Africa’s Academy Awards attract thousands to the Niger Delta

Africa’s Academy Awards attract thousands to the Niger Delta

The excitement is in the air this Sunday evening as thousands throng the Gloryland Cultural Centre in the capital city of Yenegoa in the oil rich Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, to join African film makers, movie stars and movie buffs for the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA).

The African Movie Academy Awards has all the glitz and red carpet fanfare that can only be compared to the glamorous and prestigious Oscars of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS)in Hollywood as AMAA celebrates the best of Nigeria’s Nollywood and the rest of Africa in one unforgettable night as African movie stars strut the red carpet to compete for the coveted trophies of the AMAA in different categories. AMAA has attracted notable Hollywood stars like Danny Glover, Forest Whitaker who won an Oscar for Best Actor for his thrilling portrayal of Ugandan military tyrant Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland", Cuba Gooding Jnr who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his memorable portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film "Jerry Maguire", Courtney Vance, Vivica A. Fox and Angela Basset.


South Africa dominates the 2011 AMAA with 27 nominations and followed by the host nation Nigeria with 23 nominations.

“The four South African films in competition include Hope Ville with nine nominations, Izulu Lami, seven nominations Shirley Adams, five nominations and A Small Town Called Descent with six nominations. Combined together, South Africa had the highest nominations by a country with a total of 27 nominations,” said Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the CEO of AMAA.

Ghana and Congo are also competing with great movies receiving the highest nominations. Ghana’s "Sinking Sound" with 10 nominations. Kenya’s "Soul Boy" got 6 nominations.

Nigeria is a strong contender with four films. Tunde Kelani’s "Maami", Jeta Amata’s "Inale", Niyi Akanji’s "Aramotu" and Mahmood Alli-Balogun’s "Tango with Me" are movies to watch.

The most coveted prizes are the AMAA for the Best Actor and Actress in a leading role; Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Achievement in Visual award.


Famous Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji is nominated for Best Actress in Leading Role


Best Short Film

Bougfen – Petra Baninla Sunjo (Cameroun)
Weakness – Wanjiru Kairu (Kenya)
No Jersey No Match – Daniel Ademinokan (Nigeria)
Duty – Mak Kusare (Nigeria)
Bonlambo – Zwe Lesizwe Ntuli (South Africa)
Zebu And The Photofish – Zipporah Nyarori (Kenya)
Dina – Mickey Fonseca (Mozambique)
Allahkabo – Bouna Cherif Fofana (Togo)

Best Short Documentary

Symphony Kinsasha – Diendo Hamadi & Dinta Wa Lusula (Congo)
Naija Diamond (Feature On Dr. Rahmat Mohammed) – Nform Leonard (Nigeria)
After The Mine – Diendo Hamadi & Dinta Wa Lusula (Drc)
Stepping Into The Unknown – Rowena Aldous & Jill Hanas-Hancock (South Africa)
Yeabu’s Homecoming – Jenny Chu (Sierraleone)

Best Documentary

Kondi Et Le Jeudi Nationale – Ariana Astrid Atodji (Cameroun)
Headlines In History – Zobby Bresson (Kenya)
Co-Exist – Adam Mazo (Rwanda)
State Of Mind- Djo Tunda Wa Munga (Congo)
Naija Diamonds- Nfrom Leonard (Nigeria)

Best Diaspora Feature

Suicide Dolls – Keith Shaw (Usa)
Tested – Russell Costanzo (Usa)
Nothing Less -Wayne Saunders (Uk)
The Village -Wayne Saunders (Uk)

Best Diaspora Documentary

Stuborn As A Mule – Miller Bargeron Jr & Arcelous Deiels (Usa)
Momentum – Zeinabu Irene Davis (Usa)
If Not Now – Louis Haggart (Usa)
Motherland – Owen Alik Shahadah (Usa)
Changement – Chiara Cavallazi (Italy)

Best Diaspora Short Film

Cycle – Roy Clovis (Usa)
Under Tow – Miles Orion Feld (Usa)
Habitual Aggression – Temi Ojo (Usa)
Little Soldier – Dallas King (Usa)
The New N Word – Sowande Tichawonna (Usa)
Precipice – Julius Amedume (Uk)

Best Film For African Abroad

Anchor Baby – Lonzo Nzekwe (Nigeria/Canada)
In America: The Story Of The Soul Sisters- Rahman Oladigbolu (Nigeria/Usa)
Mirror Boy – Obi Emelonye (Nigeria/Uk)
Africa United – Debs Gardner-Brook (Rwanda/Uk)

Best Production Design

Tango With Me
Viva Riva
Hopeville
6 Hours To Christmas
Maami

Best Costume Design

Inale
Yemoja
Sinking Sands
Aramotu
Elmina

Best Make Up

Inale
Sinking Sands
A Private Storm
Viva Riva
A Small Town Called Descent

Best Soundtrack

Aramotu
Nani
Who Owns Da City
Inale
A Small Town Called Descent

Best Achievement In Sound

Sinking Sands
Shirley Adams
Izulu Lami
Viva Riva
Tango With Me

Best Cinematography

Soul Boy
Sinking Sands
Hopeville
Shirley Adams
Izulu Lami

Best Nigerian Film

Maami – Tunde Kelani
Aramotu – Niji Akanni
Tango With Me – Mahmood Ali- Balogun
Inale – Jeta Amata
A Private Storm – Lancelot Oduwa Imaseun/Ikechukwu Onyeka

Best Film In African Language

Aramotu – Niji Akanni (Nigeria)
Izulu Lami – Madoda Ncayiyana (South Africa)
Soul Boy- Hawa Essuman (Kenya)
Suwi – Musola Catherine Kaseketi (Zambia)
Fishing The Little Stone – Kaz Kasozi (Uganda)

Best Child Actor

Sobahle Mkhabase (Thembi), Tschepang Mohlomi (Chili-Bite) And Sibonelo Malinga(Khwezi) – Izulu Lami
Eriya Ndayambaje – Dudu In Africa United
Jordan Ntunga – Anto In Viva Riva
Ayomide Abatti – Young Kashi In Maami
Benjamin Abemigish a- Zebu In Zebu And The Photofish
Shantel Mwabi – Bupe In Suwi

Best Young Actor

Yves Dusenge (Child Soldier) And Roger Nsengiyumua (Footballer) – Africa United
Samson Odhiambo And Leila Dayan Opou – Soul Boy
Edward Kagutuzi – Mirror Boy
Donovan Adams – Shirley Adams
Junior Singo – Hopeville

Best Actor In Supporting Role

Osita Iheme – Mirror Boy
Hoji Fortuna – Viva Riva
Mpilo Vusi Kunene – A Small Town Called Descent
John Dumelo – A Private Storm
Desmond Dube – Hopeville

Best Actress In Supporting Role

Mary Twala – Hopeville
Joyce Ntalabe – The Rivaling Shadow
Marlene Longage – Viva Riva
Tina Mba -Tango With Me
Yvonne Okoro – Pool Party

Best Actor In Leading Role

Themba Ndaba – Hopeville
Patsha Bay – Viva Riva
Jimmy Jean-Louis – Sinking Sands
Ekon Blankson – Checkmate
Antar Laniyan – Yemoja

Best Actress In Leading Role

Idiat Shobande -Aramotu
Omoni Oboli- Anchor Baby
Manie Malone – Viva Riva
Amake Abebrese- Sinking Sands
Denise Newman -Shirley Adams
Genevieve Nnaji – Tango With Me

Best Director

Soul Boy – Hawa Essuman
Shirley Adams – Oliver Hermanus
Viva Riva – Djo Tunda Wa Munga
Aramotu – Niji Akanni
A Small Town Called Descent – Jahmail. X. T Qubeka
Sinking Sands – Leila Djansi

Best Film

Viva Riva – Djo Tunda Wa Munga (Congo)
Sinking Sands – Leila Djansi (Ghana)
Aramotu – Niji Akanni (Nigeria)
Soul Boy – Hawa Essuman (Kenya)
Hopeville – John Trengove (South Africa)
A Small Town Called Descent – Jahmil X.T Qubeka (South Africa)

Sylva is a drowning man – Alaibe

•Alaibe

Sylva is a drowning man – Alaibe

Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Timi Alaibe, regarded as the biggest threat to Governor Timipre Sylva’s second term bid, spoke with some journalists in Abuja during the week on his tenure as Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chief Executive Officer of the Amnesty Programme. Deputy Editor, SAM AKPE, was there. Excerpts…


In the last one year or so, you have been busy helping the Federal Government implement the Amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta. What is your candid assessment of the programme? Put differently, would you say the problem of militancy has been solved in the Niger Delta?

