[dropcap]I[/drpcap]n the past few days, the topic of ceasefires and dialogue to resolve the crisis in the oil-rich region of southern Nigeria, the Niger Delta, has captured headlines.
The federal government of Nigeria, and all other parties involved in any kind of negotiations, wheeling and dealing, should not be allowed to forget that the Niger Delta is a multi-national region. There are several nationalities in the region and, as a result, one ethnic nationality can’t and will not claim to speak for the entire region. .
One or two agitating group or groups, violent or nonviolent can’t have the sole privilege of choosing the people who will be involved in this process of dialogue.
We can’t and should not repeat the mistakes, failures, and impositions of the late Yar’Adua time. Grave mistakes were made in 2009 which, we, as responsible citizens and leaders of our various ethnic nationalities should not allow to be repeated.
For instance in Ijaw Nation we have zones and clans, one zone cannot and should not be allowed to speak for all zones.
I am from the Eastern Zone, and we have clans from Abua to Okoloba (Bonny) Opobo, Nkoro, Asarama, to Wakirike, Kalabari, Bille, and so many others.
The Ijaw Nation is in crisis as our originally elected representatives – the Ijaw Youth Council and the Ijaw National Congress (IYC and INC) have been destabilised for selfish, political, and economic reasons.
Where matters involving the Niger Delta are concern, as a non-violent agitator for justice and equity, I make the call that all nationalities of Rivers State, my beloved home state, must have representations picked by their own people with the involvement of the state government and business interests operating in Rivers.
Ogoni, lkwerre, Eleme, Egbema, Orashi, Egi, all and every nationalities of Rivers State must be represented in any discussion, negotiation, and dialogue. The Ijaw man cannot claim to know he feels the pain and aspirations of the Egi man. The Egi woman can only speak for herself. The Ogoni youth can only speak for themselves, same as the Ikwerre man can only speak for himself. All ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta feel the pain of the oil exploitation in the region. We will support each other because our interests are similar, our devastation similar, and the aspirations for justice, equity, fairness, are similar. But, no voices should be shut down.
The same should be done for all the states in the South South and all other oil producing regions of southern Nigeria.
It is, therefore, my opinion that any meaningful discussion on resolving the age-long agitations for justice by the people of the Niger Delta, can’t take place without everyone representing their own aspirations. No one should be gagged or neglected into or in negotiations.
A word is enough for the wise.
While I remain an advocate of nonviolent negotiations and dialogue for justice, equity, resource ownership, and internal self determination, l continue to appeal to all ARMED AGITATORS to consider the path of dialogue, based on our facts and realities of injustice we have long endured and continue to endure, it is on this conviction that l have never condemned any person or groups as we all are asking for the same things.
The only groups or persons l condemn and oppose are those who use the collective pain, oppression, neglect, and abuses we have all suffered and continue to suffer as their business enterprises.
It is worrisome that people who have openly have condemned youths of Niger Delta for using their voice to express their pain and suffering and aspirations for their future, end up being the same people who “represent” the same Niger Delta youth when negotiations with the government begin. No wonder, little progress is ever made from such meetings – the voiceless remain voiceless, while those with “voices” end up using them for their personal and selfish political gains.
I am concerned with the level of claims and counterclaims from different groups in the Niger Delta; the proliferation of dialogue group and negotiators for the region – official and non-office. While all this is going on, the Buhari-led federal government has not made any official statement on its position regarding who it recognises in the “negotiators” for the Niger Delta. On the other hand, the government is busy amassing military hardware and arms and shipping them to the region, posting military personnel of Northern extraction, mostly, to the barracks in our region, and stationing them with a view to bring destruction, death, and more suffering to my beloved creeks and mangroves.
The Nigerian federal government is not interested in protecting our environment, their interest is in our taking our resources. We are, therefore, not impressed or fooled by these claims to negotiations, or dialogue, we are interested in equity and justice. We have a long way to go in obtaining justice. The path we must take is not the political or economy focused path, it must be a people focused path. We must remove political and economical logs from our eyes.
We know our people who have credibility, commitment, loyalty to our cause. We know the people who have died for us. We know the people who have risked their careers and jobs for our cause. We know our people who have been arrested. We know our people who suffer insults, threats, blackmail, and starvation for our sakes and when the time comes we will call on them.
We know the people we can trust, we know the people who will say what we tell them to say on our behalf.
Our call for justice and equity is not about individuals or political parties, it is about all our peoples and the future of our generations to come.
Anything, terms and conditions negotiated without our input, contributions and actual participation will be rejected.
Annkio Briggs is a respected leader of the Niger Delta struggle for human rights and environmental justice. Connect with her on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
