| RED
ALERT!
SUICIDE BOMBERS
By CHRIS AGUNWEZE (agunweze@yahoo.com)
Saturday,
December 16, 2006
 |
•Olomu
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
| |
The nation may soon witness a deadlier dimension in the Niger
Delta struggle as the militants have threatened to introduce
suicide bombers as a new way of enforcing their demands. The
militants also plan to intensify kidnaps, expanding their
dragnet to enable them kidnap governors, council Chairman
and other public office holders perceived to be corrupt. It
is their own way of ensuring a more effective control of corruption
in the region.
Audacious
This threat is coming from none other than the Movement of
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group
which sprang into prominence last year when Alhaji Asari Dokubo,
leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF)
was arrested by the government.
MEND, said to be the deadliest and the most organized militant
group, has carried out most of the deviating attacks on strategic
oil instillations in various locations of the oil rich Delta
region. Many of such attacks claimed human casualties. It
was also at the forefront of the practice of taking foreign
oil workers in the region hostage, but it is better known
for its disposition to crush anything that stands on its way
during operations, including the military. In all the attacks,
defiant MEND claimed responsibilities through e-mail messages
dispatches to media houses.
One would naturally expect that leader of such a group would
be holed up somewhere in the thick mangrove forests of the
creeks, hiding from the law. But that is not the situation
with Teks Olomu. The commander of the dreaded MEND freely
cruises around Port Harcourt city in a Mercedes Benz car.
He even stops at check-points to shake hands and exchange
pleasantries with military men. While his bosom comrade in
the struggle Asari Dokubo sounds like he would blow off the
roof when he talks, Olomu is soft spoken and very casual in
appearance. But when he speaks he pours out venom - so casually.
Those who are familiar with the antecedence of the Niger Delta
militants especially MEND will attest that they hardly issue
empty threats, which is why Olomu must be taken seriously
when he says his group have already recruited young men and
women willing to sacrifice themselves as suicide bombers in
the struggle for the development of Niger Delta and fair treatment
of Niger Deltans.
Even more scary is his claim that the next line of action
is to step up the profile of those taken hostage by MEND.
According to him, MEND wants to look beyond oil workers to
politicians and top government officials, whose selfish interests,
he says, continue to frustrate genuine efforts at bettering
the lot of the neglected people of the Niger Delta
Olomu who has successfully avoided media attention over the
years, in this exclusive interview told Saturday Sun that
the Niger Delta struggle has taken another dimension. He disclosed
that he has introduced suicide bombers in the struggle. According
to him, members of his suicide bombers’ squad who graduated
two weeks ago and will be as deadly as Osama Bin Laden’s
Al-queada suicide bombers, will be let loose in Nigeria if
Asari Dokubo and the detained former governor of Bayelsa State
DSP Alamasiegha were not released before January next year.
“MEND will now kidnap governors and council chairmen
of the region”. He said, MEND took this decision due
to his recent discoveries that the jumbo monthly allocation
the federal government pumped into Niger Delta from 1999 to
2005 was sufficient to develop the region, but the region,
according to him, “still lacks basic infrastructure,
the people are still in penury and hunger stricken. Most people
still live in slums and under the flyovers”. According
to him this is as a result of the thieving tendencies of the
governors and the council chairmen of the region. He said
that any of them kidnapped will be kept until he vomits every
kobo or be blown up by his suicide bombers.
He confessed that he wanted to start it big weeks ago, when
he followed Governor Peter Odili’s campaign convoy all
the way from Port Harcourt to Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos
“where I would have attacked him with my grenades and
rocket launchers” but Olomu suspended the attack because
“MEND doesn’t do a thing without warning”.
He stressed that the rift between President Olusengun Obasanjo
and his Vice Atiku Abubakar has exposed how corrupt the presidency
is. According to him Obasanjo’s regime and his agencies
have lost the moral authority to continue to detain, anyone
for the same offence. He therefore warned that Alamasiegha
should be released before long or Aso rock should be prepared
to receive his agents of death; The suicide bombers.
He spoke about possible attack on the NLNG as well as the
MASSOB Leader Ralph Uwazuruike whom he said, made the mistake
of been peaceful. “In Nigeria you need to be violent
to champion a struggle because Nigeria is a lawless nation”.