You have asked a very direct question and I shall attempt to give you a direct answer. Over all, the Amnesty programme has been a resounding success. I make bold to assert that the programme will go down in history as the sincerest effort by the Federal Government to address the Niger Delta question. You would recall that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua had on June 25, 2009, proclaimed a 60-day unconditional amnesty period for militants in the Niger Delta, as a step towards resolving the protracted insecurity in the region. The terms of the amnesty included the willingness and readiness of militants to surrender their arms, and unconditionally renounce militancy and sign an undertaking to this effect. In return, the government pledged its commitment to institute programmes to assist their disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and provision of re-integration assistance to the ex-militants. In other words, the programme was structured to have three broad components. One, a security component dealing with the disarmament and demobilization of the various militant groups in the Niger Delta; two, an economic component with commitment to provide access to re-integration opportunities for the ex-militants; and three, to promote the economic development of the Niger Delta. Flowing from this, we proceeded to execute what has become, perhaps, the most successful disarmament exercise in the history of DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration) in Africa. By October 2009, (some) 20,192 ex-militants had willingly disarmed, turned in huge cache of arms and ammunition to security agencies and got enrolled in the programme. Going back to your question, I insist that the Amnesty programme has been a resounding success. Where we are currently would be better appreciated when viewed from the pedestal of where we were prior to the amnesty proclamation.

Can you explain that?

Let me take you down memory lane. By January 2009, militancy in the Niger Delta had virtually crippled Nigeria’s economy. Investment inflow to the upstream sub-sector of the oil industry had dwindled remarkably. Exasperated foreign investors had begun re-directing their investments to Angola and Ghana as preferred destinations over Nigeria. At that point, Angola surpassed Nigeria as Africa’s highest crude oil producer. This dwindling investment in the critical oil and gas sector threatened Nigeria’s capacity to grow its crude oil reserves as planned.
Like you may well know, Nigeria targeted 40 billion barrels proven reserves by end of 2010. Clearly, insecurity in the Niger Delta was identified as key reason investors were leaving for more stable business opportunities in Africa. For example, due to militant activities in the Niger Delta, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) by early 2009 had declared force majure on its operations, which caused a drop in its production capacity from one million bpd to about 250,000 bpd. ExxonMobil also experienced increased insurgent activities in its Nigerian operations. Sabotage, oil siphoning rackets and kidnappings of oil workers by suspected militants further threatened the operations of the oil companies and exerted immense pressure on the Nigerian economy. Worse still, citing insecurity, union officials all too often called strikes to protest insecure working environment. It got to a point where Nigeria’s export dwindled to as low as 700,000 bpd, compared with a targeted 2.2 million bpd for the first quarter of 2009. In 2008 alone, it was estimated that Nigeria lost over N3 trillion as a result of militancy in the Niger Delta.

So what has happened since the commencement of the programme implementation, especially in the oil sector?

Shortly after the October 4, 2009, deadline for Niger Delta militants to accept Federal Government’s amnesty offer expired, the government and other stakeholders began counting the positive results from the exercise. With peace restored in the Niger Delta, oil companies and associated companies re-opened shut-in wells; Nigeria’s oil production increased from 700,000 bpd to 2.3 mbpd; construction of East-West Road resumed; kidnapping in the core Niger Delta states drastically reduced; oil bunkering reduced; crime rate declined; signs that the process would succeed accelerated economic development across the nation. With cessation of hostilities, government began giving assurances that Nigeria can once again fill its OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) quota and be trusted by major consumer nations to meet its contractual obligations; Nigeria LNG’s reputation as a reliable supplier of LNG cargoes was restored; with renewed confidence in the international oil market, Nigeria began to exercise more influence in the supply and pricing of oil and, of course, repairs of oil and gas infrastructure damaged during the unfortunate era of militant agitation speedily commenced, while contractors handling development projects also were given lee-way to fast-track their efforts to assure the ex-militants of government’s determination to ensure sustainable development in the Niger Delta. Finally on this matter, let me clarify that while it is true that the late Yar’Adua initiated the Amnesty programme, it is important to place on record that when it seemed that the programme was floundering, it was President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that revved it up, gave it fresh impetus and provided all that was needed to attain the success that we are talking about today.

So in what state was the Amnesty programme before you resigned in December 2010?

Yes, as at December 2010, (some) 12,917 ex-militants had undertaken non-violence transformational training at the Demobilization Camp we sited at Obubra, Cross River State. For this demobilization exercise in the camp, we engaged experts from Nigeria, South Africa and the United States of America. The transformational/reorientation activities in the camp are tailored to extinguish the belief of the ex-militants in violence and provide them a more powerful alternative – non-violence. In camp, they are taught to promote non-violent method in bringing about a better Niger Delta. The concept of non-violence is a method that is non-aggressive physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually. We inculcate in the ex-militants the fact that non-violence is for the courageous; that only cowards utilise violence as a means of conflict resolution; that the non-violent resister is just as opposed to the evil that he is standing against as the violent resister, but he resists without violence. In the non-violent approach, the attack is directed against the forces of evil, rather than persons who are caught in those forces. It uses the power of love. It is based on the conviction and belief from the long tradition of our Christian faith that the Almighty God is on the side of truth and justice. It is this deep faith in the future that makes the non-violent person to accept suffering without retaliation. The camp also provides career guidance designed to assist ex-militants determine their career aspirations going forward in terms of education, vocational and entrepreneurial skills. After the non-violence training and career classification in the camp, the ex-militants are placed in skills acquisition or training centres, both in Nigeria and offshore. As at December 2010, a total of 4,759 ex-militants who had passed through the non-violence training programme had been assigned to 57 skills acquisition/training centres in 13 states of the federation, while the 2,618 had been slated for training offshore. Indeed, just before my exit, we had sent 38 of them to South Africa. Another 200 delegates, as we now call them, are ready to leave for Ghana for vocational training. The overall re-integration agenda is to groom these ex-militants to become key players in the emerging economies of the Niger Delta – be it in construction, oil and gas, railways, tourism etc. Luckily, the Local Content Act and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently in the works in the National Assembly support this aspiration to get transformed and properly skilled ex-militants play key roles in the nation’s oil and gas industry. The final objective, of course, will be to get the trained ex-militants gainfully employed.

Is it not ironical that you are talking so eloquently about the restoration of peace in the Niger Delta while it is on record that a bomb goes off almost every day in your home state, Bayelsa, which is one of the Niger Delta states? In fact, it is even believed that the spate of violence in Bayelsa is threatening your campaign to become the next governor of the state.

Let’s get one fact clear here; the administrative rot in Bayelsa is not a reflection of the success or otherwise of the Amnesty programme. The violence in Bayelsa is politically-driven; the bombings and incessant attacks are induced and sponsored by the state government. Let me pointedly discuss this matter. There is simply no government in place in the State. There is no focused leadership. What you see is an illusion of a presence of a government. After almost four years in the saddle, the so-called incumbent governor has absolutely nothing to campaign with: no programmes, no projects; absolutely nothing, other than the deception that you see on the front pages of some newspapers that he calls his ‘strides.’ What strides? The so-called ‘strides’ have become a butt of joke, even among children. Imagine a state governor listing, as part of his achievements in four years, the fumigation of Okolobiri Hospital! Or is it the huge fraud of unseen and unknown ‘concrete roads and foot-bridges’ he has been listing as part of his ‘strides’? A state government receiving derivation income in billions of naira every month is priding itself as constructing foot-bridges and fumigating a hospital at this time and age. Then, what would the local government do? He is just wasting Bayelsa money to embarrass himself on the front pages of newspapers. Because he has achieved nothing in four years, he has nothing to campaign with; absolutely nothing to tell the electorate, so he is determined to stop other aspirants from campaigning. Can you imagine the governor of a state sponsoring violence disrupt the campaign rallies of other candidates, and at the same time shamelessly accusing the opponents of being afraid to campaign? We will not be cowed; we will not succumb to these dastardly antics of a rejected and drowning man. So, do not use the Bayelsa situation to judge the Niger Delta region. When last did you hear that a bomb went off in other Niger Delta states? By the grace of God, Bayelsa will turn a new page on May 29 this year. To further underscore the failings of the current government in Bayelsa, baseline statistics during the disarmament phase of the Amnesty programme, indicated that Bayelsa has the highest number of militant camps in the Niger Delta. These are patriotic youths of this country who, in the absence of care, resorted to militancy and other forms of self help. Over 9,000 youths of Bayelsa origin are currently enrolled in both phases of the Amnesty programme, the highest number from any state. This throws up the nature of the challenge of unemployed youths in the state because the number mentioned here does not even include those who are not in the Amnesty programme. The current government, meanwhile, has no plans or programmes for the huge population of the unemployed in the state. It got its priorities wrong, or how would it budget N1 billion in 2011 to construct golf course in the state. Golf course for who? Should this be a priority at this time? That man has no vision, even for himself. God will deliver Bayelsa from him.

