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Author: Okah Ewah Edede
Posted to the web: 2/9/2007 9:38:01 AM

IN DEFENCE OF SANQUINARY GODSThe curdled impasse in the Niger Delta between the federal government and the eclectic militants of the Izzon quest is a case of harmonic insincerity shared between the enemy combatants. Both the FG and the Izzon warlords are mercurial in their dedication to orchestrated aspirations. A sly game of two foes that have realized they need the existence of the other to survive. The government is totally corrupt and economical about the solemnity of their drive of putting an end to the incessant activity of hostage taking and economic sabotage that the militants are doling out in prolific succession. If the government is sincere about its quest to eliminate the scourge of the fundamentalist, then there are certain effective actions it can set in motion to chase ghoulish shadows lurking in the creeks into waterlog crevices, and lever stubborn shadows out of suspicious corners, and bring succour to its terrorized ego. It can start by conceding fifty percent control of the disputed resources to the ancestral landlords of the wealth or allow the conglomerates to negotiate directly with the host communities on what reparations, taxes, etc, they should pay for the damages of their exploitation and, if the communities allow it, continuous exploration and degradation of their waters and soil. This would mean granting full resource control right to the aboriginal inhabitants of the oil and gas-producing region. Another measure the FG can take, if it feels uncomfortable with the above suggestions, is to launch a full-fledged military onslaught against the irritating militants. The government, with all its secret services and esoteric covert organizations, should know the hideouts and camps of the militants. And so it is expected of the government to form, arm and train a sophisticated and patriotically fanatical air, sea and land elite military unit fully mandated to engage the militants in a mortal battle of total annihilation and conquest. This British SAS-like military outfit should be able to launch a synchronized air and amphibian attack on all the known camps and hideouts of the militants. This attack should be accompanied with massive aerial bombardment of the camps. The militants on the other hand can strive for peace or take the freedom-fighting struggle to a truly anarchic level of noble social emancipation quest. First, the militants should embark on developmental projects with part of the funds they acquire through hostage taking and oil bunkering. By developing their communities with part of the funds they get through their armed activities, the militants will chart a part in progressive revolutionary thinking, and this will earn them the sympathy and support of the teaming population of Niger deltans both in the creeks and in the Diaspora. Even I, Okah Ewah Edede, will join them in the armed struggle. Secondly, they should also include politicians and so called statesmen (especially those oppressors from the Niger delta who loot the treasury of the people) as preys to be kidnapped and even killed for their atrocities against their own people. They should ask the Niger Delta governors, LG chairmen, councilors and other political leaders what they have done with the money gotten from the 13% derivation. What have they done with the money? This way, leaders of the Niger delta will desist from the corrupt tendency of stealing and enriching themselves on the collective wealth of the people. Finally, the militants can engage the FG in a fight to finish by either closing all oil exploration in the Niger delta or by taking over all apparatus of governance and declaring a sovereign Niger delta state. This way, they will have the opportunity to test the might of the federal government and, by so doing, they will demystify or re-enforce the myth of the invincibility of the Nigerian army. The federal government and the Niger delta militants are sanguinary gods who strive in blood. They have this trait in common and so needs the survival of the other to survive also. They know that if they take the option of total conflagration, that the achievement of victory will be pyrrhic.By Okah Ewah Edede 08020919756 08064971660 mr.okahewahedede@yahoo.com