Olomu says he has gone beyond fear and is no longer afraid
of being picked up by the security agencies. Hear him: “My
status in the struggle has passed the level I will be picked
any how. But if that happens, there will be total catastrophe.
No government house will be standing erect again in the Niger
Delta, all police stations and military barracks will be torn
down, Nigeria will forget about the business of oil as all
oil installation in the zone would be blown. Soldiers will
face more opposition and complete holocaust will befall the
region. Excerpts:
Formation
MEND was formed to emancipate the people of the Niger Delta
region from the oppressive regimes of the Nigerian state and
since then it has been an active force in the region. People
think it was formed when Asari Dokubo was arrested but MEND
has been in existence physically and spiritually right from
the beginning of the struggle but we were operating quietly.
But when Asari was arrested, we felt that the federal government
has made a mistake because the arrest will not solve the problems.
Besides, we want to show that he has millions of people behind
him, so we now came up openly.
Connection with NDPVF and other militant groups
We are all fighting to achieve a common goal. That goal must
one day be achieved. If you talk about an overall commander
of the militants or one central body, MEND does not believe
in one snake head or one lion head. We don’t believe
in such things. We believe that the struggle must continue
until we emancipate the people of Niger Delta and this is
the basic plan of each group.
Why we kidnap expatriates
I don’t disclose my strategies. However I will tell
you that we have stages of whatever we do. The kidnap of foreign
oil workers is to let the Federal Government know that we
can bite and also to draw the attention of the international
community to the plight of the region. A lot of people are
saying that we do collect money from the oil companies and
the government to release them. In fact that is a big lie.
We don’t do that at all. Although there could be some
greedy individuals or even groups that do that, MEND does
not believe in it.
We also kidnap to make the oil companies and their staff feel
the pain my people have been going through since we discovered
that they connive with the federal government to punish our
people. Some of these oil companies operating in the region
have been very funny… They have abandoned responsibilities
to their host Communities inspite of the environmental hazards
those communities go through as a result of their operations.
Their operations greatly endanger the lives of the people
of their host communities. In the next 50 years a greater
portion of the Niger Delta region may sink. Already some buildings
are now having problems right from their foundations, because
of their constant shootings into the soil.
Our aquatic lives are been destroyed on daily basis, the road
that leads to our communities are been over stressed by the
heavy equipment of those oil companies. The M.O.U signed between
them and our communities have been ignored. Yet in the face
of all these deprivation and environmental degradation the
oil companies have bluntly refused to come up with a better
Environmental Impact Assessment. So with this frustration,
we have no option than to kidnap their expatriates so as to
expose their ill treatments, but we don’t kill anybody.
But Military Men sometimes get killed…
MEND has the right to defend itself from any external interference
because if you come to me fully armed to attack me I must
defend myself and in the process anyone could get killed.
Why we must kidnap our governors soon
When I stumbled unto facts and figures and saw the jumbo allocations
those our state governors from the Niger Delta region receives
monthly, I now agree with analysts who maintained that the
government administrations of the zone were our major problems.
In fact, the basic truth is that some of the governors we
have are thieves and evil men without conscience. Most of
our local government chairmen are common rogues while the
commissioners for finance and the states’ Accountants-General
are parttakers of the criminality.
Take for instances, the government of Rivers State under governor
Peter Odili has received the total sum of N286.395bn from
1999 to 20005. This is outside internal revenue. Delta state
has received N331.2bn within the same period, Bayelsa N259.8bn,
Akwa Ibom N238.5bn within the same period out side internal
revenue. Allocations to the local government areas of the
states go directly to them from the federal government.
They have been getting all these staggering sums on monthly
basis yet you can see poverty everywhere written on the faces
of the people of the Niger Delta region the region still lacks
basic infrastructure that can directly impact on the lives
of the people.
Now we shall kidnap our governors one by one. If they like
let them use all the Nigerian soldiers or invite American
soldiers for their protection, we will still kidnap them.
They can go and buy all the aircraft, we will use our rocket
launchers to bring them down, we will start to hold them and
their accomplices hostage until they bring all the money they
have stolen back to the masses.
