PRESS RELEASE
30 June 2009
(Abuja) Amnesty International today called the situation in the Niger Delta a “human rights tragedy,” saying that the people of the Niger Delta have seen their human rights abused by oil companies that their government cannot or will not hold to account.
Curse Of The Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta
“The Niger Delta provides a stark example of the lack of accountability of a government to its people, and of multinational companies’ almost total lack of accountability when it comes to the impact of their operations on human rights,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Head of Business and Human Rights and co-author of a major new report, Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta, released today at a press conference in Abuja.
The report examines oil spills, gas flaring, waste dumping and other environmental impacts of the oil industry. The majority of the evidence on pollution and environment damage gathered by Amnesty International, and contained in its new report, relates to the operations of Shell, the main oil company operating on land in the Niger Delta.
“People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins – if they are lucky enough to be able to still find fish. The land they farm on is being destroyed. After oil spills the air they breathe smells of oil, gas and other pollutants. People complain of breathing problems and skin lesions – and yet neither the government nor the oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution,” said Audrey Gaughran.
The human rights impact of pollution in the Niger Delta is greatly under-reported. The majority of people in the Niger Delta depend on the natural environment for their food and livelihood, particularly through agriculture and fisheries.
“The Nigerian government is aware of the risks that oil-related pollution poses for human rights, but has failed to take measures to ensure those rights are not harmed. Despite the widespread pollution of the Niger Delta’s land, rivers and creeks – and the many complaints from people living in the region - we could find almost no government data on the impact on humans of any aspect of oil pollution in the Niger Delta.”
Amnesty International said that government regulation of the oil industry has been wholly inadequate.
“The Nigerian government is failing in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of people in the Niger Delta to food, water, health and livelihood,” said Audrey Gaughran. “Some oil companies, for their part, have taken advantage of this government failure, and have shown a shocking disregard for the human impact of their activities.”
There have been some recent signs of improvement, however. The recently-established National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) appears to have a more robust approach.
“We welcome the more pro-active approach NOSDRA appears to want to take – but it needs more resources,” said Audrey Gaughran.
“The government must address the human impact of oil industry pollution. They have a duty to protect their citizens from human rights abuse or harm by businesses – and they are failing in that duty.”
The organization also accused the Nigerian government of effectively placing substantial responsibility for remedying human rights abuses in the hands of the very actors responsible for the abuse – the oil companies. As a result, remedies are often ineffective.
However, in its report, Amnesty International does not lay the blame solely on the Nigerian government.
“A government’s failure to protect the human rights of its people does not absolve companies from responsibility for their actions,” said Audrey Gaughran. “Oil companies such as Shell are not free to ignore the consequences of their actions just because the government has failed to hold them to account. The international standard is not ‘whatever a company can get away with’ - there are international standards for oil industry operations, and in relation to environmental and social impacts, that oil companies in the Niger Delta are very well aware of.”
“Despite its public claims to be a socially and environmentally responsible corporation, Shell continues to directly harm human rights through its failure to adequately prevent and mitigate pollution and environmental damage in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran.
Shell and other companies also do no adequate monitoring of - or disclosure of information on - the human impacts of oil operations. Communities in the Niger Delta frequently do not have access to even basic information about the impact the oil industry has on their lives – even when they are the “host” community. This lack of information feeds fears and insecurity within communities, contributes to conflict and fundamentally undermines human rights.
Amnesty International said that clean-up processes in the Niger Delta frequently fail to meet any expert understanding of good practice, with some companies negligently allowing unqualified staff to clean up oil spills, resulting in ongoing contamination of land and water.
Almost every community visited by Amnesty International recounted that creeks, ponds or rivers had been damaged by oil spills or other oil-related pollution – often more than once, leading to community anger.
Communities and armed groups in the Niger Delta have also contributed to the problem of pollution, by vandalizing oil infrastructure and the theft of oil. But the scale of this problem is not clear.
“The Nigerian government desperately wants to see an end to the conflict in the Niger Delta,” said Audrey Gaughran. “But the poverty and conflict that continues to scar the Niger Delta will not be resolved until underlying causes – including decades of environmental damage – and impunity for abuses of the environment and human rights ends, and until the Nigerian government garners sufficient political will and the means to deal with the oil company activities that cause widespread damage to human rights.”
Note to editors:
On 1 July 2009 Mr Peter Voser will take over as the new Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell. As the new Chief Executive he inherits the legacy Shell’s failures and poor practice in the Niger Delta. This legacy is – in significant part - the result of Shell’s failure to effectively prevent and address environmental damage and pollution caused by its operations. Amnesty International has sent Mr. Voser a copy of its report, and called on him to make cleaning up Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta a top priority. As a first step – Amnesty International has joined colleagues from the Niger Delta to ask Mr Voser to ‘come clean’ on Shell’s impact on human rights by disclosing critical information and making a public commitment to assessing the social and human rights impact of Shell’s operations.
END/

Emma Amaize-Vaguard-062709

Warri — BARELY 12 hours after President Umaru Yar’Adua proclaimed amnesty for militants in the Niger_Delta on Thursday, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger_Delta (MEND) blew up a well head (jacket B) of the Shell Afremo off_shore oil field in Delta State, claiming its action was in response to the razing down of the homes of some perceived militants at Agbeti community in the state by the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger_Delta, earlier that day.