In a recent interview, Sylva boasted that you are not known in Bayelsa State; that claims in certain quarters that the president backs you are false. The governor even lampooned you as a political ant and that the Labour Party in Bayelsa is nothing but a political graveyard of sorts?

I find it rather time-wasting joining issues with Sylva. I did not read this interview you are talking about, but my associates and aides drew my attention to it and excerpts were actually brought to me. The truth is that the man is simply scared. He knows that the game is up. Bayelsans desperately seek a fresh and better start. Typical of all drowning persons, he is seeking to cling to anything to stay afloat. He has resorted to name-calling and utter falsehood. But I think we should discuss issues and not nonentities. Overcoming the daunting, albeit embarrassing, challenges Bayelsa faces today requires a new vision. Bayelsans are determined, more than ever before, to move forward together, for the challenges we face are bigger than party and politics. It is not about LP, PDP or any other party. Sylva’s government has no sense of direction. Look at all the governors in the South South, from Rivers to Delta to Akwa Ibom to Edo to Cross River; they are opening up roads, building over-head bridges, hospitals, introducing and sustaining quality free education and healthcare projects, empowering their people. Sylva is busy advertising his failure in the media. Do you know how much he spends a week advertising those failures on the pages of newspapers? Add this to the regime of indebtedness he has thrown the state into. The governor should please tell the Bayelsa people the specific development projects that accounted for about N100 billion debt profile he has accumulated for the state. He should be worried about mismanaging the financial and general goodwill of Bayelsa people. Bayelsans are much more concerned about rescuing the state from his mediocre administration. A political party is a mere platform to contest elections. When elected, it is your duty to provide leadership. When you achieve results, nobody cares about your party platform. Sylva has every reason to fret; his cup is full. He is going. He is simply seeking to obfuscate the facts of the politics in Bayelsa today. All Bayelsans support President Jonathan. Indeed, I chose the LP because I support Jonathan. LP is not fielding a presidential candidate in the April elections. Therefore, Jonathan is my presidential candidate. He is the candidate of all well-meaning Nigerians and, by the grace of God, he will emerge resoundingly victorious in the presidential election. So, the current governor of Bayelsa has no escape route. He cannot blackmail Bayelsans to re-elect him, to reward him for crass ineptitude, simply because he is of the same party with the president. No, no it will not happen; our situation is peculiar and urgent; the collective mission of Bayelsa people is to, first and foremost, rescue our state from the grips of failure.

In a publication, you were quoted as saying you left PDP to embarrass the president.

I’m sure the president himself must have laughed when he read that because he knows the truth. I have been told that Sylva is using that as a campaign issue. The man is recklessly desperate. I really don’t think I need to comment on this because when my attention was drawn to that false and manipulated report, I quickly issued a corrigendum which was well-published by the same paper the following day. That cancelled the previous publication. My relationship with the president is well-known. It is unthinkable that I would say such a thing. When I wanted to leave the PDP for obvious reasons, as a mark of respect, I informed the president and other senior party leaders. Permit me not to disclose the details of our discussions. I acted based on the advice of the political leaders of Bayelsa. I left PDP to seek a neutral platform for the actualisation of the peoples’ vision. With our deep knowledge of the delegate system of voting in the primaries of the PDP whereby a sitting governor decides who should vote, we knew clearly that Sylva would rig the process to his advantage. I am in LP to fulfil the aspiration of overwhelming majority of Bayelsans who desperately desire that the state be rescued from the claws of its current clueless leadership. Never in my life would I contemplate embarrassing the man who gave me the opportunity to implement a programme that has turned around the economy of Nigeria by bringing peace to the Niger Delta.

Are you saying that your aspiration under LP enjoys the support of the president?

My brother, for about one year, I worked very closely and directly with His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as his Special Adviser on Niger Delta. He is a man intensely focused on success; he abhors embarrassing situations, hates failures and loves peace and peaceful environment. I am contesting to be governor of Bayelsa to lead others to free the president and all Bayelsans from the embarrassment that the current state government has become. Do you remember that when the president visited Bayelsa, Sylva was booed and stoned by the people, in the presence of the president of this country? Nothing could have been more embarrassing. He was stoned, booed and insulted. I don’t have any iota of doubt in my mind that Mr. President wants his state to be better governed, developed, peaceful and habitable. I can assure you that from May 29 this year, President Jonathan will be spending his weekends in the new Bayelsa of our dream.


Sylva calls you a political ant.

Let’s discuss issues. Leave Sylva and his ranting alone. He is not worth any decent discussion. I’m not into name-calling. If I were a political ant in Bayelsa, why is he panicky? Why is he sending people to attack opponents everywhere they go to? Why is he running an illegal security outfit called Famutangbe (meaning ‘kill and throw away’ in Izon language)? This is the extent Governor Sylva loathes our people; maintaining a security outfit with a name reminiscent of a declaration of violence against the same people he swore to protect. Why would a governor set up a killer squad under the guise of maintaining peace and security in the state? The same squad supervises the pulling down of billboards of political opponents of the governor without anybody calling it to order. Look, let’s get serious: Bayelsans know me like the back of their hands. All my working life, I have done all I can, all that was within my powers, to bring development to the state. Today, a substantial chunk of the development projects in our state is attributable to my previous service in various spheres, including my service in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). I am talking of infrastructure and mega developmental projects, particularly roads and bridges construction, shoreline protection, reclamation and canalisation. The excerpts of his interview that I saw, he was talking of uncompleted NDDC projects; what is that supposed to mean? Has NDDC folded up? So, simply because some NDDC projects are on-going or pending in Bayelsa, Timi Alaibe, who left there some years ago, should be blamed? Governors of other Niger Delta states are busy piling pressure on the NDDC to initiate projects or complete on-going projects in their states. Sylva obviously hates NDDC projects because they remind him of Alaibe. That’s pettiness! He spoke also of the Niger Delta Masterplan, which he said we executed at the cost of N25 billion or N45 billion. You can imagine a governor descending to the level of peddling rumours for lack of what to do. For the avoidance of doubt, the masterplan did not cost this amount. Unknown to people, the two lead consultants to the master plan (GTZ International/Wilbahi Engineering Consortium and Norman and Dawbarn Consortium) were companies sponsored and led by two prominent Ijaw personalities; both of them incidentally from Governor Sylva’s senatorial district. More interesting is the fact that Governor Sylva’s company, Sylvasky Nigeria Limited, led the group that provided sector consultancy on tourism. If the project cost the amount he has announced, then NDDC must have paid the money to the lead consultants and himself. I am waiting for him to publish his facts. He is a confused man. Like I said, Bayelsans know me; I have always given the state and indeed the entire Niger Delta region my best and my all. As the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, I worked round-the-clock and even took risks to rid our state and other states in the Niger Delta of militancy. I am proud to say that today we have paved the way for a better future for these our brothers and sisters who are currently in first-class skills acquisition centres across the country and abroad. As governor of Bayelsa State, I shall, by the grace of God, do much more. We will invest in major critical infrastructure that will involve the construction of roads and bridges that will open up our land-locked communities, villages and towns. We shall reclaim lands from the sea, rivers as well as creeks and protect our shores. We shall diversify the economy of Bayelsa to empower our people and create job opportunities.

