N-Delta: The missing link

Vanguard

29 May 2011

N-Delta: The missing link 

By Emma Amaize
LOOKING at the  prevailing implicit quietude in the Niger Delta, compared with the frenzied situation of bombing of oil installations and kidnapping  of oil workers that used to be the order of the day, as well as  the taking into custody of the “master”, Henry Okah, who is undergoing the trial of his life for terrorism in South Africa, one could be lured to give President Goodluck Jonathan a pass mark for the manner he has tackled the affairs of the region so far. The only thing, however, is that is it is not the way a cat walks that it catches a rat.

As opposed to the rat and cockroach association between former rulers of the country and erstwhile agitators from the Niger Delta, you may want to describe  Jonathan’s relationship with ex-militant leaders, including Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo; former warlord, Ateke Tom; Farah Dagogo; and Victor Ebikabowei Ben, alias Boyloaf  as warm enough to ensure that further threat from the creeks to the unity of the country is checked.

In fact, it was to Tompolo that he ran, as vice-president in 2007 when his former boss, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, assigned the unenviable task of  “whipping” his  agitator-brothers into line. The meeting, held at Camp Five, Oporoza, in Delta State, and was attended by the ‘who’s who’ in the militant community  in the Niger Delta  then, except Henry Okah, who refused to attend.

As vice-president then, Jonathan  travelled to South Africa to persuade Okah  to be part of the peace process. The actuality is that while his erstwhile boss, Yar’Adua, was the principal without whose imprimatur the amnesty programme would not have been a reality, Jonathan is the storm-trooper that  worked behind-the-scenes for the visible successes.

Besides the aforementioned, Jonathan has also kept the post-amnesty programme afloat despite the odds. And, even militants who refused to accept amnesty within the stipulated period it was proclaimed by the Federal Government are regretting  they did not read the handwriting on the wall clearly.