Erstwhile Militants of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have in the past few couples of years been dishing out threats to the government of Nigeria. A close friend of mine from the region confided me that it was “Egunje loading things”I didn’t quite get it until he broke it down to a,b,c.In summary, they issue threats in order to get undeserving rewards of cash payments. Once they get paid under the table, they become silent for a while until the rain starts beating them again.
Payment s of largesse to so-called militants started during the regime of President Yar’Adua.About the greatest Nigerian President. A good man and a pure nationalist who wanted the best for his country but alas I’ll health took its toll leading to his death in office. May God bless his soul. So when the militants started blowing pipelines and the kidnap of an expatriate in the swamps of the Nigerian Delta Area, Yar’Adua called for a truce and invited the kingpins of the “criminals” to Abuja. Note however that one man’s criminal is another”s Freedom Fighter. The Red carpet was laid out for Asari Dokubo and others of his henchmen.
Who could have believed it? Millions of dollars were dished out to pacify the warlords, so that the goose that lays the golden egg may not die. Virtually all the militants surrendered and handed over their weapons to Govt authorities. Many of the boys were sent and placed in overseas institutions to study such stuff as welding of pipelines, maintenance of pipelines, welding, and other such low-level vocations to keep them busy and hopefully gainfully employed on their return to Nigeria. Now this
AMNESTY OFFICE.
The Amnesty Office was created as a conduit to develop the Niger Delta region and indeed all the oil-producing states of Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo and Rivers States. The magnanimous federal government Votes billions of Naira annually to cater to the States mentioned. What we have on the ground however is a sham. Some States namely Rivers and Bayelsa have cornered the Amnesty Office and consider every other contractor from outside the two states personae no grata. The men who call the shots there, however, known to superior requests from highly placed Official s of government for their relatives and friends. The truth is that if you are not from the favoured States of Bayelsa and Rivers, forget. If you like submit “dogo turns” application, it will be dumped somewhere for good.
One wonders, what with all the billions being sunk into the Amnesty Office, some rascals are still threatening to declare the NIGER DELTA REPUBLIC.
What nonsense. This Egunje loading for idle hands who have tasted the good life for once and have vowed not to stop using blackmail to extort even more billions of Naira from a benevolent legal arrangement to cater for ecological devastation of some areas if the Niger Delta.
Once the militants, real or imagined had threatened to fire missiles from the sea to Abuja and especially Aso Rock. It was an empty threat as no one took them seriously. Now it is to declare a Republic with nothing on the ground. You can only get a better picture of how idle and idiotic the guys are when you interact with them at any political fora or even at the Amnesty Office which is now their birthright. The federal government should call their bluff and go ahead to arrest their leaders of which intelligence sources know.
Enough is Enough, idle hands and minds should stop issuing empty threats and indeed this us a call on the government to take a closer look at the Amnesty Office and investigate its activities in the last 4 years or so. It will be interesting to know the outcome of such an investigation. We hope millions or billions have not gone down the drain.
Many sources have agreed to supply us with insider accounts of dirty happenings in that Office which shall be published soon.
Let idle hands find something to do and stop living on handouts and issuing empty threats. That’s our take.
Aig(rtd) Donald Iroham,NPM,mni
