Ken Niweigha was killed 24 hours after being arrested

A Nigerian oil militant leader has been shot dead in police custody.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) claim Ken Niweigha known as “Daddy Ken” was executed by the police.

But the police say he was killed in a shootout after he took them to his hideout to surrender his weapons.

Human rights groups say extra-judicial execution is “shockingly common” in Nigeria, where the police lack the capacity to do their jobs effectively.

After his arrest on Tuesday, Mr Niweigha, who led the Egbesu Boys armed group in Bayelsa State, was paraded in front of journalists.

We did not know that he had arranged with his gang to attack us Police Commissioner Onouha Udeka Nigeria’s infamous police executions

He then agreed to take the police to his hideout in Odi town and surrender all his arms, local media reported police commissioner Onouha Udeka as saying.

“He promised he was going to take us to his hideout in Odi where he hid his weapons,” said Mr Udeka.

“But we did not know that he had arranged with his gang to attack us and possibly get him freed. Ken was shot trying to escape.”

‘Harbouring militants’

Mr Niweigha was the only person killed in the shootout, he said.

Thousands flee Delta fighting Will Nigeria oil offensive backfire?

A spokesman from Mend - an affiliation of armed groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta - accused the police of “summarily executing” Mr Niweigha.

“The Nigerian government in authorising extra-judicial killings is sending a clear message to youths from the region that it is better to die fighting for freedom than be killed by a lawless system of government,” Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mail to journalists.

Mr Niweigha had been arrested after 500 women from Odi demanded something should be done to stop militants fleeing from an army operation in neighbouring Delta State coming to the town.

The women told police “Daddy Ken” that was harbouring them.

It is unusual for people to turn in militants as they are often feared or pay Delta communities to keep quiet, but Odi residents said they feared a repeat of an army operation 10 years ago which devastated the town.

Military operation

US-based rights body Human Rights Watch reported 50 people were killed in that attack, which was provoked by the murder of 12 policemen, allegedly by militants led by Daddy Ken.

Other local accounts put the number of dead at much higher.

A security operation is currently under way in the swamps of Delta State where the military Joint Task Force (JTF) is hunting Mend fighters.

Militant groups in the Niger Delta have flourished amid a lack of governance and rule of law.

They claim to be fighting to help local people benefit from the region’s oil wealth but fund their activities with oil theft, extortion and kidnapping.

Opeyemi Agbaje - Business Day

Last year I wrote “The Trouble In The Niger- Delta” in which I argued basically that a “three-track strategy” consisting of a “sincere and constructive discussion and engagement between all stakeholders (federal, state and local governments, community and civic associations, oil companies, NDDC, youth groups, media, donor agencies, etc) to achieve consensus on the region’s development”; a “massive and immediate infrastructural investment in the region-roads and bridges, railways, hospitals, urban renewal and new cities development, primary and secondary education, micro-finance institutions, as well as skills acquisition and youth and vocational centres” and “the third track-military and intelligence capacity building and strict and decisive law enforcement and security action” would be required to solve the problems in the region. Essentially there are legitimate grievances in the Niger-Delta which had been identified as far back as the Willinks Commission Report of 1957. These have manifested in different forms-the insurrection of Isaac Adaka Boro during the first republic, the agitation for the creation of the COR (Calabar, Ogoja, Rivers) state; the Ogoni Campaign led by Ken Saro Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People; the large presence of Niger-Delta indigenes in the Orkar Coup in 1990; grumblings over environmental degradation and development which led to creation of OMPADEC and NDDC; the resource control argument etc.