Who Is Afraid Of Timi Alaibe?

Timi Alaibe


Who Is Afraid Of Timi Alaibe?

~ By Daniel Wilcox.

Since the day Mr. Timi Alaibe declared his interest to contest for Bayelsa State governorship under the Labour Party many nerves have been racked. Those who are yet to grasp the reality of Alaibe's declaration are already hell-bent on snuffing life out of him. This is to be expected from a people who have no political credibility.
Alaibe decided to team up with the Labour Party to wrest power from the incumbent non-performing governor of Bayelsa state. It is natural that when superiority challenges inferiority, the complex in the lesser party would seek to annihilate the higher party. This is precisely the situation in Bayelsa state today. It is now a consensus of opinion that Alaibe is bringing the Midas touch to the governance of the state if voted into power. Not a few would agree that the state desperately needs speedy transformation. But those who want the status-quo of the frittering of the state's resources would do all the pernicious things to stall the machine of re-engineering the state. The recent bomb blast near his home is one desperate effort by the bruised and the humbled opposition to dissuade Alaibe from contesting the governorship of the state. Having traversed many paths assiduously and successfully, Alaibe is not one to give up so easily. His power is derived from the strength of the people who have massed around him like an impregnable wall.
“I will never let our great party and my people down by giving up the support the people have given me,” he said. Such a statement could only come from a man who knows the people to be his constituency. Alaibe knows that this is his hour to bring about a rebirth in Bayelsa.

The current government has failed us in Bayelsa. Security has collapsed because there are no conscious and concerted efforts on the part of the government to build a virile state where relative peace and tranquility will prevail.

The state has an almost a nonexistent commerce. Governance is not only about putting up phony adverts with the money of already bruised citizens. Governor Timipre Sylva promised to address issues of infrastructure, environment, security, youth empowerment and agriculture but he has so for failed to fulfill his promises. There is no time now to do that, because his time is up. The people are now determined to vote out the ruling government in the state, by voting in a responsible Labour Party government spearheaded by Alaibe.

Accountability had been murdered in Bayelsa state by the current administration as huge allocation of the Federal Government to the Local government areas had been misappropriated by the state government cronies. The rate of unemployment in the state had tripled, this partly accounts for the high rate of criminality in the state. You cannot blame the people because the government has been a great disappointment. Rather than the state government to create job opportunities, it continued to deceive the people with unrealistic and unobtainable schemes.

“The Labour Party is resilient, united and fights the cause of the common man,” he stated. I am for the common people. I also will not overlook the needs of others. He understands the Niger Delta terrain and what the rural masses need.
Though Bayelsa State is one of the major oil producing states in Nigeria, majority of its people still live in poverty.

Adequate transportation system, health, education, and other infrastructure are grossly inadequate in the state as a result of decades of insensitivity of government of the state.

The labour gubernatorial candidate urges all Bayelsans to come out and participate in the on going voters exercise; Bayelsans according to him must resist attempts to manipulate the voter registration. If we want a better Bayelsa state, we must take action and join the efforts to make it happen.



Wilcox lives in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.

Alaibe: The Only Choice For Change In Bayelsa State

Timi Alaibe

Alaibe: The Only Choice For Change In Bayelsa State

~ By Daniel Wilcox

That Mr. Timi Alaibe has declared his interest to contest for Bayelsa State governorship under the Labour Party is no news. It is also no news that he decided to team up with the Labour Party to wrest Bayelsa state from the shackles of the ruling party. What is news is that Alaibe is bringing the Midas touch to the state because it desperately needs speedy transformation. He is known as one not given to failures. His rise from grass to grace attests to his commitment to a purpose driven mission.

“I will never let our great party and my people down,” he said. Such a statement could only come from a man who knows the right time to do the right thing. Alaibe knows that this is his hour to bring about a rebirth in Bayelsa. He knows that the possibility is within his reach judging by the stunning following he enjoys in the state across political, ethnic and religious spectrum in the state. Almost all his life seems a preparation for this moment.

“I chose Labour Party because the party is resilient, united and fights the cause of the common man,” he stated.

Alaibe is not new to administration in any capacity. He has served the nation well and done exceedingly good for his Niger-delta constituency. He rose from being executive director (Finance) to becoming the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. He was later appointed Senior Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Affairs. He was until his resignation from the current administration a moving force in the implementation of the government’s amnesty program for ex-militants. Alaibe, oversaw the implementation of the amnesty, under which more than 20,000 oil militants, surrendered their arms in exchange for development of their region and a retraining program. He understands the Niger Delta terrain and what the rural masses need in Bayelsa.

A true son of the Niger Delta, Alaibe showed quite early in his life the qualities of diligence, intelligence, compassion.

Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, Alaibe was in the banking industry. He served as Vice President of Cosmopolitan Bancshares in 1994, and later as General Manager, Corporate Banking and Investment at Societe Generale Bank (Nig.) Ltd.
He has become a magnetic rallying point among the youth, the women and the elders alike, and at the national level where he has championed the cause of the Niger Delta people.

At NDDC, it is on record that he has been instrumental to the healthy financial and administrative regime of the Commission, in a charged socio-political environment where the mandate of the Commission faces a dire prospect of being easily overwhelmed by political exigencies and social pressures.

A major part of the success of the NDDC in addressing the daunting neglect of the Niger Delta region, as well as in reducing the agitation and violence prevalent in the region before the establishment of the NDDC, lies in Alaibe’s great compassion, brilliance, foresight, natural problem-solving and people-savvy skills.

In line with the vision of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Alaibe helped to enthrone a culture of enduring achievement for the NDDC. Along with his colleagues on the Board and Management of the NDDC, he strove to set in motion, a coordinated response mechanism to the short-term and long-term challenges of the Niger Delta, comprising as key ingredients, an integrated regional development Master Plan, interim action plan for key projects in the states, as well as skill acquisition programs and a re-orientation and empowerment of youths.

Alaibe has been described in many circles as peace advocate, catalyst for change, friend of the oppressed, conduit for development, and symbol of hope and inspiration for the indigent yet hopeful Niger Delta people.

Alaibe holds a bachelors degree in Accountancy from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, and a Master of Business Administration from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

In recognition of his contributions to humanity and the society, Alaibe has been appointed a member of many professional organizations, including the Institute of Chartered Administrators, the Institute of Corporate Executives, and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has also received many outstanding awards for excellence. In 1991, for instance, Mr. Alaibe was appointed a member of the Rivers State Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs. A one-time vice-chairman of the Rivers State Wrestling Association, he was also the founding Chairman of the Rivers-Bayelsa Professionals Forum.

He is, also, a member of the Presidential Committee Police Equipment Fund, where he serves as Chairman, Public Sector Sub-Committee.

Among his many awards are: Certified Doctor of Business Administration, Oxford Association of Management, Oxford, England; Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Commercial Diplomacy, UK; Certified Strategist Lifetime Award of the Cambridge Association of Managers, UK; Certificate of Honour from the European Market Research Centre, (Euro Market Forum) 2003; Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria; Distinguished Fellow, Certified Institute of Management, Nigeria; Distinguished Alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and Outstanding Alumnus Award, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.

In addition to his growing international profile, Alaibe has been invited to deliver papers on subjects as wide-ranging as politics, capital markets/country risk rating, sustainable development, peace and security.

These include: Security and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” by the Defense and Security Forum, United Kingdom; Development Challenges of the Niger Delta Region: The Path to Sustainable Development,” at the annual law week of the Nigerian Bar Association, Bayelsa State Branch; Country Risk Rating And Implications For Capital Market Growth In Nigeria: The Niger Delta Question,” at the Nigerian Stock Exchange Annual Conference, Abuja; and Peace and Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” delivered at the prestigious annual Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series of the Black Congressional Caucus, the United States of America, organised by the Leadership Roundtable of the US-Africa Partnership.

Though Bayelsa State is one of the major oil producing states in Nigeria, it is one of the least benefiting states from the oil income. Majority of Bayelsans still live in poverty. They are mainly rural dwellers due to its peculiar terrain and lack of adequate transportation system, health, education, or other infrastructure, as a result of decades of neglect by the central government and oil prospecting companies. This has been a major problem in the state since its creation and successive governments have failed to address and repair the damage. The state has an almost nonexistent commerce.

