Plundering of conquered Biafran territory
By
WHEN the Nigerian Civil War came to an end in the field on January 15, 1970, General Yakubu Gowon announced to the world that there was no victor and no vanquished in that civil war. The world applauded General Gowon for this demonstration of magnanimity towards conquered Biafrians. Along with the no victor no vanquished announcement came the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation programme for the conquered Biafrians. The people of Eastern states of Nigeria who during the civil war were Biafrians were meant to be prime beneficiaries of the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation programme announced by the Federal Military Government. Today, 31 years after the end of the Nigeria Civil War, it is doubtful, very doubtful whether we have achieved any measure of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation in the Eastern states of Nigeria irrespective of the fact that this region provides over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s national income. Other parts of Nigeria with virtually no resources have witnessed meteoric development of roads and preponderance of federal presence.
Before Biafra was declared in 1967, there was no onshore/offshore dichotomy in Nigeria’s derivation dictionary. Without Biafra, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria headed by General Gowon would not have taken over the total control and exploitation of the resources of the continental shelf of Eastern Nigeria. The Independence and Republican Constitutions of Nigeria gave 50 per cent derivation of the resources of the regions including their continental shelf to the regions while 50 per cent went to the distributable pool for sharing on an agreed formula. The oil resources of the continental shelf of Eastern Nigeria was not subjected to any onshore/offshore dichotomy before the civil war started in 1967.
The continental shelf and the resources therein of Eastern Nigeria were captured and exploited by the Federal Military Government because it was Biafran territory. After the civil war and up till date why has the Federal Government not relinquished its hold on this territory which was formerly part of Biafra? The truth of the matter is that during the civil war, the continental shelf of Eastern Nigeria (Biafra) was an undefended Biafran territory. The Federal Military Government with its superior Naval strength simply over-ran the undefended rich Biafran territorial waters, seized it with all its resources and had since exercised total control and total exploitation of the abundant oil, gas and condensate of this territory.
The Federal Government claims that the continental shelf of Eastern states and any other sections continental shelf for that matter belong to it. Do the mainland states of Nigeria not belong to the Federal Government exclusively? Is it only the continental shelf of Nigeria that exclusively belongs to the Federal Government? And what makes up the Federal Government? Is it not the states and the people of the states? The one and only reason that Nigeria lays claim to a continental shelf is that some of its states extend into the Atlantic Ocean. The sections of these coastal states covered by the ocean constitute the continental shelf. The continental shelf, therefore, belongs first to the Nigerian state from which it extends into the ocean before it belongs to Nigeria which is made up of states. Without Nigerian coastal states with their continental shelf, there would be no Nigeria with a continental shelf. So, the Supreme Court’s verdict giving exclusive ownership of the continental shelf of Nigeria to the Federal Government at the expense of the states is a ruse. If River Niger and River Benue formed Nigeria’s southernmost international boundary, how could it have a continental shelf?
The continental shelf of Eastern Nigeria (Biafra) with its resources was a war booty, captured by the Federal Military Government. It has remained so up till date—32 years after the end of the civil war— still being exploited and owned as a war booty by the conquerors, the agents of the Federal Government and that is why it (Federal Government) claims to own it exclusively and apart from all the other 36 states and Abuja. The verdict of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on onshore/offshore dichotomy has finally been brought in to legalise total exploitation/plundering of the resources of part of the conquered Biafran territory in perpetuity. War crimes against conquered Biafra is still going on and now needs to be taken up by eminent leaders of Eastern Nigeria at home and abroad at the International Court at The Hague or wherever war crimes or crimes against humanity can be handled in Europe. The continued plundering of the resources of what was Biafran culminating in the Supreme Court verdict on onshore/offshore dichotomy and the gang up by the South-West and core North to ensure that neither the Niger Delta nor the South-East zone produces the next president of Nigeria should not be allowed for local handling nor treated lightly anymore.
When General Murtala Mohammed and General Obasanjo overthrew General Gowon, the allegation was that General Gowon was too soft with the Biafrians and needed to be replaced by one with very tough measures against the people of Biafran. The task of having to deal ruthlessly with Biafrians eventually fell into the hands of General Obasanjo when General Mohammed was assassinated. There is no doubt whatsoever that General Obasanjo did a very good job in his first outing as Military Head of State. He immediately dispossessed the owners of the oil rich lands of Niger Delta of their lands through the Land Use Decree after their continental shelf had been taken. On this matter, there seems to be a total agreement between the South-West and the core North who have been ruling this country exclusively since 1966 under military and civilian regimes. Let nobody under the sun be deceived, the core North and South-West are united in keeping the resources of the Eastern states especially that of the minorities of the East by force of arms officially as a permanent war booty for their exclusive control, ownership and exploitation especially given the ‘fact’ that the minorities are not capable of forcing them to relinquish their strangle-hold on these resources and the Igbos will rather not take sides with the minorities who they claim betrayed the cause of Biafran.
Politicians and retired top military officers of Eastern Nigeria have kept so much silence in the face of total usurpation of the wealth of Niger Delta which was part of Biafra. Some, like the hyena, just hang around without any shame for the lion and the tiger to finish the main meal of their booty and go away before they stealthily sneak in to leak the bones left behind, what a shame. Things, however, cannot continue like this indefinitely. In a recent interview, General David Ejoor sounded a warning note on the issue of derivation and was quoted as saying that the Niger Delta will reconsider its place in Nigeria if the zone is not satisfied with how the derivation matter goes. There should not be any other option for Niger Delta Region which did not enjoy one penny benefit from cocoa, groundnut and cotton boom from South-West and core North.
Sometime in mid January 1970, the People’s General Philip Effiong of famed Biafran Armed Forces handed over a piece of paper to General Olusegun Obasanjo somewhere in what was formerly Biafran territory. That piece of paper brought a lot of positive effects to millions of people in Eastern states of Nigeria and indeed the whole Nigeria. As God would have it, the People’s General Philip Effiong is Akwa Ibom State strong man in the committee set up by General Obasanjo to find a political solution to what many in the Eastern states of Nigeria have come to refer to as the injustice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria towards the people of South-South states and most especially towards Akwa Ibom State. The people of South-South and indeed all Nigerians who love justice irrespective of political zone expect that this time, General Obasanjo would also hand over a piece of paper to the People’s General Philip Effiong granting 50 per cent derivation from the oil and gas resources of the continental shelf to South-South states of Nigeria and the abrogation of the onshore/offshore dichotomy provisions in the derivation dictionary of Nigeria. It is noteworthy to remind Mr. President that, "To whom much is given, much is expected." Mr. President, more than any other Nigerian has been given so much of everything including walking in "the valley of the shadow of death" and coming out alive as well as crude oil and condensate in millions of barrels daily by divine plan and purpose. Let Mr. President reciprocate appropriately in favour of South-South states by reverting to the original 50 per cent derivation including the continental shelf for producing states and the abrogation of the onshore/offshore dichotomy. If oil has made Nigeria, oil also has the capacity of unmaking Nigeria.
Jan 2003