Before the militants struck, leader of the Ijaw ethnic nationality and First Republic Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark had in an interview with Saturday Vanguard welcomed the amnesty granted by President Yar’Adua and called on militants in the region to accept it.

He, however, called on the JTF not to do anything that would make the boys not to come out of the creeks voluntarily to accept amnesty already offered them by the Federal Government and surrender their arms accordingly, suggesting, particularly, that the security outfit should call off its Cordon and Search operation in the creeks of Gbaramatu kingdom.

However, former chairman of the Board of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria and business mogul, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, yesterday, faulted the amnesty proclamation for militants by President Umaru Yar’Adua, saying it is structurally defective and is not a solution to the Niger_Delta crisis.

He said there was nothing tangible the Federal Government said it was going to do in the Niger_Delta beyond gracing the tube light to make unproductive and very undemocratic statements in the name of amnesty to militants.

According to him, “The problem is that our government is not straightforward in handing issues. We are a Republic, why should the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), which is doing its business principally in Delta State, be taking the resources from the state to Lagos to spend. I am aware that for its Escravos_Gas_to_Liquid project, training is going on for some persons in a hotel, I think so, and it is spanning the next 10 years, why Lagos, is there no place the training can be done in Delta state, which is where the money is going to come from”.


Spokesman of MEND, Jomo Gbomo in an online statement, yesterday, confirming the attack on the Shell facility said, ” Nigerian military Joint Task Force began a punitive expedition on the Niger Delta oil bearing community of Agbeti in Delta state at about 2100Hrs, Thursday, June 25, 2009 some few hours after their Commander_in_Chief, President Umaru Yar’Adua made an amnesty proclamation”.

“Their mission was to seek the homes of perceived militants and raze them to the ground ahead of any amnesty.

“This action by the soldiers serves as an in_sight to what the region should expect in a one_sided balance of uncontrolled power from a military that lacks discipline and nurses hatred and seeks revenge for their humiliating defeat.

“In response, at about 2300 hrs the same day, Thursday, June 25, 2009, Piper Alpha continued its rampage on the Nigerian oil industry by blowing up the second remaining well head (jacket B) of the Shell Afremo off_shore oil fields in Delta state”, he stated.

Reacting to the amnesty package by Mr. President, Chief Clark said, “I listened to the broadcast with passion and gratitude, and was happy that it was granted unconditionally to those undergoing trial, including Henry Okah. It is a historic proclamation and is welcomed by all.

“It will help to usher peace, security and stability to the region. It will definitely create the forum for peaceful negotiation on problems of the Niger_Delta and also create the needed conducive environment for development of the region”, he asserted.

The elder statesman said the struggle by the boys was to draw attention to the degradation, injustice and underdevelopment of the region and since the point had been made, they should accept amnesty without much ado.

He said the repression of the freedom fighters had come to an end with the amnesty proclamation by President Yar’Adua and urged him to direct the JTF to stop creating situations that promote hostility between the task force and youths.

“Militants should not be scared away by the task force from coming out to accept amnesty. If the JTF continues with its current operation in the region, of course you know that the waterways of Delta state are still sealed, there is no free movement, people will think that the war is still on and will not come out to surrender their arms”, he said.

Chief Clark also appealed to oil bunkerers not to create scenes that would give the impression that Niger_Delta youths were still involved in criminal activities, saying the genuine struggle of the region has been contaminated by the oil thieves, who had made many to think that oil bunkering was synonymous with the agitation for development.

He appealed to President Yar’Adua to set up a powerful Judicial Commission of Inquiry to unravel those involved in oil bunkering and take necessary steps to stop them, noting that those engaged in the illegal act were powerful Nigerians from outside the Niger_Delta.

Recalling the African Pride saga in which some two Navy officers were named, he said what some youths in the region do would just be termed jerry_can bunkering and the real bunkerers should be unmasked

The problem in the Niger Delta is one that should nag at anyone with a conscience.

Amnesty by the government is a cover for the inability to understand the problem or just plain ignorance of the “elected” officials.

I think it is a big mistake for the government to criminalize the basic human rights request of a group of people.

The question is this: when the violence spreads past the Niger Delta, what will the elected officials do?. From all indications, that is where this Niger Delta problem is heading. Amnesty or No Amnesty.

