Supreme persecution of the Delta peoples

Supreme persecution of the Delta peoples

THE recent Supreme Court of Nigeria ruling on the resource control suit, expropriating the oil wealth of the Niger Delta peoples to the Federal government of Nigeria (reads the majority ethnic groups) did not come as a surprise to those of us in the struggle. To expect otherwise would have been day dreaming. It is only a sad reminder of the bitter fact that the Niger Delta peoples can not expect justice from the oppressive Nigerian state as presently constituted. But what a coincidence that the man whose military dictatorship promulgated the controversial land use decree of 1978 which lay the foundation for the recent judgement, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, is again the man at the helms of affairs when the Supreme Court handed down that persecuting verdict to the peoples of the Niger Delta? The Supreme Court has spoken and it is the final bus stop, so we are told. But whose Supreme Court is this? The Supreme Court Justices are human beings; they are Nigerians-Nigerians with their own interests. It is instructive to note that all the seven Supreme Court Justices who sat in judgement are from the majority ethnic groups who have shamelessly maintained that anyone who claims ownership of oil deposits is threatening the stability of the Nigerian federation. They conspired and murdered the late MOSOP President, Ken Saro Wiwa because he dared remind them that the minority ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta have a right to a fair proportion of their God-given oil wealth; for their own development. Yet, when groundnuts and cocoa were the economic mainstay of Nigeria, there were owners who used their proceeds to develop their areas. And that did not threaten the stability of the country.

Recall, that the oppressors have time and again boasted that no matter the degree of oppression, the ethnic minorities of the oil bearing Niger Delta region can not threaten the stability of the Nigerian state. They know that we neither have the guns nor the "big men" who decide Nigeria's fate. They know that they have monopoly over the instruments of violence and suppression. They steal and plunder our oil wealth and whoever has the gut to question them is blackmailed and silenced.

The argument adduced by the Supreme Court that the continental shelf and territorial waters, even if they form part of the environmental surroundings of the so-called littoral states belong to the federal government is absolute rubbish. Note the so-called continental shelves and territorial waters form the surroundings of these littoral states. We eke out our daily living from the surrounding seas and "territorial waters". Fishing is a major occupation of natives of the littoral states. The rivers constitute our major source of food supply.

Then, on the bad side, the surrounding rivers cause considerable inconveniences to us. We suffer the effects of tidal waves, i.e, land erosion. Oil spillage, a recurrent phenomenon here, is more devastating on the rivers than on land; as tidal waves wash oil spills far into the creeks and mangrove swamps with its attendant destruction of marine life. The local inhabitants suffer these alone; not the Federal government, not those who live in the deserts; far removed from the action spot. So why should it be the federal government that would now claim ownership of any good thing that comes out of the suffering of the people in the littoral states? It bears no repeating that the sea is part of our environment in the Niger Delta; you can not make any sense exorcising it from our environment like the Supreme Court judgement implies.

Should we lose our sleep over the wild jubilation by those who the Supreme Court have now expropriated the Niger Delta oil wealth to? Not at all. The national chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, (AD) Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Abdulkadir is quoted to have said that no sane individual or group can fault the judgement of the Supreme Court. That the Supreme Court as the apex legal authority has put the issue of resource control to rest. That's silly. Alhaji Abdulkadir would not see anything wrong with a system that robs the owner of his God-given possession and give it to him. Blame him? Abdulkadir and his kinsmen should go on jubiliating but, they should be rest assured that the issue of resource control can not be rested until the eventual liquidation of the evil union called Nigeria.

In any case, ultimate victory belongs to God Almighty, to give whoever he finds favour with. And history has taught us that God would always find favour with the oppressed; it does not matter how long it takes. Who did not know the mission of Obasanjo's second coming? The final conquest of the Niger Delta, of course. Obasanjo will stop at nothing to execute his agenda for the Niger Delta peoples. He will do anything to appease his mentors of the arid desert, to retain their goodwill and to stay on in power. Whenever the political stage is set, it is always the harmless and helpless minorities of the Niger Delta that must be sacrificed for "the corporate good" of Nigeria. Obasanjo is set to perpetuate himself as Nigeria's life President. He could not hide his admiration for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. And guess what, Obasanjo is going to be clinically brutal in dealing with the coalition of informed opposition to his self-perpetuation. So long, so bad for the peoples of the Niger Delta.

However, that Supreme Court's miscarriage of justice may after all turn out to be the tonic that we need. Obviously, a wake-up call to any remaining docile Niger Delta Community, it could rouse them into action. They must now heed the clarion call of our grand hero, Ken Saro Wiwa: "In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger Delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and non-violently for their rights." The Ogoni people through MOSOP Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, have shown the way long ago; the rest must now follow. We must liberate ourselves and generations yet unborn from the oppressive Nigerian predators.

April 2002