Unfortunately since the advent of the current republic, these legitimate grievances have become subsumed within a movement that manifests more as criminality, political violence, oil theft, kidnapping for ransom and general lawlessness, and has detracted from the genuine complaints of the Niger-Delta people.
This derailment was traceable to the visionless political leaders in the region beginning from the run up to the 1999 elections and afterwards who deployed the strong arm tactics of the militant groups to secure their “election” into office and who afterwards paid them hefty sums of money to maintain their loyalty. Alternatively these leaders looked the other way while their erstwhile henchmen took over territory, engaged in kidnapping or oil “bunkering” or other forms of criminal extortion and brigandage, thus discrediting the campaign for development in the region. The large scale corruption within the political class meant that the governors and legislators had no moral authority to restrain this descent to criminality. It also meant that the region’s call for “resource control” and a higher derivation rang hollow in the ears of other Nigerians.
To be fair, the lack of visionary leadership since 1999, and corruption and loss of moral authority was not restricted to the Niger-Delta-it was a pan-Nigerian problem. Northern leaders for instance could equally be asked why in spite of their near-total control of state power since independence; the region has the highest poverty and illiteracy rate in Nigeria. In the East, men had largely abandoned education for trading and in Yoruba land the office where Awolowo once sat is now occupied by Alao-Akala! In short the leadership failure in the Niger-Delta is replicated across the Nigerian State so none of us is justified in casting the first stone. But the consequences were going to be worse in the Niger-Delta which alone had the right to feel that Nigeria was maintained by resources extracted from their region while they lived with the environmental and social consequences.
In the earlier article referred to above, my point was that only simultaneous attention to the fundamental causes-underdevelopment, dialogue around our federalism-as well as dealing with crime and law enforcement could provide a sustainable long term solution to the problem in the region. In effect with the current military operations, the Nigerian state has chosen a military solution by and large. The government’s initial actions of creation of a Niger-Delta Ministry, the Niger-Delta Technical Committee and the offer of amnesty all suggested an intent to proceed with such a multiple approach but the government has evidently shown more commitment to the pacification of the region, rather than the other approaches.
The leadership of the Niger-Delta, particularly the Ijaw ethnic group, must now recognise that they have committed significant strategic errors. It could not have been in their interest to precipitate a military confrontation with the Nigerian state; they allowed the actions of the “militants” to alienate many domestic and international observers; and like Sadaam Hussein continued to threaten a “mother of all wars” which has now provided an alibi for military action. The type of intellectual and political militancy required was almost completely absent in effect ceding the leadership of the Niger-Delta “struggle” to miscreants and gangsters whose motives were largely commercial. It is time for them to re-evaluate their strategy.
The Nigerian state will also need to evaluate its own strategy. Military action will end the criminality (at least for a season) but if the political undercurrents and development of the region are not attended to, the next blow-up may even be worse as we have seen from history. Beyond the Niger-Delta, there are issues from other regions-Sharia, fiscal federalism, MASSOB, federal character-all of which suggest that a honest debate about the structure of our federalism is still necessary.

A government watchdog says the backlog of asylum cases has doubled in the last year. Here, one man tells the BBC what it is like to be in the system.

He was an hour from being deported when an injunction was granted

It took two applications, two appeals and two years for Nigerian Alfonsus Okafor-Mefor, 36, to be granted refugee status.

He arrived in the UK in 2005 after the Nigerian government started a crackdown on an organisation calling for the independence for the country’s Biafra region.

Mr Okafor-Mefor belongs to the group, which is called the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob).

Some members of Massob have been detained without trial for long periods, most prominently its leader Ralph Uwazurike who was jailed without trial for five years and still faces charges of treason, along with several others.

Mr Okafor-Mefor travelled to the UK to campaign to bring the situation to the attention of the international community - then, believing it was not safe to return, claimed asylum.

Looking back at his time in the asylum system he says: “It was traumatic. You lived in a state of not knowing what was going to happen to you at the next meeting. You don’t have your life in your own hands; they’re deciding your future for you.”

‘Little hope’

After an initial interview he was sent to Liverpool under the dispersal system to a hostel, while the claim was processed. Applicants are given £41 a week to pay for food and transport to register daily at the Home Office centre.

“It was a strange environment for me, depressing. It didn’t give me much hope for the future. But I was consoled because so many people there were also in my situation,” he says.

While in Liverpool he became a leading figure in the campaign group Asylum Voice, which campaigns for the rights of asylum seekers.

His first application was rejected - the Home Office said he was not in danger as it was unlikely the Nigerian government would be looking for him.