Vanguard Article Excerpts:

ABUJA — PRESIDENT Umaru Yar’Adua, yesterday, proclaimed an unconditional amnesty to all Niger Delta militants in the creeks as well as those facing prosecution in the law courts, including Henry Okah, standing a secret trial on a 62-count charge of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking and Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) and other militant leaders declared wanted by the Niger Delta security unit, Joint Task Force (JTF).
The President added that the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the panel on amnesty will release the details later today.
The amnesty offer was also ratified yesterday by the Council of State, and would take effect upon the surrender and handing over of all equipment, weapons, arms and ammunition in the possession of the militants, according to the President.
Centres are to be established in each state of the region for the execution of renunciation of Militancy Forms by the affected persons.
The President said the amnesty could only be effective if the militants were prepared to lay down their arms and therefore urged all those in hiding to take advantage of the proclamation and be re-integrated into the society.
His words, “the offer of amnesty is predicated on the willingness and readiness of the militants to give up all illegal arms in their possession, completely renounce militancy in all its ramifications unconditionally and depose to an undertaking to this effect.
“It is my fervent hope that all militants in the Niger Delta will take advantage of this amnesty and come out to join in the quest for the transformation of our dear nation.”
The President, however, gave an October 4, 2009, deadline for all those who want to enjoy the amnesty take advantage of government’s magnanimity.
The full proclamation:


Amnesty Proclamation
Pursuant to Section 175 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
•Whereas the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria acknowledges that the challenges of the Niger Delta arose mainly from the inadequacies of previous attempts at meeting the yearnings and aspiration of the people, and have set in motion machinery for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta States;

President Umaru Yar’Adua signing the amnesty package terms at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. With him, from right is Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa; Minister of Interior and Chairman, Federal Government Panel on Amnesty, Maj-Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd); Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Paul Dike and Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro.
•Whereas certain elements of the Niger Delta populace have resorted to unlawful means of agitation for the development of the region including militancy thereby threatening peace, security, order and good governance and jeopardising the economy of the nation;
•Whereas the Government realises that many of the militants are able-bodied youths whose energies could be harnessed for the development of the Niger Delta and the nation at large;
•Whereas the Government desires that all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in militancy in the Niger Delta should return to respect constituted authority; and
•Whereas many persons who had so engaged in militancy now desire to apply for and obtain amnesty and pardon.
•Now therefore, I, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, after due consultation with the Council of State and in exercise of the powers conferred upon me by the provisions of Section 175 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, make the following proclamation:
•I hereby grant amnesty and unconditional pardon to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the commission of offences associated with militant activities in the Niger Delta;
•The pardon shall take effect upon the surrender and handing over of all equipment, weapons, arms and ammunition and execution of the renunciation of Militancy Forms specified in the schedule hereto, by the affected persons at the nearest collection centre established for the purpose of Government in each of the Niger Delta States;
•The unconditional pardon granted pursuant to this proclamation shall extend to all persons presently being prosecuted for offences associated with militant activities; and
•This proclamation shall cease to have effect from Sunday, 4th October 2009.
IBB, Buhari, Abdulsalami absent
The Council which comprises the president, Vice President and past heads of government, governors, former Chief Justices and the leadership of the National Assembly is the highest advisory body in Nigeria, according to the 1999 Constitution.
The council meeting which lasted over two hours was attended by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, retired General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Chief Ernest Shonikan as well as 32 State Governors and three Deputy Governors from Ekiti, Rivers and Cross River States who were sighted around the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.
However, three former Presidents, namely retired Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar were absent at the crucial meeting.
Briefing state House Correspondents after the meeting, Governors Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa); Ikedi Ohakim (Imo) and Modu Sheriff (Borno) disclosed that the approval followed exhaustive deliberations and commendation of Yar’Adua for adopting the approach.
Sylva further declared that genuine militants in the Niger Delta have expressed willingness to take up the amnesty offer and that after the offer elapses, government would consider any other violent agitator as a criminal.
Sylva commended the boldness of the initiative of the Federal Government aimed at tackling the crises in the region.
Pardon for coupists not on agenda


Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, who was also at the briefing, described the action as evidence of the Yar’Adua administration’s commitment to respecting human rights and resolving the problems of the Niger Delta.
Aondoakaa, also speaking on the amnesty said that Mr. President’s action is based on Section 175 of the constitution.
He also noted that the endorsement by the country’s highest advisory body “is to assure the international community and all Nigerians that we are prepared to follow the due process, we are prepared to respect the human right and follow the law in resolving this issue of Niger Delta.”
On the purported presidential pardon to be approved by the NCS for certain convicted military officers, Aondoakaa said such never featured at the Council meeting as it was not on the agenda.
“One other issue is that I was surprised to see on the pages on paper today that the Council will today give pardon to certain categories of military officers. That did not come before Council today; it was not part of the agenda today. It can be considered on a later date after due consultation with military authorities, then it can be presented to Council,” the country’s number one law officer said.
Back amnesty with law, IYC tells Reps
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) yesterday said that the best way of assuring amnesty for the proposed amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta is for the House of Representatives to provide it with legislative backing.
In a paper presented to the House of Reps ad-hoc committee on Niger Delta crisis chaired by Honourable Abdul, the Chairman Ijaw Youth Council committee on security and economic development, Felix Tuodolo, also said that the military action in the region has turned thousands of people into refugees in their own land paralysing economic activities and reducing the nation’s revenue from oil and gas.
“The glamour of amnesty is not the end of it”, he said.
“The proposed amnesty is alright, but it needs to be backed by law, to make it legal”, he said.
“I therefore plead with the House of Representatives to propose the right legislation and collaborate with the Senate to back up the amnesty with a law”, he said.
“This is one of the sure ways of having sustained peace in the region”, he said.
How the amnesty can work, by Ijaw Chief
The National Chairman, Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil & Gas, (HCNPOG), Chief Alfred Buhor yesterday gave a recipe on how the amnesty granted militants in the region by President Umaru Yar’Adua can succeed, saying that host communities should be given the responsibility of protecting oil installations.
Speaking during an interview in Vanguard office in Abuja, he opined that host communities should henceforth be held responsible for any attack on oil pipelines, flow stations and other oil and gas facilities in their domains.
Chief Buhor stressed further that, the amnesty package should be very clear on the role of community leaders in permanently addressing the menace of militants under which many unscrupulous elements have hidden to perpetuate criminality.

