| Let God of justice arise
in Niger Delta
By Emem Okon, Annkio Briggs & Hilda Dokubo
Sunday, May 24, 2009
As you read this, thousands of innocent persons, especially
women, children and the aged have been massacred in Gbaramatu
Kingdom of Delta State in the Nigeria's oil belt. About 20,000
persons are displaced and trapped in the creeks, mangrove
swamps and bushes of Warri South West Local Government Area
of Delta State in Nigeria.
The onslaught by the Joint Task Force on the orders of the
Federal Government started on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 and
has progressed from house to house to burning of persons and
property in Okerenkoko and Oporoza communities. Other communities
affected are Kokodiagbene, Kurutie and Kunukunuma, all Ijaw
communities in Gbaramatu clan of Delta State.
This action by the federal government and its JTF is cruel,
appalling, barbaric, inhuman and sinful. Gbaramatu may be
the starting point, but if we all remain silent the whole
region will be engulfed in the inferno. Deploying four helicopter
gun ships, 24 gunboats and over 7,000 military men to communities
in peace time and in the name of hunting out criminals is
a declaration of war on peaceful communities of innocent and
harmless citizens. The militants live in the camps not in
the communities.
Why has the federal government decided to give the children
of the Niger Delta stone instead of bread? ìWhy should
the Gentiles say, so where is their Godî - Psalm 115:2;
and Psalm 82:3 says, ìdefend the poor and the fatherless;
do justice to the afflicted and needy; free them from the
hand of the wicked.î We therefore urge Niger Deltans
to call upon God to deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
The endless war and killing of Christians in some parts of
Nigeria is gradually being brought down to our domain. We
must not allow this to continue.
We want to use this medium to call on the Christian community
to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis to find a lasting solution
to the nagging incidents of genocide that have recurred over
the years in several communities such as the sacking of Umuechem
in 1990 in Rivers State; invasion of Ogoni communities in
the early 1990s and the subsequent killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa
in 1995; the sacking of Iko community in Akwa Ibom State in
1997; the razing down of Odi, Opia and Ikenyan communities
in 1999 in Bayelsa State; Odioma community in Bayelsa State,
2005; Agge community in Bayelsa State, 2008, and now Gbaramatu
clan in Delta State, 2009.
It is time the churches at the national and international
levels took decisive steps toward the resolution of the crisis
to forestall further loss of lives and properties.
We are anguished, pained and shocked beyond description that
a government that has vowed and pledged a total commitment
to the rule of law could suddenly become so lawless to attack
and destroy unarmed, oppressed, afflicted citizens of Gbaramatu
kingdom, especially vulnerable populations, including women,
children, the aged, and physically challenged among others.
The Federal Government has rolled out ammunition and all its
armoury against harmless women and children, bombing and killing
them in their thousands, rendering them homeless and leaving
them at the mercy of the rampaging genocidal Nigerian military.
As a matter of urgency, men of God and the churches in the
Niger Delta region need to rise in support of the people to
protect their common heritage by faith.
• Emem Okon, Annkio Briggs & Hilda Dokubo ,
Gender Coalition Against Genocide (GAG).
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