Following two failed appeals, Mr Okafor-Mefor was detained in February 2007 and moved to the Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow for removal the following day.

They call it a detention and removal centre, but it is a prison. Mr Okafor-Mefor

“It was the lowest point in my life so far. I was in a situation of despair and breakdown. I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know what I was going to face,” he recalls.

His case had gathered unprecedented support from the trade union movement and asylum organisations, and his lawyers managed to get a High Court injunction an hour before he was to board a plane at Heathrow airport.

He was then taken to Tinsley House, near Gatwick airport.

“They call it a detention and removal centre, but it is a prison. You are in your cell with strict times when you can come out for prayer or time in the common room,” he says.

“This is the situation for someone who hasn’t committed a crime.”

While his second application for asylum went through he was put on Section Four, which means he was given vouchers, not money.

These can only be used in a limited range of shops and not for transport, so he had to walk three miles and back daily to sign in at the Home Office.

‘Serious depression’

“It doesn’t give you any hope for the future. You have a lack of self-worth and you don’t know what is waiting for you. Most asylum seekers fall into a serious depression. Most people in this situation degenerate until they have mental health problems,” he said.

How did he cope? “I was lucky, I had friends and a lot of support from the community and asylum support groups,” he stresses.

Following his second claim he was given refugee status, after more evidence was produced to prove his life was in danger.

“I broke down, couldn’t believe it. That period of my life had come to an end and I was going to remain in this country. It was amazing,” he insists.

Mr Okafor-Mefor is still working to highlight the cause of Massob and now is also working to improve the rights of asylum seekers in the UK.

He is currently working with Citizens for Sanctuary, which is training people like him to lobby on the issue.

Following his experience in the system, he says the entire asylum process needs an overhaul.

“Asylum seekers need to be given access to proper legal representation, the right to work, the right of access to education and proper healthcare. Section Four should be abolished.

“Asylum is not a crime, but a universal process.” 

A very dangerous situation.  Any thoughts?

When is the next one happening?

There are so many of them these days.  Do you think that they will ever come under one umbrella?

Dr Reuben Abati Breaks His Silence

I guess I should commence this rejoinder by confessing that the uproar raised by my ‘involvement’ in the Abuja land allocation by the ex-Minister Modibo to the EFCC strongwoman and others including top editors of my generation had pricked my conscience. For many decades I have been practising journalism (which has culminated in my reaching the zenith of the noble profession in the Guardian) I have never been associated with any scandal of this kind, one publicly revealed by an ‘opposition’ online news source, ‘SaharaRaporters’. Of course Omoyele Sowore, my friend, and his anonymous reporters must have believed stumbling on a ’scoop’ with the sole aim of tarnishing the good images of those mentioned in the so-called land ‘deal’ on their minds as they went about publishing same. I salute them all for their efforts and bear no grudges!

Let me declare here without any equivocation that I am neither shocked nor perturbed by the furore the report has generated within Nigeria and elsewhere outside our shores thus far. Whoever thinks that I am having sleepless nights over the exposé is deceiving himself or herself. But I must say nevertheless that I never knew before now that I had many detractors cum ‘enemies’ who are now feeding fat over a non-issue. I decided to remain silent before now to be able to come to terms with the limits of people’s anger and indignation and the capacity of man to over-reach himself in matters that ordinarily should not be his business.

If the former Minister of the FCT decided, in his sound judgement, to reward patriotic citizens like us who have the courage to remind government of their responsibilities and failings what is the fuss about that? Even if we fight against the ills of the society including corruption through our media outfits does that preclude us from receiving government’s largesse? The land gift we received had no strings attached to it, so we shall continue to criticise where criticism is called for and commend where commendation becomes necessary. It is not everybody in government that is corrupt or evil. We have those we can safely brand as ‘paragons’ even when we have many of their opposites within!

Apart from my parents who sent me to school it is only the Ibru family and God that can demand for any personal account from me or my transaction with those wielding power, some of whom are my friends. It is therefore ludicrous for some mortals operating mainly in the internet to want to put me down. While some are seeking attention through my name others are unhappy about my journalistic excellence; I refused to dignify their rantings with a response but for some passionate appeals from well-meaning Nigerians at home and abroad.