In his inaugural speech, following his election, the current governor of the state, Governor Timipre Sylva, promised to address issues of infrastructure, environment, security, youth empowerment, agriculture and industrialization. His government has so far failed to deliver on these promises.

Alaibe is undaunted and remains focused on his program to transform the state for the overall well being of its people.



~Wilcox lives in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.

When Citizens Revolt: Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State pelted with stones

Timipre Sylva, Governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria


Insight

When Citizens Revolt

I

T IS NO longer news that Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, was pelted with stones, shoes and packets of pure water on Friday October 22, 2010. The incident occurred while the governor was delivering his formal welcome address to President Goodluck Jonathan and his entourage at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

Sylva’s ordeal is not without historical antecedents. On Monday December 15, 2008, barely one month to the end of his second tenure as President of the United States of America, George Walker Bush was pelted with a pair of shoes by Muntandar al-Zaidi, a reporter with a Cairo-based television network at a press conference in Baghdad. The incident marked the height of the scandals that had rocked the Bush presidency over the American invasion of Iraq.

In like manner, on Saturday September 4, 2010, an equally scandalous scenario took place in Dublin, Ireland, when former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was pelted with shoes and eggs as he arrived at a bookstore to promote his controversial memoir entitled, A Journey. That was another clear expression of disgust at the unpopular role played by Blair in the Iraqi conflict.

On its part, the Yenagoa missile drama remains a most unique occurrence because it does not have any precedent in Nigerian history. Coming as it did in the month when the state was celebrating its fourteenth birthday anniversary, and in a cardinal year of transition when Nigeria was marking her Golden Jubilee with great pomp and colour, the incident becomes even more significant for all its novelty. Needless to say, it has since gone down in world history as yet another example of what happens when a patient and long-suffering people have had enough.

What makes it all the more shocking is that this unflattering event took place right before the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The entire scenario becomes even more painful to contemplate in the light of the fact that the President was on his maiden visit to his home state since becoming helmsman in Nigeria, the first to emerge from the Niger Delta in the 50-year history of the nation.


Since the event, several theories have been bandied about in the popular media, and the debate continues even today on social networking sites such as Facebook. One respondent offered that the citizens of Bayelsa revolted because Sylva’s government has become one of billboards showing nothing but the face of the governor all over the state. On its part, the government of Sylva has given swift reasons as to why it was ridiculed openly, attributing the disgraceful and provocative onslaught to political opponents in the state. The Commissioner for Information has equally given assurance that security agencies are investigating the matter with a view to bringing the culprits to book.

But the plot of the story thickened when Governor Sylva held a press conference on Monday October 25, and laid the blame squarely at the feet of his cabinet members. He announced that some of his commissioners had performed abysmally, a situation that has become manifest in the general perception that his government had practically failed. According to him, the poor performance of his government is attributable to the “attitude problems” of his commissioners, some of whom he condemned as having become “mentally lazy.”

The regrettable incident, he said, was a reaction to the fact that his government lost direction after the re-run elections of April 2008. He also admitted that if his government did not abandon construction of projects following the nullification of the election results that brought him to office, the people of the state would not have had any reason to stone him during the President’s visit. The governor went further to ascribe his non-performance to a sharp drop in allocations accruing to the state from the Federation Account. It is on record, for instance, that in the first six months of 2010 alone, the government of Bayelsa received N49 Billion from the federal allocation, as against N90 Billion and N99 Billion for the neighbouring Delta and Rivers States respectively.

As may be expected, the governor’s statements have only drawn attention to the staggering fortune at the disposal of the governments in the oil producing region, in the light of which their touted achievements amount to very little. Yet, according to Sylva, profligacy is the only thing missing in his administration. Even so, he would be hard put to prove what he did substantially with the cumulative sums that have entered the coffers of the state since he came into office, before the drop in income.

At any rate, we find it gratifying that Governor Timipre Sylva was gracious enough to admit that his administration lost steam in the governance of the state, and willfully abandoned projects that were earning it some measure of credibility. It takes courage to own up to the truth, and Sylva has done so. “I lost momentum after coming back in 2008. It’s not easy,” he said.

If anything, the press conference provided one rare opportunity for the governor to acknowledge in public that his government has failed woefully to deliver the proverbial dividends of democracy that it had so lavishly promised when it came into office on May 29, 2007, advertising itself as a new generation government that had to be taken seriously. It is truly sad that it took so long for the governor to come to this realization.

While we sympathize with Governor Timipre Sylva over the stoning incident and his avowed loss of focus, the reasons he has adduced for his poor performance are debatable. That is why we are obliged to call upon the Sylva government to forgo the pursuit of its perceived enemies, and to concentrate instead on a soul-searching appraisal of its conduct since coming into office. Besides, having publicly identified the problem with his government, the governor should act timely to earn the trust of the electorate if indeed he hopes to return to office in the next dispensation.

Ultimately, the great October showdown demonstrates that the Bayelsa electorate are fully aware of the power of their votes, and are eager to express their discontent with any government that fails to perform, even if it means hauling stones to underscore their frustration. To be sure, President Goodluck Jonathan was suitably embarrassed at the turn of events, but the crowd did well to assure him of their loyalty with a cheerful rendition of solidarity songs when he stood up to speak, a clear indication that his support base is intact at the home front.

In the best tradition of a peace-loving diplomat, President Jonathan called on Bayelsans to have mercy upon Governor Sylva in much the same way that a tolerant father would call his erring children to order in a riotous household. Yet, it is worrisome that Sylva has been presiding over a complacent cabinet for so long, an executive body composed of mentally lazy bureaucrats who have virtually imposed a mentally lazy way of life on the active conscience of the good people of Bayelsa State.

It is truly disturbing that, knowing the kind of cabinet he is burdened with, Sylva has continued to tolerate mediocrity and indolence in his government, and has been compelled by brick-throwing Bayelsans to advertise his shortcomings to the world. It says a great deal about the governor’s sense of propriety and good judgment -- or lack of both -- that he should condone high-level incompetence at the expense of the state and its law-abiding citizens thus far.

When citizens revolt, it can only mean that they are tired of the policies and programmes of a government in which they had placed so much trust. The earlier Governor Timipre Sylva-Sam separates the dons from the dunces in his cabinet, the better for the land and people of Bayelsa State.


QUOTE: When citizens revolt, it can only mean that they are tired of the government in which they had placed so much trust.


~ By Nengi Josef Ilagha


About the Author:
His Royal Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha Mingi XII, is the Amanyanabo of Nembe Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Also recommended: Epistle to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Matters

Click here for more published works of the author.


© 2010 - Nengi Josef Ilagha Mingi XII. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any format or medium without the prior permission of the author and copyright owner(s).

Oronto Douglas: The Strategist Behind The President

Oronto Douglas

The Strategist Behind The President

Oronto Natei Douglas, 45, is a leading human rights attorney in Nigeria. Fifteen years ago, he served as one of the lawyers on the defense team for the celebrated Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by military fiat on November 10, 1995. Douglas co-founded Africa's foremost environmental movement, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, and has served on the board of several non-profit organizations within and outside the country. He remains the first Niger Delta activist to have been hosted at the White House by a serving American President in the heydays of President Bill Clinton. Douglas is a Fellow of the George Bell Institute, England, and the International Forum on Globalization, USA. He has presented papers in over 200 international conferences and has visited over 50 countries to speak on human rights and the environment. With his friend, Ike Okonta, he co-authored Where Vultures Feast, the ground-breaking study on Shell and human rights violation in the Niger Delta. Oronto Douglas is the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Research & Documentation. He spoke to Nengi Josef Ilagha recently, in London.

Q. To begin with, could you be so kind as to recap your involvement with the struggle of the Niger Delta minorities in the past decade?

