THE MANY WORRYING WARS OF WARRI: SILENCE AND INACTION IS COLLUSION

By

IJAW COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (ICHR)

Introduction

One of the biggest military operation ever mounted in peace time Nigeria against civilian population got underway most of last week in OKERENKOKO and Gbaramatu, two oil rich Ijaw communities in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Nigeria Niger Delta. Successive governments turn a blind eye to the reports and recommendations proffered by their panels and or commissions.

To date , the Ijaws of Ogbe-Ijoh have battled their Itsekiri neighbours (1997) over the relocation of a local government head quarters from the Ijaw community of Ogbe-Ijoh to the Itsekiri community of Ogidi-gben.

The Itsekiris have crossed swords with their Urhobo neighbours (2001 and 20003) over land and governance issues. Also, the Ijaw and Urhobos had quarrelled over land in Aladja and at Gbarigolo and Esama areas in (1996).

Six gunboats, nine armoured fast attack boats, sixty-three open passenger type (uncovered) speed boats and five armoured tans were moved into the creeks with the mandate of " opening the water ways for navigation and uninterrupted flow of economic activities." The military hardware were complemented by one thousand, five hundred soldiers drawn from the 7th battalion also know as David Ejoor barracks located in Effurun, near Warri, Delta state. Naval personnel from the western naval command and police personnel from zone 5 are involved in this last scale military operation.

So far, seventy-two Ijaw youths and three soldiers are believed to have died in this new round of confrontation in that part of the violent Niger Delta. The number of the injured is yet to be ascertained. Three Itsekiri and two Ijaw communities have been destroyed. There is palpable fear that this invasion is scripted and implemented along the lines of past military onslaught carried out by the president Obasanjo’s administration. Six months after the regime came into power in may 1999, it ordered federal troops under the command of Col. Agbabiaka to destroy Odi town. Over two thousand people were killed, in what is known as the Odi Genocide. Elsewhere, in Zakibiam, Benue state, a similar attack had been carried out leaving over two hundred civilians killed in 2001.

The ICHR is constrained to issue this BRIEFING NOTE as a first response to the military abuse to which the Nigerian military is being subjected even as we observe the increased corporatization and subordination of our nations military to Oil Companies We note also the use of the military for purely economic and ethnic agenda and the failure of successive leaders within our polity to build a truly national security defence system aimed at fighting poverty, underdevelopment, environmental despoliation and ignorance. A nation that abandons and abuses a segment of its population because they are a minority may ultimately reap the whirlwind of frustration, hopelessness, anger, desperation, and resistance.

The many worries of Warri are rooted in our inability as a country and as a people to settle the myriad of contradictions traceable to our colonial inheritance; greedy and careless economic adventurist and a visionless elite who have violently appropriated the leadership for a on behalf of a few to the detriment of the minority of our people regardless of ethnic identities. The rain beats only the poor, the weak, and the helpless in the societies governed by the hand of injustice.

BACKGROUND AND ISSUES

"Warri" as a town is used widely in this NOTE by the ICHR. The term includes all communities in present Warri North and Warri South West Local Government Areas of present Delta State. The area is mostly inhabited by Ijaw, Itsekiris and Urhobos. Other Nigerians and foreigners there are attracted to the place because of oil and gas, and the activities associated with these two resources.

Intrigues, treachery, betrayals, political back-stabbing, economic opportunism, ethnic and communal conflicts, oil violence and poverty are some of the raw material that have been used in building the present edifice called "Warri". As a community, Warri does not stand alone in the problems facing multi-ethnic societies any where in the world, what is baffling is the refusal and reluctance of the Nigerian state to addressing the Warri problem despite the numerous panels

Close studies of these conflicts shows that they are avertable and in at least two instances, the Ijaws and Urhobos have averted conflicts in the Bomadi area (1999).

Studies show the following as possible sources of conflict in the Warri area.

                The struggle for internal democracy and good governance.

No serious attempt on the part of government beyond the peace, conflict resolution and justice projects carried out by groups and institutions such as:

ACADEMIC ASSOCIATES, IJAW YOUTHS COUNCIL, IJAW COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL LIBERTIES ORGANISATION (CLO), ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ACTION (ERA). Peace and justice programme of the Catholic Church among others.