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Nigeria Civil War BBC Documentary:Fighting a War without GUNS

RECOMMENDED READING

Ofonime Umanah and_tunde Opeseitan (Daily Independent)

24 June 2009

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port Harcourt/lagos — Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari, was arrested at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday by the operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on his way from Germany.

His cousel, Festus Keyamo, told Daily Independent on the telephone on Tuesday night that Dokubo was coming from Frankfurt where he had been since May 23 for medical check up.

According to Keyamo, as he was coming out of the aircraft, SSS men swooped on him and seized his passport.

“They did not tell him why he was arrested, and he has been whisked to an unknown destination. He managed to speak with me on phone,” Keyamo recounted.

He said the implication of the arrest on the amnesty proposed by President Umaru Yar’Adua is that militants will be scared from the peace process.


“Those who would have embrace the peace process will shy away. It shows that the Federal Government is not sincere. The whole amnesty is a grand trap to lure the militants out and imprison them.”

Attempts to reach the Lagos State SSS boss, Ibrahim Audu, on phone were unsuccessful as he neither picked his calls nor replied the text message sent to him.

Before news of the arrest broke, militants had on Tuesday listed conditions for accepting the amnesty to include unconditional release of Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), and the dropping of treason charges against Dokubo.

Niger Delta Non Violent Movement (NDNVM) President, Onengiya Erekosima, disclosed that henchmen such as Ateke Tom and Soboma George also want their names expunged from criminal records which arose from the government’s intransigence on the Niger Delta question.

He said they describe themselves as victims of the lust for power of the political class and its rabid ambition.

He quoted them as saying that the government should discontinue military bombardments and operations in any part of the Niger Delta, as George, Boy Loaf, Fara Dagogo and others have all agreed to embrace peace - just that they cannot trust Abuja which in the past dealt with militants who accepted reconciliation.

Said Erekosima: “Their fear is hinged on previous insincerity of the government towards peace. For instance, Soboma came out from his hiding to negotiate peace only to be arrested by the JTF (Joint Task Force) in Buguma.

“Tom Polo canvassed for peace among so-called militants, he became a target for assassination and arrest. Dokubo embraced peace and was arrested, detained, and prosecuted.

“Tom accepted peace, but he was not encouraged; rather a military assault was launched on his base.” Erekosima warned that there may be total war if amnesty offer does not meet the conditions listed by the militants.

Flowing from that, 52 Niger Delta communities - including Gbaramatu, Oporoza, Okerenko, Pre-Ama and Opele-Ama - have sued the Federal Government to the Federal High Court in Asaba, challenging the invasion by troops.

The suit filed on their behalf on Monday by human rights activist, Femi Falana, seeks N100 billion. Nelson Ogelegbanwei of Oporoza and other leaders took the lawsuit, in which they joined as respondents President Umaru Yar’Adua; federal Attorney General and Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa; and JTF Commander, Major-General Sarkin Yarkin-Bello.

They alleged, among others, that the military incursion was ordered by Yar’Adua without any law enacted by the National Assembly, and want the court to restrain the defendants from deploying soldiers to the Niger Delta without legislative backing.

However, JTF Spokesman, Rabe Abubakar, reiterated on Tuesday that the cordon and search operation in Nembe in Bayelsa is to weed out criminals.

He said nine suspects were arrested while 142 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, six empty magazines, two dane guns and a speed boat were recovered.

Ojo Maduekwe. Photo: NEXT

OWERRI—Leader of Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has appealed to the security agencies to decisively deal with kidnappers whenever and wherever they are caught.

Chief Uwazuruike, who spoke to vanguard in a telephone interview, also made it clear that MASSOB had never adopted kidnapping as a policy, stressing that kidnappers should be made to face the full weight of the law.

He expressed shock over the allegation leveled by one Innocent Orji, who is currently being interrogated by the police for kidnapping, that he (Uwazuruike) is one of his sponsors.

He observed that Orji joined MASSOB in 2003, but was dismissed the same year for using the organisation’s name to extort money from people, among other alleged crimes. “Since 2003, I have neither set my eyes on the said Innocent Orji nor had any communication whatsoever with him.

Upon his expulsion from MASSOB, he joined ranks with other expelled members to bring the image of MASSOB to disrepute”, Chief Uwazuruike said. Fielding questions, the MASSOB boss swore that throughout his years in incarceration, he neither called Orji nor any other person to engage in criminal activities to secure his release.

