Ewolewoo!!

Yesterday suspected militants in the Niger delta blew up a major valve platform belonging to chevron Limited around escravos in Warri, Delta state. Will it continue? I can’t bet that it wouldn’t. The set up in that area would encourage any activities that portend this issue. Money is the name of the game though a just cause is used as the bargain.

It is not in doubt that the Niger Delta needs proper development being the hen that lays the golden eggs.  To deny that fact is to deny that death is not real. This is something everyone agrees in all ramifications though modalities that could help in the resolution could vary.

This is the problem: Everybody including the militants knows that developing Niger Delta is not the reason for the militancy. The reason for the militancy is to make money. When I mean money, I mean real money. No one is in the creek brandishing AK-47 with the mind-set of turning Warri into Dubai. Naahh!! The person(s) who blew that chevron pipeline knew that there would be environmental degradation owing to the oil spills from that pipeline. Does he care?? For wia!! He is thinking of something else. He is thinking of being the next billionaire Tompolo or Asari Dokubo. Who is a fool?

If Tompolo, boyloaf and Asari dokubo can be billionaires by fighting for Niger Delta cause what stops me? That is the mindset in this renewed violence. Do you blame them?  It is complicated now because Buhari has stubbornly refused to “shake bodi” like Jonathan. The man nor dey spend.  The man too get “aka gum”. So the way it is now, the only story that would make him spend is this militancy.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the military could solve this issue easily. With the experience of what has been happening there,  the soldiers get sucked into the complicated mess of the Niger Delta militancy once involved. Before you say Jack, you would be lucky to differentiate between the militants and the regular troops. Why this is not too pronounced now  is due to the crash in the crude oil price. If the crude oil price rises well enough, the incentive for illegal bunkering becomes “irresistible”  and you could hear more of this story I tell you.

Don’t forget NNPC too. This is the time to make more money. This is the time to jack up “security expenses”  and no one would blink an eye. This is the time to shine once more. Since TSA is disrupting “chop-chop”, this would be nice. No one would ask questions and all would be fine.  The earlier people understand that there is insider’s collaboration the better in this instance.  I nor talk anything here oo!!

Yaradua knew what the militants want. They wanted money and he settled them. He knew they don’t care about how Yenogoa or Sapele looks. They just wanted money to enjoy. He oblidged them and there was relative peace. Jonathan upped the ante, he not only gave them (militants) money; he offered them influence in his administration. Mind you Jonathan, who is a Niger Deltan, ruled for close to 6 years and nothing came to the Niger deltans.

During Jonathan’s reign, their leaders became rich but at the detriment of their areas and the people.   The poverty in Brass didn’t disappear when Jonathan was there. The extreme poverty in oporoma could still be felt during Jonathan’s reign.  Yenogoa never developed beyond that forgotten city close to portharcort during Jonathan’s reign. Warri,  just went down the drain during Jonathan’s time. Portharcourt lost  lots of oil&gas construction jobs to Lagos during Jonathan’s era. I can go on and on… You would now wonder what the area gained during Jonathan’s era apart from the leaders sharing money.

The Niger Delta issue can only be solved when the Niger deltans decide to say enough is enough to people who use them to become billionaires. I don’t deny their right to resource control. However without making a way  to make their leaders accountable, they would be saddled with leaders whose only brief is to use their just cause as means to be rich….Ewolewooo!!