In Nigeria we often hear of people working hard without a good pay packet. We often hear about pensioners dying while waiting for the peanuts they took home as pension. In a nation where millionaires and billionaires are churned out daily by hook or by crook it is strikingly baffling how people expect me not to join the bandwagon of the rich and powerful. Journalists the world over do their job for fame and reward. Some are stupendously rich by the strenght of their characters, connections and ‘right deals’. Others are living fairly well and waiting for mother luck to smile on them.

I never bargained for any land with anybody but it is not good as an African (and above all as a Yoruba elite) to reject a gift given without any condition attached — and if one was attached then it is not to my knowledge. When the ex-Minister released the list of the land allotees and my name was included my happiness knew no bounds. That meant that those in authorities recognised the sharpness of one’s pen and the power of readership one wields as a national and international columnist.

The damage control measures I had smartly applied seems to have failed me spectacularly. The hard-core critics are not impressed and they are hardening up their positions of antagonism. By writing studiously about the scammers that had wanted to play a fast one on me and my friends, the police and their raped Queen, the ‘goat-robber’ of Ilorin, and the St. Valentine of love and lust I had sought to comically relieve my detractors of their frustrations. But they are not pacified, rather they have kept up the pressure asking probing questions about the Abuja land with my hard-earned reputation doing the Naira dance of fluctuation.

Is it a crime for prominent journalists to be officially recognised and rewarded for their patriotic contributions to national development? Is Olusegun Adeniyi not doing well as President Yar’Adua’s spokesman? Or other journalists in the state capitals providing their loyal services to the ‘oppressors’ we had collectively condemned yesterday? Does common sense not dictate that if you cannot beat the system (or change same outrightly) you join the system? Why are people not minding their businesses?

The inglorious era of wretched journalists or poor journalism is gone for good! We do remember with pathetic nostalgia when journalists would go to Oshodi market for suit and shoes or struggle for apartment in Ajegunle with thugs (’Area Boys’ if you like). Now we are proud owners of choice plots of land, bungalows; we ride in modern cars and buy our attires in the best boutiques in choice capitals of the West: London, Paris New York!

I sincerely wish to thank those brave internet warriors (apologies to Prof. Pat Utomi) for standing up on my behalf to the malicious critics seeking my downfall. Special mention goes to ‘Tonsoyo’, my defender-in-chief, for his remarkable capacity as an ‘Abati-abater’. His resilience has impressed me very much indeed! His reward awaits him the moment he steps his feet on the Nigerian soil and signals his presence at Rutam House.

Please someone should tell the glorified holier-than-thou critics like Rudolf Okonkwo, SOC Okenwa, Taju Tijani, Wale Akin, Okpia Egbe, Osita Mba and others to wait for their own turn. Whenever government remembers them (as I have deservedly been remembered) and decides to give them their own plots of land I swear by my grand mother’s grave never to do any commentary on that. I shall overlook that for other dramatic things happening daily in our great nation whose full potentials has never been realised.

To conclude I crave your indulgence friends and well-wishers far and near. My major concern here is not found in the controversy sorrounding my latest material acquisition. Rather my apprehension stems from the fact that by taking legal possession of the parcel of land in our federal capital city I should soon start putting up a befitting country home. However upon completion of the building one is worried that another crazy dimunitive FCT Minister in the mould of El-Rufai could be appointed and acting dutifully on petitions, demolition of the structure like that of our own ‘Chemical’ Ali could well set in; or another EFCC Chair like Ribadu replacing Mrs Waziri could happen setting off an investigation of yours sncerely’s precious gift in this regard.

I promise my faithful readers around the world one thing: I will be as critically analytical as before, as pungent as ever. I have neither ’sold out’ to the oppressors nor allowed them to compromise my position against corruption, a cankerworm tearing down our national edifice. Remain mobilized everyone for the struggle ahead is a tasking one.

SOC Okenwa

soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr