Azubuike Ihemeje
It was about 11th May 2006. Yours truly was still struggling to get rid of my law degree at the then, RSUST, now Rivers State University, when the vary first militant group struck in the State.
And the entire newspapers and broadcast stations were replete with; “American Oil worker with Baker Hughes Shot Dead, on his way to office, in Port Harcourt.”
Again, On 11 May 2006, three expatriate oil workers of Saipem Contracting, a subsidiary of an Italian oil company, were abducted on their way to work in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
This particular case became the first recorded kidnap of foreign citizens in the Niger Delta. The incident occurred around the then Goodfeelers Nightclub, along GRA, Port Harcourt.
Coincidentally, that Club shared a fence with the building that houses Uk embassy in Port Harcourt. As expected, the following morning, the Uk government announced the immediate relocation of its Port Harcourt annex out of Rivers State, citing insecurity reasons. That’s how it has been till date.
Militants operating in the name of MEND claimed responsibility for these crimes. The governments, particularly State government did absolutely nothing to nip the issue in the bud then. Rather, they adopted a lousy, cosmetic approach by paying huge amounts for ransom.
Before my very eyes, I saw one of my friends, easily one of the intermediaries for government, receiving calls from the the then CSO to the Governor negotiating ransom for release of abducted foreigners.
Perpetrators were well known. But for some very distorted reasons, there was this confusion then that kept making us, and of course, the drivers of the government think that these criminals are NOT actually criminals per se. For we actually perceived them to be our freedom fighters, who were on course of doing things which although violates the laws, but would positively benefit us at last.
In our collective silence, we tend to rationalize, excuse and even justify their criminality on the grounds of marginalization and neglect of the region by federal government.
Everybody became collectively culpable in one way or the other; either by silence, condoning, colluding, or participation.
Before long, they began to speak for us with sustained grandiosity. Soon as the major Oil producing or servicing companies observed the condescending body language of the people who are to speak and take decisive actions against the criminals, they quickly relocated either to Lagos, or out of Nigeria entirely, for safety reasons.
As a consequence, we lost every opportunity to get employed in these firms, and in most cases we’re no longer aware when and how these Companies conduct their employment or vendors services for contracts.
So, what did we then benefit from the so called militants? Miseries,
Unemployment, Pains, Tears, Deaths.
While the militants negotiated and secured their amnesty program with monthly payments, same can not be said of us, for we’ve continued to gnash and suffer the immediate and long term consequences of their criminality.
After dislodging the foreigners out of the Niger Delta, our freedom fighters turned around, and began to feed on us all; their own people. Till now, cases of kidnap among us have come to stay and remained unabated.
I know some millennials who don’t know that before 2007, we don’t have any special Unit in Police called Antikidnap Unit. But today, that unit has come to stay, as though it has always been with us. We lost everything. Absolutely everything.
As the unemployment rate increased astronomically as a direct consequence of the massive flight of the companies, majority of the youths became disillusioned, and without any tangible alternatives, many unfortunately, resorted to the same crimes.
Before this ugly era, say; from the 80s to about 2004, Rivers State was the very first, sought after by every single member of NYSC, because it holds the highest prospects of employment into the myriads of Companies that doted the State. Civil Service jobs were only reserved as the very last options.
But today, na we dey rush government employment. With its huge cost of recurrent expenditures on the government, most states in the region, sadly, can no longer perform optimally in capital projects.
Majority of reasonable members of the region now regret, and if they have the opportunity to rewind the times and start afresh, would certainly act in a manner that’ll be diametrically different from the way they had perceived and treated pure criminals masquerading as freedom fighters.
In 2010, the North East of Nigeria, made some copycats in condoning criminality. Most of my friends I met in law school, simply preferred to blame the government for acts of violence and terrorism, against the State, perpetrated by their own.
As a consequence, the entire North is now under siege by armed terrorists, with virtually every single social and economic activities crippled, and more than 80% of the region laying stagnant as desolate waste.
What are those my friends saying today? Regrets. Plenty regrets!
Today, the South Eastern region of Nigeria has already increased arms in the hands of some unknown or known terrorists. Many prefer to call them their freedom fighters for their emancipation from the shackles of Nigeria. These group of armed terrorists, is strongly alleged to have turned Police and other law enforcement officers in the region, as the most endangered species. I don’t know how history keep repeating itself.
Today, as was the case in Niger Delta and the North narrated above,
majority of the people in the Eastern region are conspicuously and conspiratorially either silent, or simply justifies these criminality with excuses of previous extrajudicial actions of the government or for their liberation reasons.
As usual, criminals have been enthroned as kings, liberators, and messianic movement. Nobody is bothered about the immediate and future unintended consequences of these crimes.
They said; someone in diaspora, an escapee fugitive, had already directed his adherents in the East to go on exterminating every police or sister officers at sight. And these systematic crimes against the police have continued without letting. Everyone there appears silently in support.
Some razzed ones have openly endorsed it.
It is therefore gratifying to find on the internet, a rare lone voice of a group of people of Eastern region, come out fearlessly open to take a solid stand against these evil. These courageous people are truly outstanding, and deserve every respect, commendation and support.
May history never repeat itself negatively in the Eastern region. For crimes brings no good, solves no problem. Crime is truly a wild wind, which blows absolutely no good, to anybody!
