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Niger Delta Leaders Meet on Nigerian Leadership Crisis in USA - Enough is Enough
Group To Release Statement After Weekend Meeting
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Washington DC ,February 28th, 2010 - Leaders of the Niger Delta region residing outside Nigeria, are holding an emergency meeting in the USA to consider their options in the current stalemate leadership crisis in Nigeria. Reports from sources close to the group says the pressure to support current bid to break from the Nigeria Union is quite strong, however many see the current disregard of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan by the ailing President Yar'Adua Cohorts as the tipping point that has called for such serious option in the consideration of the South South leaders. Enough is Enough is the theme of our meeting says the SSNDC spokesman who opted to remain undisclosed because he has not been officially voted as the spokesman until the emergency meeting is concluded this weekend.
The group hopes to release a statement on their weekend meeting and enumerate demands for their continued support of the present administration, which is expected to include an unequivocal clarity and statement from the Nigerian government on the current Acting President Goodluck Jonathan or the ability of Yar'Adua to resume his office so the country can have a specified leader. Many in the South South leadership group believes the Acting President have simply been side tracked by the Cohorts of the ailing President and the security of the Vice President is even in question. To this effect, we are ready to break away from Nigeria and start our republic of the Niger Delta, enough is enough.
Nigeria: State of Denial
All Sorts of Charlatans Speak From Both Sides of Their Mouth
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Nigeria as we know it today is facing the danger of an imminent collapse that will eventually come to agreement with the predictions of those who have studied her evolution over the years. The United States stated few years ago that the Nigerian state is very fragile and is in the danger of collapse and this was waved off by those ruling Nigeria. We have now been faced with a direct challenge to the forces that have held all peoples of the entire landscape hostage on their drive to spread the jihadist religion of Islam. Presently, there is no head of government in Nigeria and there is also militancy in the Eastern Niger Delta where natives, who have been marginalized are up in arms against the government. Oil installations are going up in flames and gas prices are on the increase here in North America. This is a wake up call to the governments and people of the western world.
Many may not care what or how Nigerian leaders emerge and the fact that there are no common borders with North America, even makes stories such as Nigerian news less desirable. Events taken place in Africa will have direct effect on how things go here in Canada or the United States. Lack of credible leadership or presence of criminal leaders, will lead to a lot of pressure not just upon the local populations in Nigeria's fragile regions but can also lead to incidents such as the attempted bombing of United Airlines as it was approaching the United States.
Many may not know how Umaru Musa Yar'adua after his famous collapse on the campaign trail, and being airlifted to Germany for treatment had to pay a visit to Babangida Nigeria's former military ruler in Minna, Niger State once Obasanjo had succeeded in making him president to cover his tracks. To this day, not few people have thought to enquire why Umaru had to make that visit as a first act having been selected to rule under criminal circumstances. Ibrahim Babangida while in office as a military president, took Nigeria and registered her into an all muslim nation organization called Organization of Islamic countries or OIC. The process of Islamization started before independence on October 1st, 1960. Nigeria's Islamic oligarchy have never looked back in their desire to convert the entire country into islamic state. It was to this effect Nigeria's first Prime Minister late Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa stated that they will continue the drive to spread islam until they deep the Koran in the Niger Delta, an oil and other natural resources rich all Christian/Jewish Eastern part of the country.
Though the (s)election process was a do or die affair for Obasanjo since it was all designed to cover his tracks and set the entire country into the wilderness of confusion while he is left free from any form of trials for crimes committed while in office, today as we all can see it is Umaru that is now on admission in a Saudi Arabian hospital battling to save his life while the same cabal that foisted him upon the docile landscape, are once again engaged in horse trading to once again decide on the fate of the people and who they will foist on the fragile country to continue the 'good work' of ruinous-rudderless leadership.
This is a time when all sorts of charlatans speak from both sides of their mouth just to appear to be on the side of the power brokers. A beneficiary of the stolen presidency, Goodluck Jonathan have been warming up to the northerners just to curry their support as he looks forward to filling the vacuum created by the pericarditis challenged Umaru Yar'adua. While this is all going on, David Mark a lousy notorious senator, a man planted in the upper chamber to serve the interest of IBB, have been busy parading himself as catholic priest and calling for endless prayers to save Umaru as if he really cares that much about him.
There are a host of others who have become prayer seekers/warriors, men and women who are well known to be members of one secret cult or another and who all of a sudden, have become god fearing faithfuls just to retain their political positions through which they criminally enrich themselves to the disadvantage of the rest of us.