We can no longer be dying in poverty, hunger and starvation
and they will be using public fund to live in affluence, use
public fund to buy private aircraft. We can not take that
any longer. So the governors, their finance commissioners
and accountants-general and the local government chairmen
of the region, we will start kidnapping them. When we kidnap
them, we will naked them (strip them naked) and invite you
to come and snap them and publish…We will begin in January
2007…
Obasanjo is right on some issues concerning some of the administrators
of the region. I have never met with him and I don’t
even want to meet with him because he has played a lot of
wicked roles in the Niger Delta region but to speak the truth
what the federal government is saying about our governors,
here is the basis truth, because they are real thieves.
Imagine, we are getting report that over N300m was discovered
in the house of (identity of state withheld by us) Commissioner
for Finance. When I had that I was shocked. I am still investigating.
We don’t do anything without proper investigation. After
investigation, if it is true then we will deal with him. We
must make sure that he vomits that money back to the masses.
Yes, since we are out to emancipate the suffering people of
the Niger Delta we have the right to investigate him properly
and deal with him if he is found guilty.
Today, Alameseigha was detained because he was accused of
corruption but he is not the only thief. We have worst thieves
than Alameseigha - after all, how many air planes did he buy?
O.K lets call a spade a spade. Take the case of Obasanjo and
Atiku… God heard the cries and prayers of the masses
and punished them and he made them have quarrels and expose
themselves how they have been looting the Nation.
How the allocated oil blocks to themselves: how they established
business empires with looted public funds and how they have
been buying flashy cars to their girlfriends. Even when the
two men chose to do so by themselves, to expose how they have
been squandering our money, yet EFCC kept silent on the issue.
For this reason I am giving the Federal Government between
this period to release Alamaseigha and Asari Dokubo immediately
unless if Obasanjo and Atiku will also be detained for corruption.
No oil company will operate again in this region.
Suicide bombers
We have gone to another stage in the struggle. Since the birds
are now flying without perching the hunter has learnt how
to shoot without missing. Now I have a suicide bombers’
squad which I am one of them. I want the federal government
to know that anything they do against us will not work. If
Asari and Alamaseigha are not released within the given period,
then we will start suicide bombing and we know our targets.
We can not live to see our people been oppressed that way
and keep quite. We will be ready to sacrifice our lives because
we don’t fear death - what we fear is poverty. And if
any body thinks he can come and pick me or arrest me I am
24 hours ready. I am not scared. I am everywhere. But picking
me will not solve the problem because if you pick me, you
pick big trouble.
Do you mean you have trained suicide bombers and
you will let them loose in Nigeria?
Yes I have to do that and they have graduated two weeks ago.
I did that because that is the only way we are going to solve
the problem. You see, freedom is not freely given. I believed
in dialogue and none violence and we have tried all we could
in that direction and it did not work. For some years now
it has been dialogue! dialogue! it did not work. O.K. lets
try our might doing this too.
By the time my suicide bombers will start you will know how
deadly they will be. You will know if they will be as deadly
as the Al -queda. Suicide bomber or not when they start, you
will know where they were trained and you will know if they
are Nigerians.
A rocket launcher for Gov. Odili
I pity those Niger Delta Governors who go about campaigning
for presidency because they have forgotten that MEND will
decide on who will represent the Niger Delta people in the
presidential race. Our candidates are not going to be rogues
not physical and spiritual thieves. We are going to choose
some one who is reliable and trustworthy. If you like go and
buy an aircraft and start using it for campaign like what
***** is doing, he should keep on doing that.
I monitored Odili up to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos,
some weeks ago during one of his campaign tours. I was behind
a bus carrying some women. The women were also following him.
At a point, all those Okada boys were displaying with Odili’s
T-shirt and caps. I would have used my grenade and rocket
launcher to handle him at that time. What people would say
is that there was a bomb explosion at Third Mainland Bridge
in Lagos and a governor, who is a presidential candidate was
affected. I can, likewise, die there with him no problems.
We have to take care of our house properly.
Why single out Odili?
I don’t hate Odili. He is not my enemy, for Christ sake.
He is a son of the Niger Delta so he is not my enemy. But
I want him to realize that people are not happy with some
of the things they are doing.