He also disclosed that the said Orji did not visit him in prison, sent any person to visit him or communicated with him in any manner, adding that the same was also the case since he regained his freedom. 

 

By Chidi Nkwopara

How should MASSOB handle this crisis?  Let the non-existing rule of law prevail?  Or actively get involved in law enforcement within the South East.

Some people will call this “vigilantism” but what happens when the authorities cannot protect the Ibos against anything even in their own region (Biafra)?

What is stopping the current MASSOB authorities from handling this situation themselves?

by Tony Edike

…Wealthy Igbos go on ‘exile’

Enugu-THE South Eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo have been under the siege of kidnappers who have in the last one year made  life unbearable for the residents especially the wealthy and foreign nationals.

The vicious syndicates which have various detention camps in different states across the region kidnap human beings principally to extract ransom from their helpless relatives.  Sometimes, they rake in millions of naira from their wealthy victims and hundreds of thousands from the middle class.

Police authorities in the zone revealed recently that the business has become so bad that people are now kidnapped for as low as N20, 000.  But the irony of this illicit business is the fact that no victim had been released without his or her relation coughing out something.

In some cases even when a ransom is paid, the kidnappers or their negotiators would continue to make more demands failing which they would threaten to kill the captive.

This illicit trade, which began in the troubled oil-rich region of Niger Delta since 2006, was first experienced in the South East geopolitical zone at the industrial town of Nnewi, Anambra State where two Chinese nationals attached to a private auto manufacturing firm were taken hostage on March 17, 2007.  While one of them was released after the industrialists reportedly paid some ransom, the other victim is still missing till date and he is believed to have been killed by his abductors.

The police fingered the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) as perpetrators of the kidnap, but unknown to all, the unholy practice was becoming a  more lucrative business than buying and selling for which Ndigbo are noted.

Since that first incident, cases of kidnapping became rampant in the South Eastern States.   While the people of the region are highly disturbed, the law enforcement agencies especially the police, appear to have lost out in the battle against the criminal act.

The Police in Enugu State has however taken up the gauntlet and recorded successes by bursting three major kidnap cases involving a medical practitioner, Dr. Francis Edemobi, who is the younger brother of the Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili; the wife of Enugu South Local Government boss, Sam Ngene and the latest involving a manager of a new generation commercial bank.

Also in Anambra State, the new Commissioner of Police Amusa Bello swung into action immediately he assumed duties by rounding up no fewer than 150 suspected kidnappers in and around the commercial city of Onitsha.  Aside these, there has been no meaningful record of breakthrough by the police in the crackdown against kidnappers, who are operating freely within states of the zone.

Even when some of their detention camps are revealed by the victims or informants, the police in most cases exhibit reluctance to raid such hideouts under the guise that such information provided were not enough to be relied upon.  The most worrisome aspect is when the police advice the victims’ relations to cooperate with the kidnappers by paying the demanded ransom while they play along with a view to ascertaining their identity.

Although the advice is usually heeded by those who can afford the amount demanded, the security operatives hardly get at the culprits because of what many viewed as lack of intelligence on the part of the security men. In some cases, some people have had the cause to accuse the police of aiding and abetting the kidnap gangs with whom they share ransoms paid by the victims.

Only recently a coalition of human right groups including the Catholic Commission for Justice Development and Peace in Nsukka, the host town of University of Nigeria in Enugu State, raised an alarm over the incessant kidnapping of the residents and visitors including adults and children by unknown gangs of kidnappers, whom they alleged enjoy the backing of the police in the town. Hundreds of Nsukka residents, who staged a mass protest over high crime wave in the town, said the police in Nsukka urban division have continued to watch innocent people being kidnapped without any challenge or resistance..

They claimed that before the deployment to Nsukka urban division of the then  Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Mr. Ike Mba, “cases of organized crimes such as car robbery, kidnap etc were insignificantly minimal in terms of number and were seldom heard of but with his arrival, there have been a sudden and highly suspicious revival in these crime sectors in the area.  In the average, more than 50 vehicles have been successfully snatched at gun points inside the town from their owners by robbers without the slightest resistance whatsoever by the police.”

“In terms of statistics of kidnap cases and the frequency of its occurrence, Nsukka may well compete with the Niger Delta States of Nigeria.  There is no day that passes without a kidnap saga told in one corner of the town.  With the growing awareness and apprehension by the populace that a senior police officer must be a stakeholder in the on-going kidnapping/hostage taking business in Nsukka, it became a habit of every victim not to report their ordeals in the hand of kidnappers to the police for fear of a betrayal by the police,” the right groups made up of Catholic Priests, stated in a petition sent to Governor Sullivan Chime on the development.

Although, the state police command dismissed allegation of wrongdoing against the DPO and his men, Nsukka which was once regarded as the most peaceful town in Enugu State, has known no peace in recent times.  In what observers saw as “a battle of survival” by the police, the DPO arrested a catholic priest and handed him over to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Enugu a fortnight ago for alleged kidnapping.  The police officer had in a publication blamed the increasing crime wave in the area on the victims and residents who he said always choose to conceal information from the police especially when it involves kidnapping.