This is the current state of denial that all Nigerians have found themselves. Political positions are determined by zones and not by mental, health-educational qualifications. The PDP, the most vile political party that ever emerged in any African country, is determined to see to the demise of Nigeria. To this end, they are working round the clock to mislead the people with false information on the actual state of the country.
While pondering on the situation that is currently leading to the eventual demise of Nigeria, one must call to mind the very incidents that led to the naming of this geographic location at the time of amalgamation in 1914. It was the British government representative Fredrick Lugard along with his mistress Prisca who came up with the unfortunate idea of yoking various tribes that had nothing in common for the simple benefit of administrative convenience to the British. While the criminal religious proselytes from Europe claimed to be evangelizing to convert populations in the South, the North was left untouched in the hands of some Islamic feudal lords who took advantage of the people to perpetuate themselves. It is on record from 1914 to this day that all Nigeria's leaders have been made to swear to a deity located in Zungeru, Niger State in order to be allowed to preside over the affairs of Nigeria. There is only one person who refused to do this and had to pay with his life.
MKO Abiola was freely elected by the people in 1993 to be president but the over lords of Nigeria, those who have decided that without them no one will ever become the president of Nigeria, decided to toy with the vote of the people and had to truncate it through Ibrahim Babangida who eventually annulled the election ignoring the fact that Prof. Humphrey Nwosu who was the chief electoral officer had actually released the results from almost all the states of the federation. There are still those who still wonder why Abiola had to be murdered rather than been freed to take over the reigns of power after the demise of Sani Abacha. Abiola had to be eliminated for his principled refusal to swear to the evil deity at Zungeru.
This is exactly where we are right now in the gradual demise/disintegration of what once appeared to be a promising country out of Africa. Reliable sources have it on good record that Goodluck Jonathan, that lucky guy occupying the vice presidency office, have no problem submitting to and swearing at the evil shrine located at Zungeru. This will enable him to continue on the vicious circle of ruinous leadership of which himself and his wife are all partners.
In times like this, one hears Nigerians talk about prayers as if they really believe in its efficacy. While talking about prayers and supplications, they forget about restitution which is the very first thing that they must do if they expect their prayers to be answered. In the ancient times and even to this very moment, it is mandatory that anyone that expects his prayers to be answered by the Most High, must first of all, reconcile with his neighbours/brothers before ever making any sacrifices and to this Most High, there must not be any other god. How sincere are those voices that are now clamoring for prayers for the recovery of Yar'adua? If the family/Cabinet of the president are really honest/interested in God intervening in his case, why then are they also employing the services of diviners and marabouts at Aso Rock and elsewhere?
God must not be mocked and one must remind Nigerian criminal leaders of what happened to King Saul. At a time of crisis the king of Israel went to inquire from a medium instead of God contrary to the law of the Great One. King Saul did not live long after that excursion. Nigerian leaders failure to learn from history and its determined effort to subject a certain section of the population to slavery like is obvious in the Niger Delta and the South east, is directly responsible to the woes that is presently bedeviling the entire population. Try as hard as you may to deny this fact, it will not make it go away. The only thing that will deliver now is to tell ourselves that bitter truth that most of us have worked very hard to deny all these years. The forced union is not and have never worked.
It is from the very state that first introduced strict islamic legal code that this 23 year old boy came from which also happens to be the same state as the current ailing Nigerian president. Islam have been used as an ideology to destroy Nigeria. Christians and Jews from the Southern part of the Country, especially among the Biafrans in the Eastern part of the country, have been greatly slaughtered by annual islamic uprising across the country in their drive to spread islam. The western world have ignored the rise of militant islam in Nigeria and how this is helping to destabilize entire region out of which United States gets more than 20% of her crude oil supplies as well as 70% of gas.
It is time the United States and other developed economies insist in transparency and the rule of law in doing business with Nigerian leaders. Islamic militancy is going very strong in Nigeria and any promise of change from Nigerian rulers, must be taken with the faintest hope of being carried through. Nigerian leaders are very corrupt and also do not keep to agreements. You are either following on the tenets of islam or you are against them. The relevant aganecies of the United States adminstration must look beyond Yemen Dubai or London in their investigations and focus more on what has been going on in the northern part of Nigeria. The greatest islamic threat today is not in Iraq or Afghanistan but in Nigeria. It is also important to establish the role Saudi Arabia based charities are playing in all this. Most Arab countries finance various islamic sects in Nigeria. The Saudi support those movements that lean toward the Wahabi Sunni sect, while Iran support the Shittes operating across Northern Nigeria.