A. Well, my involvement with the Izon movement goes back to my days at the university. I was the national mobilization officer of the National Union of Izon-Ibe Students under Cassidy Okilolo who was then President. Within this period, I was also involved in clan activities. I was involved in the movement for reparation to Ogbia, and I was a key player in the Nembe-Ibe Students Union. The Izon nation is a constellation of beautiful stars, otherwise known as clans, and all these stars have their unique potentialities that help to make the Izon nation great. There was the need to awaken, inspire and encourage these clans to stand and build the Izon nation so that the Izon nation can build Nigeria. That was the foundational dream.
We went on to a broader movement, Chikoko, founded in 1997. We realized that our first duty was to awaken the Niger Delta. There was the need to wake up the Urhobos, Isokos, Ishekiris, Ijaw, Efik, Anang and so on -- to wake them up beyond rivalry, beyond individual nation identities, to bring them all together under an umbrella. Now, the best place to start would be home. So we sat down with other patriots and agreed that the Ijaw question needed to be brought to national and global consciousness in a very focused and intellectual way. There was the need to articulate our grievances and views to the rest of the world, so that justice can be brought to bear on what has been happening to us these past many decades. That platform was actualized on December 11, 1998 in Kaiama.

Q. What is your assessment of the struggle so far?

A. I believe that we have achieved the first three cardinal objectives of the struggle. First, we have raised the consciousness of our people, and located that consciousness within a national and global compass. We have also achieved the second leg of the struggle which is the cohesiveness of the Ijaw nation. We have to speak as one. The foundation of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, in 1994, as a cohesive collective of all the Ijaws irrespective of clan, was a major stepping stone. But it needed to be galvanized by a youth arm, as exemplified by the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, to help push the Ijaw agenda onto the global stage. The third objective was to convince Nigerians that there was a problem in the Niger Delta that needed to be addressed. Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ledum Mittee helped to raise Ogoni issues to global awareness and appreciation. But when the Ijaws and other surrounding nations added their voices, it became clear that something needed to be addressed urgently. Three issues are yet to be achieved. One, the question of self determination. Two, resource control. And three, the question of environmental justice. These matters are still pending and they call for urgent attention.

Q. How can these outstanding issues be settled?

A. A number of paradigms have been thrown into the struggle. The paradigm of violence, for instance, was not in the equation. But if violence is not checked through dialogue, it is likely to stall the process of Nigeria’s advancement to the top twenty most prosperous and most advanced nations of the world. Fortunately for Nigerians, the blueprint of amnesty was accepted and is being implemented, in spite of occasional hitches. A second option that was also thrown into the equation was the still small voice of people who contend that what is needed is a region that would be self-sustaining in a way that is close to true federalism. The third reason it has not happened is that the elite of the Niger Delta are yet to understand the gravity of the problem in their region.

In 1895, if you recall, King Frederick William Koko rallied the Nembe people and demanded that the Queen of England and the Royal Niger Company be not masters in the oil trade by cutting them off and expecting the Nembe to eat mud, which is what the British wanted to subject the Nembe people to. King Koko stood up to say no to oppression, no to injustice, no to economic and imperial subjugation. That objection has reverberated into the present and will resound into the future. What happened in 1895 is happening today. The dramatis personae have changed. Where you had the British, you now have the elite of Nigeria. Where you had palm oil, you now have crude oil. And where you had the transnational company and the machinery of governance as represented by the Royal Niger Company, you now have Royal Dutch Shell. It is something our people need to understand, that nothing has changed.

Q. Let’s look at the resort to violence. Until the amnesty initiative came along, no one knew anything about the range and caliber of ammunition that was under cover in the Niger Delta. What’s your assessment of the amnesty programme so far?

A. The amnesty idea came from the people and was courageously embraced by President Yar’Adua. Make no mistake about it. The programme was designed and articulated by the people of the Niger Delta, embraced by the militants and the Federal Government which was bold enough to announce and implement it. This is the true story. If the people had not articulated it themselves, they would not have accepted it. You know the Ijaw. Nobody pushes them around. Nobody imposes anything on them. Nobody can enslave them. Nobody can destroy them, except they want to destroy themselves. So, the gospel of amnesty was generated by the communities and peoples of the Niger Delta, and accepted by Yar’Adua. Credit must go to Yar’Adaua on that score. Now, what progress have we made? The very acceptance of the amnesty was a victory, a glaring and decisive moment in history. There is no struggle in history of this sort where the people themselves broker the idea of peace and reconciliation. It has never happened.

That historic momentum need not be stalled. The second element of progress is the understanding that after the battle, people need to sit down and dialogue, to move the process of peace and development forward. A very powerful message thus goes out to say dialogue is the best in every situation, and this is directed at the present and future generations. The third progress report is the challenge of development itself. How do we re-integrate? How do we move forward? Our people and comrades in the creeks have to come back to normal life. The process of re-integration and regeneration is a major challenge. If we don’t manage it well, it could further compound an already precarious situation. We have to handle it very delicately and sustain the peace.

Q. You are credited as being the brain behind the landmark publication “100 Reasons Why We Must Control Our Resources.” Do those reasons still obtain, or have more been added to them?

A. We are credited, not I am credited. Take note of that. I may have been instrumental to the document in question but I don’t want to take the full credit alone. We worked as a team, as a collective. And let me say that the reasons we gave have not been addressed. They are reasons that demand immediate attention. But when you work in a system that has variegated and multiple issues, you tend to say your yacht must come first, and that’s what the Niger Delta people must insist on, and rightly so. The 100 reasons articulated there are reasons that all minority ethnic nationalities can identify with, even though the document was issued as an Ijaw manifesto for progress. It was a follow-up to the Kaiama Declaration, a back-up campaign to give the propagators, the articulators, and the advocates of the movement enough material to enable them evangelize. That is one document that Nigeria, Africa and humanity cannot ignore, now and in a hundred years hence. So long as the issues of Ijaw land and the Niger Delta, the denial of their land, their right to clean air, so long as these issues are yet to be addressed in the sanctuary of intellectuals and decision makers in government, we cannot claim to have made much progress.

Q. In the view of some analysts, the INC has been comatose, not as effective as the youth wing. What do you think of the purported disparity in performance and popularity between both bodies?

A. I do not agree that the two bodies are different. The IYC is the youth wing of the INC, although they emerged under different circumstances. But the overall goal is the same, and they are together. If you take Britain as an example, the Churchill era is different from that of Harold Wilson, different from Tony Blair, different from Gordon Brown, different from David Cameron. But Britain remains the same. The leadership of the INC may have applied different strategies over time, but the same overall goal of self-determination, of resource control, of the progress and development of our land and people, is kept in focus. Let me tell you something. My dad is about 83 years old. The way he will articulate the issues of the Niger Delta may not be the same way you will do. He will probably be calm, wise and diplomatic. You and I will be more fiery, more aggressive. But that is not to say we don’t believe in the same cause. The INC and IYC are like that. One is calm, gentle and wise. The other is vibrant, fiery and pushful. It is important that we do not create disparity between these two bodies for the benefit of the Ijaw nation.

Q. As a social activist currently serving in government, one who is in the picture of things at a close range, what are the future prospects for our nation?

A. I am hopeful that Nigeria will remain united and in pursuit of a common destiny. But what we need to get right is the basis of our union, and we need to establish this through a bold, brave, all-inclusive article of the union that will be called the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a document that will inspire hope and ensure that the bounties of Nigeria are for one and all, and not just a few. Once we get that right, nothing will stop Nigeria from ruling the world. Nigeria has the capacity of great elasticity to withstand any threat.

Q. For the first time in 50 years, a minority element from the south of Nigeria is at the helm of affairs in our nation. How does that strike you?

A. It goes to show that there is a spirit of never die in Nigeria, a spirit of endurance and bravery, a spirit of excellence. The point is that President Goodluck Jonathan who hails from Oloibiri where oil was found, and schooled there; who governed Bayelsa and worked before that as an environmental director at OMPADEC, now NDDC, did not desire to be President. Fate and the goodwill of Nigerians, and above all the almighty God, took him from that swamp land to make him President of Nigeria. Clearly, God is sending a message to us. That message is for the good of the Nigerian people. The true and final story of the Goodluck presidency is yet to be told. Once it is told, Nigerians will say thank God.

Q. How much is expected of President Jonathan? What should be his focus in the next few months?

A. He has articulated what he wants to achieve, and I totally agree with him. He is focusing on three key issues. One, delivering on credible elections so as to guarantee qualitative leadership. Two, ensuring peace and stability in the Niger Delta. And three, ensuring constant electricity supply in our country. On a broad scale, you can guess what the absence of power has done to the march to industrialization in our country. He has already demonstrated unrivalled excellence with regard to the matter of credible elections on three occasions. The Edo State House of Assembly elections are a good example. PDP’s honour was at stake. Yet ACN won, and the world hailed because Jonathan insisted on credible elections. Governor Oshiomole flew to Abuja to thank Mr President for standing on the path of patriotism and truth to guarantee credible elections.