“This has happened in the past and it is still happening.  I do not know why a kidnap victim and his/her relations would choose to start negotiating with kidnappers rather than informing the police,” said Mba. He added that in Nsukka there had been instances where somebody would be kidnapped and the relations would refuse to tell the police and even when they do so, they would be so economical with facts that could aid intelligent officers to get at the culprits.  “This is the main reason why we still have cases of kidnap in Nsukka,” the DPO told a local newspaper in Nsukka before his re~deployment a fortnight ago.

Prominent indigenes and businessmen in the academic town had been kidnapped in recent times and were released after heavy ransoms were paid to the kidnappers said to have a strong network within Enugu, Anambra and Delta States. One Chief Silas Ifeanyi alias Baba Edem, an Asaba-based businessman was abducted in Nsukka in April but the kidnappers called his wife at Asaba who reportedly paid N3 million to them somewhere at Onitsha before he was released. Several businessmen from the area have suffered the same fate in the hands of the kidnappers who have laid siege on the town.

There have been cases of  kidnapping in other parts of Enugu State but their activities within the State capital had been curtailed by a crack team of police officers that enjoys the backing of the State Government.  It was this team that successfully raided the hideouts of the gangs that kidnapped the wife of the Enugu South council boss and the bank manager at Ezeagu and Ngada Umuelem village, Isuochi community in Umuneochi Local government Area of Abia State respectively.

Police sources attributed the success of the team to the cooperation of a GSM service provider which normally help in releasing call details between kidnappers and relatives of their victims even though with some unnecessary delays caused by bureaucracy.  “The call details help the crack team to determine where the kidnappers originate their calls to demand for ransom and the moment this is done, the team moves in and this has helped them in unravelling some cases in the past.  But the major problem is that the GSM service providers here will not release the call details until they get clearance from their head offices in Lagos and this delays operation. They should be in a position to give out these details to security agents to enable us track down these enemies promptly,” a security chief told Crime Guard.

In Ebonyi State kidnap cases are reported regularly and the victims are released after ransoms are paid.  Miffed by the increasing rate of kidnapping in the state, a human right group, the United Action against Corruption and Injustice International (UAACII) recently  warned that if nothing was done by both the federal and  state governments, it might snowball to something higher than what obtains in the Niger Delta region. Director General of the group, Comrade Law Okeke advised the Federal Government to brace up to the challenge, noting that the people in the five states of the zone now live in fear “of the unknown”.

According to the group, kidnapping for ransom has turned out to be very lucrative enterprise in the south east, stressing that unlike when it started when the kidnappers were mainly concerned with expatriates; the act has now shifted to both citizens and aliens.

“Although, this menace was formally greater and well experienced in the Niger Delta where militants abduct oil workers, now it has become more pronounced in the south east states. There is hardly any week that passes without one or more persons being kidnapped,” laments the group.  In the same vein, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in the state revealed that in Ebonyi state alone, over ten cases of kidnapping were recorded in recent times.  There is fear among the residents of the state as nobody knows the next victim.

Imo State has also had a share of the activities of these ungodly men who have thrown the residents and even visitors into perpetual fear.  Apart from foreign oil workers kidnapped around the oil producing area of the state, some businessmen had fallen victims in recent times.  For instance, the wife of a transport magnate, Frank Nneji, who owns ABC Transport, was kidnapped on her way to the church within Owerri metropolis and she was released after an undisclosed ransom was reportedly paid by her spouse.

Earlier in the year, the 73 years aged mother of the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Ernest Ebi was picked from her compound at Akokwa area of Imo State by a gang of kidnappers who stormed their country-home in two unmarked vehicles.

They later called her family and demanded N400 million ransom, but sources said the request was turned down.  But after spending nearly a month in their hands, an undisclosed amount was paid but they continued to demand more knowing that his son works with the CBN.  However, sources said when her family refused to comply, they released her days later.

The most notorious gangs in this illicit business are said to be resident in Abia State. From several revelations by the victims of kidnap in the South East, most of them were taken to thick forests within Ngwa land from where the kidnappers initiate calls to their relations.  The South East zonal police command (Zone 9) is located in Umuahia and investigations revealed that kidnapping has dominated their crime diary these days.  Businessmen and their children in Abia State are kidnapped almost on daily basis only to regain their freedom after extorting millions of naira from them.

Precisely, the commercial city of Aba ranks highest in the level of criminality in the state and the poor security in the city has seriously slowed down business activities while the state government is said to have done nothing meaningful to check the activities of criminals in the area.

Only a few weeks ago the former Deputy Governor of Abia State and a member of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, narrowly escaped being kidnapped by armed men but his police orderly was not lucky as he was shot dead in the attack.  Police said investigations into the matter were in progress but nothing has been heard of the matter weeks after it was reported. Senator Abaribe who represents Abia South Senatorial zone, was retuning from an overnight function in Port Harcourt when the suspected kidnappers ambushed his convoy and opened fire as he approached them.  He said this prompted the police orderly to respond by shooting at the assailants.