This is exactly how those who brought down the WTC got financed. Would the United States have the courage to take on Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, two countries that supply her with the most oil that is consumed here. This is a major problem now in the hands of the United States and the rest of the western world.
To deal with this problem, greater emphasis must be placed on the source and not where this guy spent the last three years. His training started from birth until he bought the ticket to fly to the United States. His abode for those twenty years happens to be northern part of Nigeria, where strict anti western ideology is taught on daily basis from kindergarten. It is not good for the United States to ignore islamic militancy in West Africa, while investing heavily providing for the same hostile population muslim adherents. If this terrorist had been arrested in Nigeria, he would have been quietly released considering his fathers connections in government. It must also be noted that his father is the head of the largest Islamic bank in Nigeria-another source of funding terror.
Emeka Eze
ezeces@gmail.com
Why Some African Countries Are Unhappy With The Copenhagen Accord
Sudan Has Led The African Opposition
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Global Warming Deal or Climate Change Cooling
The conference in Copenhagen today approved a deal to tackle global warming, after an accord Barack Obama brokered with China, India, Brazil and South Africa paved way for the agreement. The non-binding agreement sets the reference to the global temperature rise to just 2C - but the plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the 2C goal, and many African countries and poorer nations around the world were not happy with the final deal that rolled of the Copenhagen pipeline.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: "We have a deal" and described the agreement as an "important beginning" in the fight against climate change. It will allow a provision for $30 billion of climate aid for poorer countries over the next three years to become operational. There will also be a further $100 billion a year from 2020. Many African countries say the accord is weak and just not meaningful to the global warming damages done to their countries. Among the most vocal opponents are delegates for poorer countries are Sudan, Ethiopia, and many South American countries notably Cuba and Venezuela. They complain there is not enough funds coming from richer nations to assist the effects of pollutions dumbed on the backs of poorer nations from the many years of industralization of the richer nations. UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, who spent the night in talks after Gordon Brown had left the conference, said the failure to secure a stronger agreement showed the difficulty world leaders faced in tackling climate change. Nigeria has remain lukewarm in support of the other African country, partly to assume its Obasanjo father figure diplomacy, which the ruling party has adopted in the face of their sick and absent leader. All the same, Madueke the Foreign Minister and head of the Nigerian delegation remain conciliatory help to call for caution to other countries to support the current accord and work forward to improve it.
American and European Firms Eyes Ugandan Oil Fields
Four Wells With Oil Prospects in Uganda
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Kampala — Dominion Petroleum, one of the four firms exploring for oil in Uganda, has said a group of "quality" global oil giants are interested in taking up a share of its oil block in the western region.
Exxon Mobil Corporation, the United States-based oil and gas giant and France's Total are interested in owning stakes of Dominion's exploration zone in western Uganda, according to the US-based Wall Street Journal.
Dominion has identified four wells with oil prospects and also noted 11 leads which require further exploration. Its largest prospective area has about 400 million barrels of recoverable oil, according to the company.
"We are in discussions with a wide range of quality companies to sell our stake in Block 4. But we cannot make any comments on which such parties might be, for reasons of confidentiality," Archie Berens, the spokesman for Dominion Petroleum told Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Through the sale, Dominion is seeking partners to finance the next stage of its exploration operations next year.
Tullow Oil from the UK and Canada-based Heritage Oil which jointly own 50 per cent shares each in Blocks 1 and 3A are also in talks to sell off their stakes to strategic partners who have bigger financial muscle and expertise in construction of oil refineries and pipelines, marketing and distribution.
President Museveni has insisted that Uganda's oil "will not leave" the country unprocessed in the name of "value addition" for high returns.