In the Anambra gubernatorial elections, President Jonathan insisted on fairness, that he would not tolerate any form of rigging or violence or abridging the fundamental rights of the Anambra electorate to vote and be voted for. Peter Obi won in the end. Nigerians applauded. It was one big leap for democracy. These are milestones to show that he’s on the path to the ideal of conducting free and fair elections that will give our nation a better political character in the eyes of the world.

President Jonathan is a man of peace. He believes that justice must be done to the people of the Niger Delta. He has demonstrated commitment to peace in the Niger Delta, not through violence, not through brigandage, but through sheer political, diplomatic brinkmanship, sheer deployment of that calm, honest nature that he is endowed with. He also takes seriously the security of lives and property in the country in the on-going process of restoration. The Goodluck Jonathan I know is not a man of vengeance who goes after people who wrong him or trespass against the nation. He is a selfless leader that Nigerians can trust.

Q. What should be the focus of a President with a virgin mandate who hails from the south, come 2011, with specific regard to the Niger Delta, in order to achieve credibility?

A. What the peoples of the Niger Delta want to enjoy is what God has given to them, to see these resources translate to development. The poor state of our villages is obvious. Mud houses, zinc houses. Darkness everywhere. No roads. Coloured water. The dream of Mr President is to see that there is a significant departure from the culture of want and deprivation, a major shift in policy at the central level, and a drastic shift in attitude at the communal and state levels that will enable our people to enjoy the fruits of their endurance.

It may take time for our roads to be constructed, time to transform the environment. It may take time to construct bridges from one community to another. But it will not take time to ensure that every citizen cultivates hope, their fundamental rights respected, and to see food on their tables. If at the local government level, the chairman and councilors are accountable for the resources at their disposal, and if the same obtains at the state and federal levels, that will help a lot. If my community, Okoroba, were to receive N100 million from compensation, and we fail to deploy that fortune to durable purposes, then we can only be said to have contributed to the underdevelopment of Okoroba.

In most local government councils, unfortunately, the income is shared rather than applied to useful economic purposes. A percentage should go to education, a percentage to infrastructure, a percentage to health. That is how it should be. But they prefer to share the money amongst themselves, what they call “kill and divide.” Of course, that doesn’t help anybody. The responsibility is both at the individual and national levels. No one is excluded from taking responsibility for the infrastructural growth of the community. It is a collective effort. We have a duty to insist that justice be done to the land and peoples of the Niger Delta. It is a historic responsibility that we cannot shy away from. We have to confront it and defeat it.

About the Author:

His Royal Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha Mingi XII, is the Amanyanabo of Nembe Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Also recommended: Epistle to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Matters

Click here for more published works of the author.





© 2010 - Nengi Josef Ilagha Mingi XII. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any format or medium without the prior permission of the author and copyright owner(s).

Nengi Josef Ilagha Writes Queen Elizabeth II on Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary

Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe

News Flash

As Nigeria prepares to celebrate her Golden Jubilee anniversary on October 1, 2010, the London-based Nigerian poet, journalist and broadcaster, Nengi Josef Ilagha, forwards a Royal Mail to Queen Elizabeth II, the constitutional monarch of England who will be marking her Diamond Jubilee anniversary on the throne in 2012. In twelve gutsy, friendly, sober and soul-searching epistles, the author takes the Queen on a revealing ride into the corrupt character and unwholesome habits of a nation on the verge of rebirth, and invites her to push for the restoration of the values that make England a stable and prosperous model.

Told through the perceptive lenses of a poet with a knack for refreshing imagery, the book is an incisive and harrowing testament on the state of the most populous African country, fifty years into its life as a nation, laying bare its shameful inadequacies, and underscoring its hopeful impact on world affairs. Delivered in a lucid, winsome and personable style which dollies in from time to time to undertake a dramatic exposition of the British colonial mentor and life in London, Royal Mail is inspired by Her Majesty’s efficient postal delivery service.

The book promptly finds its place beside Chinua Achebe’s popular 1983 commentary, The Trouble With Nigeria, with the added advantage that it extends its critical antenna to England and finds the colonizer culpable of the political rot in present-day Nigeria, no thanks to the divide-and-rule ethic enthroned by the British under Lord Frederick Lugard’s pioneering tenure as Governor-General of the West African nation. The following is the opening epistle from Royal Mail, published by Treasure Books, Nigeria.

I

City Boy

The men who succeed are the efficient few
- Herbert N. Casson

YOUR ROYAL MAJESTY, I am glad to make your acquaintance. I am led by none other than the hand of God to address this humble epistle to you. I have no doubt that your efficient mail delivery service will bring these words before your eyes in the fullness of time. As you will soon come to understand, I have quite a lot to say to you, and I will say it as the pages flip by, so help me God.

Allow me to begin by congratulating you on your fifty-eighth anniversary in office. That is quite a long time to serve your land and people as Queen. You have been monarch of England for as long as Ron and Don, the world’s most famous conjoined twins have been together, bound by flesh from day to day, minute after minute. I happen to have seen them for the first time on BBC 4 television on the night of March 4, 2010, and it got me thinking. They were born one year after you ascended the throne at Sandringham.

By all accounts, you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I find myself suitably equipped and qualified, therefore, to address you in the twelve epistles that make up this small loaf of bread, even as you come to understand that two of my sons go by the names of Diamond and Jubilee. But let me not get ahead of my story. Let me take one letter at a time, one word at a time, one line at a time, one paragraph at a time, one page at a time, one chapter at a time.

You have been at the head of government for so long, witness to the policies and programmes of Prime Ministers as varied in temperament and carriage as Anthony Eden was from Gordon Brown. Not too long ago, I saw pictures of Winston Churchill, Eden’s predecessor, upon the satellite clouds, delivering excerpts of his famous speeches in the finest manner of a war-time hero. Quote. Let each man search his conscience and search his speeches. I frequently search mine. Unquote.

Your Majesty, do you mind taking a look at your speech to Nigeria on October 1, 1960? Remind yourself of the things you said to the new nation, the promises you failed to keep. I say this advisedly, because I have before me your speech to the Commonwealth delivered on May 8, 2010.

Today’s societies are constantly seeking ways to improve their quality of life, and science and technology play a vital part in that search…Experimentation, research and innovation, mean that more opportunities for improving people’s lives exist today than ever before. Take long distance communication, where the obstacles of time and geography have been dramatically reduced: people can now use mobile phones to be in instant contact virtually anywhere in the world, be it with a medical centre in the Himalayan mountains in Asia, a Pacific island school, a research facility at the South Pole, or even the international space station, beyond this planet altogether.

I share your sentiments, Your Majesty. I look forward to your next speech, the one you will address to the President and good people of Nigeria on their Golden Jubilee anniversary, the one that will pronounce restoration to a long-suffering nation. Suffice it to say, for now, that Nigeria is not some space station beyond this planet. It is a country you once ruled with pride and honour. By virtue of modern communication devices, we can still be reached by phone, in spite of frustrations with the network. But anyone you call up in our beleaguered country will assure you that conditions of living could have been better than they are today. Take it from me.

By and by, it should strike you as a sign that Sir Anthony Eden was the first Prime Minister under your watch. I shall have a lot to say about Eden, the parcel of land upon which the first man and woman were moulded from the mud of the earth. Of course, as a fervent Christian, I take my bearings from the Bible. Now we dwell in the present, listening to the rhetoric of David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to say nothing of the Miliband Brothers. I am a witness to history in the making. I abide with you. I can only say it is your portion to have been so blessed, so revered, so adored for over five decades of your life in prosperity and opulence.

