help but sob for the people of Jesse and our dear country.
Do you remember Jesse people? On October 17th, the Jesse oil pipeline tragedy
came to fore. About a thousand died. Do you know that among those that are lucky
to be alive, it is a story of neglect and disillusionment? Do you know that the
Jesse people are pitiably helpless?
Do you know that hundreds are dying as a result of anemic and overbearing
infections? Do you know that some are starving to death? Do you know that when
the Vulcan, the god of mythical fire barred it's fang that ugly day, it killed
dreams? Do you know that young boys and girls are in the balance of between life
and death?
Do you know that the once able men and women cannot engage in any meaningful
economic activity due to incessant itching arising from burns and mangled skin
tissue? Do you know that wives are losing husbands and husbands are running away
from wives in Jesse because of the general ugliness arising from skin burns?
Do you know that those with festering wounds has become host to hordes of
flies which swarm on their dingy wounds? Do you know that some of the people of
Jesse has become paranoid as a result of government's threat to arrest and
prosecute them? Do you know?
Do you know that over seven hundred has become orphaned in Jesse? Do you know
that Jesse is desolate and quite as a graveyard except for the pieces of
burnt plastic cans and scraps of twisted metals the victims had used to scrounge
fuel now scattered on the ground?
It is sad! Painful and pathetic that the government of Nigeria has done nothing
to the plight of Jesse people. My emotion is overflowing; so excuse me if I do
not flow.
Do you know that General Abdulsalami ruled out compensation for the victims? Do
you know that President Obasanjo has done nothing so far? What did Abdulsalami
called Jesse people? Saboteurs! Who do you think is the real saboteur? Are they
not the PPMC that failed to notice the pressure drop in their metre long
before the accident happened? What did they do when they later discovered the
leakage? Did they not continue to pump fuel through it?
Is the government not the real saboteur? Did they not neglect the people for
several years? What about the maintenance of the pipeline? What about the
treasury looters who have subjected the people to untold hardship and poverty?
Who is the real saboteur?
Do you know that the people of Niger Delta has no food to eat (like other
Nigerians) because their farmlands have been wasted by decades of oil
exploration? Do you know that there are no fish or meat to eat because their
aquatic lives and forest have been destroyed? Do you know that the Niger Delta
has no water to drink as a result of water pollution?
Do you know that aside Jesse there were oil fire related disasters in Ugbonron,
Warri? So also in Ughagba. What about Egborode, Buboroku and Adeje?
Do you know that the only thing the government of Nigeria does is to open
condolence register and call the Niger Delta people saboteurs anytime there are
environmental disasters? Do you know how many Nigerian lives were lost in Sierra
Leone and Liberia combined? Please compare it to that of the Jesse episode!
Do you know that the relief materials sent by the Irish government, the
International Consensus Forum, and the Catholic Church of Nigeria were allegedly
diverted? Do you know that the Jesse Fire Disaster Committee is populated by
Naval officers? Please find out the number of Jesse indigenes that are members
of the committee.
Do you know what Senators Udo Udoma, Stella Omu, Emmanuel Difa, Osehehen Osunbor,
M T Mbu, Milford Okilo are doing in the Senate? What about Martyns Yellow, John
Udo Udeke, Rowland Owie, Florence Ita-Giwa and Adewari Pepple?
When you see General Ejoor, Dafinone, Onosode,Tony Annenih, Abel Ubeku, Ibrus,
Donald Etiebet, and Sam Oyabvaire, please ask them what they are doing for their
people of the Niger Delta.
Do you know that the only monument to the memory of Jesse fire victims is a mass
grave painted in Nigeria's Green -White- Green colour with an epitaph "IN
MEMORY OF JESSE OIL PIPELINE FIRE DISASTER OF 17th OF OCTOBER 1998. MAY THEIR
SOULS REST IN PEACE"?
Please pray for the Niger Delta people. Pray for all the victims of Nigeria.
Pray for Nigeria too!