If there is any governor I admire in the region, it is Donald
Duke of Cross Rivers State, considering what he has achieved
with N75.472bn about four times less than some of the Niger
Delta governors received at the same period. I think he is
a super star. I saw what Attah has done when Obasanjo went
to Akwa Ibom to commission some of his projects I deliberately
went on my own for inspection. Ibori constructed bridge to
Bomadi and roads to the hinterland in Delta State and Jonathan
is trying to transform Bayelsa.
NLNG plants In Bonny
Attacks on the NLNG plants in Bonny is imminent. We have warned
about that. MEND does not believe in talks without doing.
MEND is not a toothless bulldog, it does not issue empty threats.
Whatever MEND has spoken is like that. If you go to the NLNG
in Bonny you hardly see Niger Delta person working there.
They only pick one or two management staff and that’s
all. You hardly see any Bonny indigene working there. How
many core Ijaw men do we have in NLNG none. Why must NLNG
have their head quarters in Lagos State instead of Rivers
State or any of the Niger Delta States.
While they milk our oil and gas worth millions of dollars
every day yet their headquarters is in far away Lagos. I have
not seen anything done in Bonny Island by the NLNG that is
worth their hazards, rather what we see there is the intimidation
of the people with heavy military presence which they are
still sending on daily bases. I want to emphasize that Bonny
is an integral part of Niger Delta. In fact Bonny is the Bight
of Biafra and we have the right to protect the people from
intimidation. The military men are just been used by the federal
government. The soldiers are the poorest human beings in Nigeria
today. They don’t have anything if you go to their barracks
or their homes you will pity them. They are been used for
nothing.
More dangerous than Dokubo
Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer
Force, was once quoted as saying that if he is incaserated
or killed that some one by far more dangerous than him will
spring up. Is Olomu that person?
“I don’t know if it is me Asari talked about.
I don’t know who is more dangerous but the basic truth
is that we fight on to defend our people. If Dokubo and Alamasiegha
are not released by the period we talk about, Nigeria should
forget about oil, Shell and other oil companies should pack
and go. Most of the oil blocks we have are owned by other
people, but the federal government is busy threatening our
son Dan Etete, the only person from our zone who has oil block
and they said they will seize his license. Let them try it
and see what will happen. We know all the oil blocks owned
by … and … and some of the retired generals that
are not our people.
Cultism
MEND does not believe in cultism. We are not cultists. The
cult members we have in this region are the politicians. They
are the people sponsoring cultism for their selfish interests.
This is the basic truth. Cult has nothing to do with the struggle.
Activism does not practice stealing, cultism and other negative
vices.
Activism is purely for the Salvation and emancipation of our
people anything concerning cultism in this region. MEND has
nothing to do with it at all. We also don’t believe
in truancy and hooliganism we are above that level and we
will no longer allow that to continue in our region.
The mistake Uwazurike made:
The mistake Uwazurike leader of the Movement for the Actualization
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was being peaceful.
To lead a struggle one must imbibe some atom of violence.
I warned him I told him everyday that freedom is not picked
in a platter of gold. You must be violent to achieve success
in a struggle in Nigeria. I told him time and time again that
you don’t need peace to carry a struggle in Nigeria
because Nigeria is a lawless nation.
Look at what he got for being peaceful: MOPOL and soldiers
constantly raid his boys, kill some, jail some and they don’t
fight back for a struggle they were right. Now they picked
him and jailed him so easily. Even as he is in detention they
still raid his home town almost on a daily basis. Any way,
that is the price he is paying for been peaceful.
Should he be arrested…
Let them come. anyone who comes to arrest me will die with
me because I am a suicide bomber (laughs). On a more seriously
note, if anyone arrests me, there will be no government house
standing erect again in the Delta region. There will be no
police station again in the region. There will be no SSS office.
The military will face a lot of opposition. No oil company
will remain again in the Delta region, neither will there
be any oil well that will be functional in the region again.
So I move freely because of my status in the struggle. In
fact, I am ready to die that is the basic truth why I am not
afraid. As some one who is ready to die, how can I fear death
again? In fact I have warned all youths in the region that
there is no way any of them should allow himself to be intimidated
or stand and fold their hands while Asari and Alamaseigha
are languishing in jail. |