Ethiopia The Greenest and Most Energy Sufficient Country in Africa
Greatest Surplus Reserve of Energy Than Any Country in Africa
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Ethiopia is ahead of the game on green energy :
Hydro-power
Ethiopia and DRC have the capacity to electrify the entire African continent through hydro-power. Ethiopia has nine trans-boundary rivers, including the Nile so, contrary to common belief, there is no shortage of water in Ethiopia. Tekeze, 300MW, Africa’s tallest dam at 185-metres high, the largest public works project in Ethiopia’s history. Gilgel-Gibe II, 420MW, constructed by Salini Costruttori, engineering and management by Coyne et Bellier, to be inaugurated in January 2010. Tana Beles, 460MW, taps water from Lake Tana and conveys it to an underground plant with four pelton units with an estimated annual capacity of 2,051GWh per annum. Salini Costruttori, with pelton turbines furnished by VA Tech Hydro (now Andritz Hydro)
At 185 metres, the recently opened Tekeze dam is the tallest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
The first African Geo-Thermal Conference took place in Addis Ababa in 2006. Massive geo-thermal capacity exists in Ethiopia and is ripe for exploitation by domestic and foreign investors. It is estimated that the country could generate 10,000MW from this source. Bio-fuel potential is huge. Bio-fuels are grown only on land that will not support the growing of food crops and in areas with sufficient water. Biodiesel development is carried out in a manner which ensures sustainable environmental protection. Ethiopia has the potential to produce over 10,000 megawatts of electric power from wind. One of the largest wind power stations in Africa is being built at Ashegoba in Tigray by the French Vergnet Group. Solar power: With innovative solar light systems children in many villages can now study in the evenings safely and at tiny cost compared to the previously used kerosene lamps. One instance is Solar Energy Foundation Ethiopia, which won a (UK) Ashden Eco Award this year (2009), pioneering rented small photovoltaic (PV) solar-home-systems in 1,100 homes.
Overall Ethiopia will spend $12 billion over 25 years improving its power supply, and today Ethiopia has the highest Power reserve than any country in Africa. Ethiopia produces 30% percent surplus electricity annually, enough to light up most of dark Africa.
Nigerian Pirates Extending Their Reach
Atlantic Ocean Opposite Side of Somalians Indian Ocean
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A bloody pirate attack off Benin's coast is raising concerns that Nigerian pirates — operating on the opposite side of Africa from Somali pirates — are extending their reach and shows that the waters off West Africa are almost equally dangerous, a maritime expert said. A mix of poverty, politics and easy cash have made Nigeria and Somalia almost equally dangerous for shipping, Cyrus Mody of the London-based International Maritime Bureau said.
The waters around Nigeria get heavy traffic from oil tankers, cargo ships, reefers and tugs, and Mody said all are known to have been attacked. But he said Tuesday's attack was a surprise because he could not recall previous attacks off Benin. "If it was somebody from Benin who has done it then it is concerning, but if it is the Nigerian pirates who are extending their reach then it is still concerning because they are going out farther than they used to," Mody said. Pirates operating out of the failed state of Somalia have mounted a series of daring attacks that included the seizure of a ship loaded with tanks, a Saudi Arabian supertanker, and a shipment of food aid crewed by 20 Americans. In Nigeria, the allure of piracy is enhanced by oil-company traffic in the oil-rich Niger Delta. "The Somalis are more into the hijacking of the entire vessel, crew, cargo, everything," Mody said, adding that Nigerian pirates instead often make off with oil workers who are held for ransom and leave the vessels and their crew behind.
The problem in both countries stems from poverty, pollution and politics. In Somalia, poor fishermen first started attacking large foreign trawlers they blamed for devastating the local fish stocks and ships they believed were dumping toxic waste on their shores.In Nigeria, angry communities targeted employees of the oil giants who polluted their rivers with spilled oil and flared excess gas produced when drilling.
Ethiopians To Help Kenyans Solve Their Power Shortage Crisis
Electric Power Export
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Ethiopia is the only African country with sufficient power supply and supplus reserve to cover its expansion development for over fifteen years. In the face of severe power shortage in Kenya, a new impetus to Kenya’s quest to turn to its northern neighbour for additional electricity to fix an energy supply shortage that has deepened in the last three years with rapid economic growth and erratic weather.
Kenya's power and Energy Ministry officials are expected to meet their Ethiopian colleagues in Nairobi for talks on a deal that could see Kenya get hooked to Ethiopia’s national power grid. Energy permanent secretary Patrick Nyoike says the parties have cleared major obstacles to the 400 Kilovolts international power transmission line. Ethiopia is the only Eastern African country with a sufficient power supply backed by a reserve margin of more than 30 per cent – double the recommended margin of 15 per cent. Kenya was initially set to import power from Ethiopia’s contentious and biggest hydropower project, Gibe III —with a potential power generation capacity of 1800MW, but the plan was put on hold after activists raised concerns over the possible environmental and social impact of the new dam forcing financiers to withhold their support.
Expect Increase in Pump Price of Nigerian Petrol
Government Wants Deregulation of Prices
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THE Federal Government, on the second day of its meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday, admitted that its planned deregulation of the downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry will lead to an increase in the pump price of petrol. At yesterday's meeting which took place at the Labour House, Abuja, were four ministers - Finance, Dr. Mansur Muktar, who led the government team; Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman; Labour, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN) and Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) and Chief Economic Adviser, Tanimu Yakubu.