THE PRESENT CRISES

It is easy to sit far away from the worrying Warri Conflicts and accept or be seduced to accepting barefaced lies, half truths and misinformation from all the parties; the oil companies (Chevron and Shell), the federal government of president Obasanjo, some hired hack writers claiming to be journalists, the Ijaws, Itsekiris and Urhobo propagandist bent on foisting perpetual instability and violence in the region.

ICHR trace this new dimension to the Warri crises to the attempt by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to use the discredited, boycotted and shamelessly gerrymandered electoral institutions to conduct the April 2003 elections in that part of the Niger Delta.

The story as told by the Ijaws is that the 1991 and other popular censuses conducted since 1963 had affirmed that they are in majority in the area generally now described as Warri South West but that successive governments ignore this and forced the minority Itsekiri to lord over them. That they have been doing this until it was corrected in 1997 but not implemented. That wards are gerrymandered to favour the Itsekiri and that they have continued to resist peacefully until the "relocation " issues blew the lid of peace out of their protest.

To the Itsekiris, the relocation was the violation of their rights, which was effected by the military administrator of the then Delta State Col. David Jung (from Benue State). The various panels set up by successive Delta State governments such as the IDOKO COMMISSION came only to support a predetermined position, which was and is still against the Itsekiri national interest. The wards delimitation is in order and that the Ijaws are using unconstitutional means to gain advantage.

The Ijaws in protest had boycotted the voters registration because the materials were kept in Itsekiri towns and that the wards to be used does not reflect the democratic and constitutional reality on the ground. Some materials seized by protesting Ijaw youths were later retrieved by a combined team of military operatives late last year, two youths were feared dead.

But this crisis is not too different from others before it, although the scale of military deployment is far and beyond what was displayed in ODI (Bayelsa) and ZAKIBIAM (Benue).

As we pointed out in the introductory part of this briefing paper, the military hardware and personnel ought to be reserved for external enemies not fellow citizens of Nigeria.

The deployment has led ICHR to suspect as follows:

1] The federal Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo is hiding under the smokescreen of the IRAQI CONFLICT to implement a genocidal agenda against the Ijaws of the Niger Delta. What the government did not finish in Odi they now want to accomplish in Okerenkoko, Gbaramatu and beyond. A war of this proportion will not receive international attention and of course condemnation at a time America and Allied forces are at War with Sadam in the Middle East.

2] The Oil companies are in agreement with this military campaign for two reasons:

a] To push up oil prices despite the OPEC concessions, all for profit motives

b]To secure and control all production and exploitative processes in this oil and gas rich region. Oil business in the Niger Delta has been less than friendly. Shell for example calls the protesting people of Okerenkoko and Gbaramatu ‘HOODLUMS’

3] To create chaos and scuttle the democratic process. We suspect fifth columnist at work. High civilian and military casualty in this easily resolvable conflict may lead to widespread disenchantment and thus portray governance institutions as highly unworkable. The military may therefore be said to be waiting to pounce.

4] Politically inspired campaign aimed at securing economic advantages. Campaign of this nature allows for economic adventurist to open windows of opportunities for continuing selfish agenda.

5] Resolving the ethnic, political and cultural problems of the Warri area through a military strategy of conquest, pacification or obliteration.

RECOMMENDATION :

TO THE IJAWS, ITSEKIRI AND URHOBO

1. Support dialogue and peaceful processes on the issues at stake. The dimensions of land, space and resource conflict is not what you foist on yourselves. It is all over Africa and elsewhere in resource endowed areas. You should count yourselves lucky and solve your problems, honestly and frankly as brothers. In Australia and America, indigenous people were wiped out.

2. Stop attacking each other’s communities, properties and persons.

3. The elite among you the Ijaws, Itsekiri and Urhobos need not pursue selfish agenda. Campaigns for social , environmental and economic justice must be all inclusive and targeted at common problems. The Oil and gas companies co-operate with the federal government to exploit you. Why can’t you co-operate to take control of your land and space and therefore help your people?

TO THE OIL AND GAS COMPANIES (SHELL AND CHEVRON)

Stop all oil and gas production activities until acceptable peace is restored.

Stop the campaign of calumny against the people. Calling people whose land provides billions of dollars to you in profit ‘hoodlums’ and ‘criminals’ is just following a familiar script of corporate domination and control. The people of the Niger Delta are very familiar with such rhetoric’s, which are known to be precursors to genocidal actions.

Clean up the environment.