Although the police orderly succeeded in killing one of the kidnappers in the cross fire, he (the orderly) was hit by gunshots from the attackers and later died.  “If the policeman did not return fire, I would have been a dead man. The returned fire also made them retreat and they (kidnappers) later encountered the anti-terrorist police who exchanged fire with them. They abandoned their car and a kidnap victim, a lecturer at Abia Polytechnic found in the booth of the car. The police are to be commended; otherwise, I would have been kidnapped or otherwise killed,” said the senator.

The ordeal of Abaribe in the hands  of the kidnappers is said to be one of the sad testimonies of the grim security situation in Abia State since the past three years.   The two main cities in the state, Aba and Umuahia, the state capital, are notorious for criminal activities with major violent crimes occurring daily. The common crimes in the state, according to police sources, are kidnapping, armed robbery, baby trafficking, car snatching and ritual killing.

Apart from Aba and Umuahia, rural areas like Ikwuano, Umunneochi, Isiala Ngwa North and South as well as Ugwunagbo have been identified as black spots for high level crimes. Guard Crime learnt that a good number of robbery and other criminal activities, especially kidnapping recorded in the state in recent times, occurred mainly in the rural communities of Isiala Ngwa and Ugwunagbo.

Piqued by the deteriorating security situation in the state, some professionals in the commercial city including legal practitioners had complained bitterly and went ahead to issue the government an ultimatum to improve on the security of the state. They claimed that 11 of their members had fallen victims of kidnapping and that the environment was no longer safe to do business. The lawyers attracted the sympathy of the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), their umbrella organization, which visited Aba and Umuahia to complain about the insecurity in the state.

What is, however, disturbing to many in the case of Abia State is the inability or reluctance by security agencies to raid the identified hideouts of the kidnappers.  A top police chief told Crime Guard that even when intelligence reports had pointed out those locations within the state where the kidnap gangs have their operational base and detention camps, nothing meaningful has been done at least to raid such locations thus raising serious questions regarding the seriousness of security agents to tackle the menace.

The same problem has also been identified in Anambra State where Nsugbe and its environs had been identified as the major hideouts of the kidnappers.  From the testimonies of some victims released after ransoms were paid on them, they are usually masked and driven from the detention camp somewhere within Nsugbe and dropped somewhere around 33 Area on the Onitsha – Nsugbe highway.  Crime Guard learnt this clue had been with the police but no serious effort had been made to locate the detention camps until the arrival of the present Commissioner of Police.

In that state, wealthy businessmen like Chief Pius Ogbuawa was kidnapped in Nnewi sometime ago by an unidentified group and was released after a ransom was paid. The Anambra State commissioner of police at the time, John Haruna blamed the kidnapping on some youths in the state who he said had learnt from what is happening in the Niger Delta region. “They’ve seen what the boys in the Niger Delta are doing and they are copying from them,” said the then police commissioner, who seriously mobilized his men against the menace of kidnappers but could not get to their roots.

Apart from the industrial town of  Nnewi, Awka, the Anambra State Capital had been under siege of violent kidnappers for sometime now.  Both the Awka indigenes and non-indigene settlers have fallen victims to these merciless set of Nigerians who have lately made kidnapping a money-spinning profession.

The spate of kidnapping in the capital city has become so disturbing to the extent that fear and panic have gripped the residents, according to reports.  While some people have packed their bags and left the state for safety, some indigenes of Awka who live in other towns including the abroad, have vowed not to return home until the security of their home state is guaranteed.

heir fears were exacerbated by two major high profile kidnap pings that took place in Awka not too long ago. The first victim is the younger brother of Chief Austin Ndigwe, a politician cum businessman popularly known by his traditional title, Uzu Awka.  His brother was picked by the gunmen and released days after but not until the Ndigwe family had parted with an undisclosed sum of money.

Shortly after that, the kidnappers abducted the President-General of Awka Town Union, Chukwuemeka Nwogbo, who operates a real estate firm in Abuja.  In his case described as a high-profile kidnapping, he was taken from his family compound in Awka. Just like in other cases, he was released after his family coughed out some money to these evil men.

A major bloody incident likened to the hit style of these enemies within was witnessed in the same state capital on May 26, this year, when the Chairman, Association of ex-council Chairmen of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, Chief Chukwudi Okafor, was killed in his home town Umuawulu, Awka South local government. He was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Umuawulu some metres away from his house while trying to run away from the gang that had laid ambush for him in his premises.

However, in most of all these cases, the police in Anambra have so far made no breakthrough.
It is a common knowledge in the South Eastern states that the activities of kidnappers is spreading like wild fire across the five states and  the consequences on the economy of these Igbo-speaking states is alarming.   Many have suffered serious damages on account of this illicit trade which is generally regarded globally as a major crime against humanity.

No doubt, kidnapping has spread at faster paces than in the Niger Delta region where the business of kidnapping originated and was actually exploited as a veritable means of  drawing the attention of the federal government and the international community to the neglect and deprivation being suffered by the oil producing communities.