On the side of the Labour were the NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar; Deputy President, NLC, Peter Adeyemi; General Secretary NLC, Comrade John Odah; President of NUPENG, Comrade Peter Akpatasson and other members of the NLC National Executive Committee. Addressing the NLC leaders, the government representatives said deregulation was inevitable if the nation must move forward and that, in truth, it would bring about price increase
Kano State Government Set Out To Combat Energy Problems Without Nigerian Government
Ruling PDP Smells Possible Fight
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The move by the Kano State Government to secure a $40million interest-free loan from ECOWAS Bank of Investment and Development (EBID), for the construction of an Independent Power Plant.(PDP) is not going down well with the Peoples Democratic Party in the State the While the members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the state appear at ease with the component of the loan, the rival PDP is threatening fire and brimstones.
The House Majority leader, Hon Halliru Danga Maigari, said they are ready to protect their action where ever they may be taken to. He, agreed that the decision by the opposition legislators to go to court is their fundamental right. He regretted that the opposition members are blindfolded by political reasons in their resistance on the loan issue because they are duly aware of the fact that it is aimed to improve the lives of Kano people.
Only last week, the Kano State House of Assembly, passed into law the 2009 Budget Amendment Bill, for the state's fiscal expenditure worth N120, 114, 171,963 calling the bluff of the opposition since all that is required for the passage of the bill is a simple majority.
Use Former Militants to Develop Niger Delta
How Sound is the Proposal?
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Asks Paul Okechukwu Oranika
Last weekend the Nigerian Minister of Defence, Gen. Godwin Abbe gave some hints to correspondents about how the Nigerian Government would deal with the issue of repentant militants. His remarks were made following the news that one of the former commanders of the movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta Farah Dagogo had taken on the government’s amnesty offer.
Among Gen Abbe’s disclosures was that the Nigerian government would engage the former militants on how to fast track the development of the Niger Delta region. While one welcomes the governments offer, and the amnesty project, it is pertinent to point out that the government does not need to engage the militants to do what it should have been doing all along. At best, the government proposal sounds more like a bribery signal. One welcomes the efforts to restore peace to the Niger Delta, nevertheless there are some reservations if this initiative would be matched by action.
Nigeria must use its resources evenly to stimulate economic growth throughout the country. The federal government must be assessable to all Nigerians regardless of whether they live at Ogbomosho, Sapele, Kafanchan, Abakaliki or other places. Time has come to break away from the traditional short-sighted strategy of concentrating economic development projects in few areas of the country.
This slave mentality was started by the colonial masters to serve their economic interest. Lagos was linked to agricultural and urban centres in the North to facilitate exploitation of the hinterland resources for onward shipment to the British ports. In the same token, Port Harcourt was also connected to Northern Nigeria for the same purpose. All other areas of the country were ignored Former president Olusegun Obasanjo also followed the colonial developmental mentality by assigning a contract to a Chinese companies to retrace the Lagos Maiduguri rail link.
One of the few plausible things done by President Yar’dua whose administration was suffering from economic development draught, was to stop the rail project from Lagos to wherever destination it would have terminated. While North -South rail lines may serve an economic impact, Nigerian administrators must think strategically. Part of the goal and plan of rail links in Nigeria should also be to link Nigerian cities both longitudinally and horizontally.
This means that major cities in the west should be linked up with major cities in east, while at the same time major cities in the north should also be linked with major cities in the west and the east. This should be the master plan, a deviation from the redundant single track north/south link. It was surprising to note that former president Obasanjo did not even consider the first phase of the proposed rail link to have started in the economically deprived bread basket of the nation-the Niger Delta.
Now that militant activities may have led the country’s administrators to rethink things, one would have to wait to see how much progress would be achieved by way of implementation. A promise of involving the militants in the government doing what it should have done in the first place is a hollow promise.
Nobody needs the former militants to advice the federal government that all the 36 states in the country should have federal centres and installations. This is a common sense knowledge which would at least bring the federal government emperors closer to the people. In the words of a former militant leader, Tompolo simply echoed some of the points made here.Tompolo who was treated as a hero when he arrived at Oporaza to hand in his weapons, said that armed rebellion is being stopped for now, while they eagerly wait for the federal government to do what it should have done long time ago-develop the long neglected Niger Delta region.
Paul Okechukwu Oranika Regional Editor, Transatlantic Times Magazine, South East Region, Atlanta Georgia USA
Email: oranika@aol.com
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