Compensate the people for losses incurred as a result of oil and gas activities.

Stop favouring one ethnic group against the other or dividing communities by collaborating with the elites to the detriment of the people.

Support activities aimed at rebuilding communal governance institutions destroyed by oil and gas activities and presence.

Stop the unilateral and unchallenged assessment of compensation claims. You cannot be the arbiter in a matter that you are more than a significant party.

Stop undermining and eroding governance and survival strategies of local communities, fishing, farming and trading.

TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Stop playing the ostrich on the Warri issue. Taking steps to promote equally and peaceful co-existence should be of high priority. The Federal Government is behaving as an imperial overlord.

Examine the various reports set up to look into this Warri matter and come out with an amicable solution.

Set up a truth commission that allows for unfettered access to information with a view to work towards reconciliation and justice.

Facilitate the convocation of a sovereign National Conference.

Investigate activities of government officials, oil company executives, or officials who may have played a role in the crisis.

TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Help support dialogue and conflict resolution processes aimed at achieving justice for all in the Warri area and elsewhere in the Niger Delta.

Put pressure on President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop using military solutions in the Niger Delta generally.

Provide humanitarian aid to all victims of the ‘WARRI’ conflict.

Put pressure on all oil and gas companies in the matter of their relationship with local people, the environment and the government of Nigeria.

Stop military and other assistance to the Nigerian Military and Police since such assistance are almost always used against our people.

Support genuine aid agencies involved in the change and governance issues in the area.

Refuse to accept any person on asylum who is known to have participated in the killing of innocent people.

Refuse to admit into your countries all military or Para-military personnel who participate in perpetuating crimes against humanity in Warri, Odi, Zakibiam or elsewhere in the Niger Delta notably Ogoni.

Some oily facts to note

It was Ugbrodo, Ogidigben, Gbaramatu and Okerenkoko women who led and were part of the women protest that swept through the Delta and Bayelsa States last year. The protest led to several closures and a force majeure being declared by Chevron. The women’s war against oil companies followed earlier protest by youths, elders and communities all against oil companies principally Chevron and Shell.

Chevron’s operational base, tanks farm and production facilities are in the main located in the area of the present conflict-Escravos, Gbaramatu, Okerenkoko etc.

There is a military base near the Chevron’s Tank farm at Mandagho. At least two hundred military personnel reside there and are maintained by Chevron- feeding, allowances and transportation.

The Jones-creek flow STATION, the single largest oil production station onshore in Africa is located in Gbaramatu and daily production average one hundred and fifty thousand barrels a day. It is owned and operated by Shell.

The Jones-creek spewed over 20,000 barrels of crude oil into the environment on the 26th of March 1998. This was two months after a major spill from its IDOHO FACILITY which also impacted on the people of the area. The combined spill impact was too much for the communal and ecosystem survival. Life collapsed.

Mr. Wilson Oyibo was murdered at the Jones-Creek field and no satisfactory explanation has been offered by Shell.

The Ijaws and the Itsekiris are joint landlords to Chevron at the ABITEYE flow station where oil is been collected and pumped to Escravos tank farm for export.

On 30th April 1999, a tanker by name STRONG HAND ran aground at Escravos shoal very close to the tank farm opposite Ogidigben. The owners of the tank approached Gbaramatu indigenes for help to assist the tanker get afloat. When they arrived the scene on May 5th, three gunboats from Chevron’s Mandagho military base pursued the people from Gbaramatu. The military men later invaded Okpele-Ama and Opuedebubo and shot indiscrimately injuring three.

An Urhobo man from Aladja married to an Ijaw woman from Gbaramatu (Kunukunama) were abducted on May 9, 1999 with two of their children. No trace of this happy family to date. They are presumed dead. The abduction took place near Chevron facility at Escravos.

On January 4, 1999, Chevron conveyed soldiers from its Mandagho base to two Ijaw communities, Opia and Ikenya. The two communities were burnt down and a number of people including the traditional ruler of Ikenya were killed. Chevron’s helicopters, boats and other logistics were used for the operation.

On May 29, 1999, Sahara-Ama was burnt down by unknown persons. Sahara-Ama is an oil producting community under Chevron’s operational area.

Further west communities such as Tsekelewu, Opuama etc have their land and forest destroyed by Chevron in what is regarded as the biggest environmental disaster in Nigeria.

March 2003