Ironically, the reason for the indulgence in the act by Ndigbo is unexplainable.  Although many view the trade as  money-spinning, those behind it either as operatives, negotiators, informants or sponsors, appeared to have thrown the value of human life into the dustbin as all they are interested in is to rake in money,  no matter how.  They have also danced to the tune of those Nigerians from other ethnic groups who had in the past accused the Igbo race of capable of doing anything for money.

The governments of the South East are indeed disturbed about the high insecurity within the region and had taken steps to tackle the issue. Reporters had on several occasions, particularly during the Conferences of the South East Governors in Enugu, put the governors to task as to the practical steps they are taken to nip this cankerworm in the bud.  Although they appear helpless, most of the State Governors have initiated bills to their state Houses of Assembly for the enactment of a law that would make kidnapping a capital offence that would attract severe penalty.  While some have already enacted the law, others are still awaiting passage.  Anambra and Enugu States have already enacted theirs which prescribed death and life jail respectively for anybody found guilty of kidnapping but this has not really served as enough deterrent.

Some Igbo leaders have continued to express concern over the ugly development while suggesting measures to tackle the menace.  Presently, any eminent personality seen either in his porch car or jeep goes with either a policeman or a soldier.  Some wealthy ones even hire about five security men to escort their convoy of cars.  Only very few courageous people can drive to their communities alone without a security escort.

Those who have tried it lately especially within Abia, Imo and Anambra had gory tales to tell.  The situation is that bad and the pressure on security agencies in the region had become weighty.  But while the rich and their families are being guarded by security operatives paid through tax-payers money, the poor masses are left under the care of God and at the mercies of the miscreants and men of the underworld who have so enriched themselves through proceeds from their illicit trades.

One of the Igbo personalities that have repeatedly spoken against this evil, unlike others that have adopted the “let’s us learn to live with it approach”, is the former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. He has continued to warn that the economies of the South East and South – South would be ruined if the menace of kidnapping was not urgently checked.

He said kidnapping would plunge the economy of the zones into coma as the heinous crime was potentially driving away prized investors, stressing that fighting kidnapping was a war the governors of both zones could ill afford to lose.  While advising the governors to come together and forge a common strategy to wipe out the menace, Kalu believes that the creation of a special intervention force to curb widespread kidnapping in the two zones would restore peace to the already traumatized and frightened people of these regions.

Most importantly, Kalu advocated creation of a Police Special Intervention Force dedicated to routing kidnapping and its perpetrators. “Governors and security operatives should fight the menace. I will suggest that there be a special intervention force, and with the cooperation of the youths, kidnapping will be curbed,” the politician told reporters recently.

According to him, a state police which chief would be elected by the  people, would be best suited to fight the crime of kidnapping as state chief executives currently lack powers to control police commissioners at the state commands. The Igbo leader said Nigerians were yet to realise the harm the kidnappers were doing to the economy of the zones by their infamous activities.

“Kidnappers are causing a lot of problems. They have not realised the level of damage they are doing to the economy of the South East and South - South, which are already backward. Kidnapping will ruin our market economy,” he declared.Suggesting further ways out of the endemic problem, Kalu observed that relations of kidnap victims who negotiate and pay ransom were promoting the illegal activity, arguing that if no one had come forward to negotiate and pay ransom, the kidnappers would reckon that they have hit a non-lucrative venture and back off.

He, however, attributed the upsurge in kidnapping to lack of power and employment opportunities for the teeming youths, whom he advised to take to honourable trades, including farming instead of indulging in “man’s inhumanity to fellow man.”

The major challenge in the battle against kidnapping in the South East is the capacity and capability of law enforcement agencies to apprehend suspects and bring them to book.  For Now the police in the zone appeared to be handicapped or are yet to come to terms with the quantum of damages being done to the economy of the zone and to the lives of Nigerians and foreigners alike, which they are constitutionally mandated to protect.
It would be recalled that the Inspector of General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, had at a recent summit on

“Resolving kidnapping, hostage taking and local terrorism in Nigeria,” held in Abuja under the auspices of Alex Ekwueme Foundation, disclosed that over $100 million (about N15 billion) was collected as ransom by kidnappers and hostage takers between 2006-2008. He accused the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) for being behind all kidnap pings in the country.

According to him, MEND uses kidnapping and hostage taking as source of raising funds and that over $200, 000 is usually the ransom money per head.

As a measure to check the trend, Okiro said the Presidency will soon send a bill to the National Assembly to tackle the menace of kidnapping and hostage taking in the country. “When the bill is passed into law, culprits will bag life imprisonment, up from the current 10 years. Anybody who conceals information about crime will go to jail for 15 years. Kidnappers and hostage takers who kill their victims will bag death sentence”, according to the law being proposed.

But the question on the lips of many in the South East is what the Nigeria Police is doing to face the immediate challenges being poised by the kidnappers that have literarily taken over Igbo land or are the police expecting the people of the zone to get used to and continue to live with the present insecurity within the South Eastern States?  The major desire of the people of the region, at least for now, Crime Guard investigations reveal, is to ensure that these kidnappers and their sponsors are hunted down and made to face the law.