POLITICS: Violence Threatens Nigeria’s Return To Civilian Rule

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 4 1999 (IPS) - The fighting between militant Ijaw youths and security forces in the oil-rich Niger Delta is threatening to derail Nigeria’s plan to return to civilian rule.

The latest fighting erupted after three people were killed and 1,000 displaced following clashes between the youth and the security forces in the Niger Delta’s Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa, last week.

The clashes come as Nigerians are preparing for presidential elections. The country’s military rulers, who have dominated Nigeria’s politics since independence in 1960, have promised to hand power to civilian in May.

Following last week’s clashes, head of state General Abdulsalaam Abubakar, the architect of Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, immediately sent reinforcements to the troubled region where the Ijaw and other communities are demanding greater control over local oil resources.

Reports from the region Monday said soldiers dispersed the youths after demanding that the multinational oil companies quit the troubled region on Dec 30.

In October, the Ijaw youths stopped the flow of one-third of Nigeria’s two million barrels-a-day oil export to back demands for greater political say for the country’s fourth-largest ethnic group and more amenities for their communities.

They also tried to hijack an helicopter and watercraft and harassed oil workers.

Meeting in the Bayelsa town of Kaiama recently, the youth issued their famous ‘Kaiama Declaration’ where they called upon the government of Nigeria to address the issue of the “marginalisation of Ijaw.”

The declaration, signed by Ijaw leaders, Felix Tuodola and Timi Ogoriba, also demanded that all oil companies and contractors and military personnel quit the region immediately.

The declaration also proclaim that “the ownership of all lands and resources in the area has reverted to the people without prejudice to any law that denies them that.”

“We cease to recognise all undemocratic decrees that rob our people and communities of the right to ownership and control of our lives and resources which were enacted without our participation and consent,” the youth said. “These include the Land Use decree (which vests ownership of all land in the country in the government in trust for the people) and the Petroleum Act, which vests ownership of all oil resources in the country in the Nigerian government.”

Last week’s demonstration and killings in Yenagoa, forced Colonel Paul Obi, the military administrator in Bayelsa, to declare a state of emergency and impose a-dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent possible outbreak of violence.

Reacting to the incident, Isaac Osuoka, an Ijaw youth leader, said: “The killing confirms the government’s brutal determination to suppress the people and force them to submission.”

He said the Ijaw youths would not be cowed until their demands were met.

“The military wants to demonstrate that they are capable of repression. They want to cow the Ijaw youths into submission. It is typical military manner of responding to the grievances of the Niger Delta people,” he said.

The Ijaw Youth Council, one of the militant pressure groups in the region, warned on Tuesday that the Ijaw youths have the capacity to defend themselves against any provocation.

It said the ‘Kaiama declaration’ was to secure the control of their oil resources and demands for self-determination for Ijaw people.

The main military wing of Ijaw, the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), has given the Nigerian government 60 days to meet their demands or face oil sabotage.

In December, Shell’s ‘Forcados’ oil company was forced to shut for one week following protests by the Ogulagha youths in the Niger Delta State.

The youths said they were protesting unfulfilled promise by Mobil to pay a balance of 6.8 million US Dollars as compensation over a spill recorded at its facilities in January 1998.

The youth initially demanded 50 million US Dollars in compensation. But Mobil paid only 5.3 million US Dollars, promising to meet the remaining 6.8 million US Dollars later.

“This time around, Nigeria and the International community must hear us or the entire nation will suffer with us,” the youth warned. A statement signed by Ekiokenagha Zuokunor and Bello Orubebe, NDVF President and Co-ordinator, said the warning was part of the decisions reached after the fifth congress of the NDVF and the Supreme Consultative Assembly of the military youth wing of the Ijaw National Congress (INC).

They said they were waiting for Nigeria’s head of state to respond to their demands, which include award of contracts for 20 road projects and a say in the distribution of oil resources.