I have no doubt that you have questions of your own bubbling within you right now, questions you wish to direct at me. Verily, verily, I will be only too glad to give ear and hearken, to say nothing of answering them as the days unfold, but I suppose you will let me exhaust myself on the subjects I have set out to address in this long epistle to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England. Even so, I cannot proceed without running the full course of the pleasantries which I must not fail to offer, from my meek and gentle self to every member of the Royal Family, acting on behalf of the President and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

How are you today? How is the Queen Mother? How is Prince Phillip? How is Prince Charles? How is Prince William? And how is Prince Harry? O, how is Princess Anne, the one you sent to represent you at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on October 1, 1960? How did you find Nigeria on your maiden visit in the first week of December, 2003? What gift do you have in mind for the country you once colonized, as it marks its Golden Jubilee? These questions popped up in my mind in that particular order on February 6, 2010, when I read in the internet rather belatedly that you were marking your anniversary in Sandrigham. It was remiss of me not to have put my thoughts on paper at the time and date in question, on account of the poor weather. As the saying goes, however, better late than never. I have never been at home with the cold, and I will tell you why. I am a child of the sun, that’s why. At any rate, I have no doubt that your family is in good health and excellent spirits.

Your Majesty, I will do well not to hold back what I have to say to you. If I have rambled round and about the subject up to this point, put it down to a royal habit I acquired since I became king. That last bit of information, indeed, should give you a fair idea as to how I summoned the audacity to extend a few words of hope in conversation with Your Imperial Majesty, as Nigeria marks her Golden Jubilee. Do allow me to whisper this detail in your ear, if you don’t mind coming a little closer. I am His Royal Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom. I am also the author of twelve books spanning the full calendar, from January through December, as you may have noticed from the Pope Pen Library that prefaces this book. Glad to meet you.

Time does fly, Your Majesty. Don’t you find it amazing that you have ruled Britain for all of fifty-eight years, that in a couple of years you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee? Isn’t God wonderful to have kept you through the storm of eleven Prime Ministers? Before David Cameron showed up, I was wondering who would be your Twelfth Prime Minister. Now we know that you are overseeing the first coalition government since 1945. May God give you the fortitude and grace to undertake the assignment to the glory of his name.

Lest I forget, let me promptly invite you to my coronation ceremony in the selfsame critical year of transition which marks your Diamond Jubilee. I shall be formally ascending the throne in that capital year, 2012, as King of Eden, better known as Nembe in modern geography. I have no doubt that your entire entourage will be on hand to demonstrate to our land and people what the imperial ceremonies are like, and should be, even in a former colony such as Nigeria. Do bring along your beefeaters, your buffeters, your bagpipes, your puppeteers, your horses, your Metropolitan police and your Imperial Guard of Honour.

Come and stage a carnival as colourful, as grand, as magnificent, as brilliant, as vintage as the one I just witnessed at Nothinghill. Come with your trumpets, come with your bugles. Come and stage a lavish party in Nigeria, beginning from Bayelsa. Come to the Glory Of All Lands. You must come and set a new standard, or at least, revive the memory of our people as to what it means to be part of the British Commonwealth. What is more, I believe you will do well to send word to your worthy counterparts in Spain, Denmark, Jordan and such other countries where the monarchy is still respected as a timeless institution, to grace the coronation ceremony of Pope Pen The First.

There we are! The proverbial cat is out of the bag, out of the proverbial bin, in spite of all the efforts of the Mary Bales of this wicked world. My friends call me Mingi Nengi XII, the Lion King of Nembe. So now you know why I am so conscious of the year 2012. What are your earnest plans for your Diamond Jubilee celebration in 2012? I want to be a part of it all. Well, now we have our bearings right, let us get down to brass tacks, so to speak. But let it not be that I am being presumptuous. It is possible that you cannot quite place Nembe on the map of British history, so I will go so far as to help you.

Fifty-eight years is a long time indeed, Your Majesty. So much has happened. So much more is happening, even as we speak. You may have forgotten certain matters that called for your urgent attention in times past. You may at present be preoccupied with A Journey, the memoirs of Tony Blair. I have my copy in hand as well. I will read it on the Tube, from Golders Green to Finchley, from Finchley to Baker Street, from Baker Street right through to Aldgate. Up and down the Jubilee Line, I will read from Stanmore to Stratford and back, my all-day travel card in my pocket, like a typical City Boy. But let me not digress.

As I was saying, Your Majesty, certain incidents may have become mere figments from the past, as if they never happened. Certain faces may have become blurred in memory. Certain names and dates may escape you from time to time in the course of conversation. I don’t blame you. After all, none of my royal predecessors kept you in remembrance of our abiding relationship as colonizer and colonized, certainly not the last Mingi of Nembe. I do hope that the language you left behind in my country will avail me with the right and proper words to express myself to the fullest, and to extend the great expectations that my subjects back home want you to consider, without let, without hindrance.

From time to time, I shall consult Daniel Ogiriki Ockiya, the reverend gentleman who extensively documented the historic Nembe-British War of 1895 in The History of Nembe, and E.J. Alagoa, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Port Harcourt, author of The Small Brave City-State. The credentials of these noble sons of the soil lie in the fact that they had the presence of mind to record the events of the day as faithfully as they could manage. They deserve trophies from Her Majesty The Queen, as much as many gallant Nigerians who have contributed to the grandeur of England in no small way.

As Nigeria turns fifty, Your Majesty, it is tempting to undertake a comparison of the country you once colonized and check it for critical differences with yours, from the time Britain annexed our parcel of land after the partitioning of Africa in 1884, right up to 1960 when we returned the Union Jack to you through Princess Anne of Kent, right up to the present -- and to see just how far we have come as a nation. I shall promptly fall for this temptation. The internet is my witness. I shall consult it for facts. I shall also do well to conduct a cursory parade of your queenly parks, your royal gardens, your busy highways, your underground network of rails and its workaday population, in order to put in fair perspective the disparities between Lagos and London, between Brass and Brighton, between Nembe and Nottingham.

I want to hail Nigeria, Your Majesty. But I find it hard to do so. I want to hail the profound ideals expressed in the inaugural national anthem composed by Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard’s companion, who first gave us the name Nigeria in an article published in The Times of London on January 8, 1897. Nigeria is not quite the same country you granted political independence in 1960. Take it from me. In the words of one of your famous political theorists, Thomas Hobbes, life in present-day Nigeria is “short, nasty and brutish.” I will tell you why. I am obliged, indeed, to bring you abreast with developments in my beloved country, with particular emphasis on the state of my domain. But if the matters I bring before you in the intervening pages sound confusing, if this epistolary journey upon which we have embarked, qualifies as a mosaic of sentiments trussed up together, without form or order, don’t blame me too much. Put it down to the chaotic temper of my country, the haphazard scheme of existence under which we have laboured, these past fifty years.

Even so, I assure you that our nation is on the verge of rebirth. Good luck has come to Nigeria. There is an inevitable tectonic shift in the political order. I invite you to push for the restoration of the values that make England such a prosperous and stable example, that we might take our cues afresh. I have no doubt that you will give me your fullest attention. I will do well not to bore you, but if I do so at all, put it down to my second-hand acquaintance with the Queen’s English.
I will do well to be reasonable. I will do well to uphold the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I pledge not to insult your royal intelligence. I promise to remain faithful to the picture I have studied of my country since I was born into it on December 18, 1963. I am, Your Majesty, a full-grown child of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the best sense of the expression. I will do well to grip my country, literally by the scruff of the neck, and yank it for faith.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, no one can take that divine right away from me.


By His Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha
Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe
Bayelsa State, Nigeria

More from the same author.
A Memorial Tribute to a Fisherman, Melford Obiene Okilo
A Perspective on Goodluck Jonathan’s Attitude to Governance While He Was Governor of BayelsaState
King Ilegha Writes to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan On the Trashing of the Nigerian Constitution By Those Who Want to Prevent Him from Attaining the Presidency
A Profile of Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President of Nigeria
"Tattoes Are Forever": A Discussion of Nigeria's Social Ills
Epistle to Maduabebe:A Fictional Portrayal of Corruption in Nigeria

Mrs.Patience Goodluck Jonathan Versus Gov. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi

The First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan and the Governor of Rivers State. RT.Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

"All the primary schools in Okrika are surrounded by houses and we don't want the schools to be surrounded by residential houses where people cook and sell and distract the pupils, so we have to demolish them. We want to pay them compensation and demolish the houses".
~ Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in Nigeria on August 24, 2010.

"But what I am telling you is that you always say you must demolish, that word must you use is not good. It is by pleading. You appeal to the owners of the compound because they will not go into exile. Land is a serious issue".
~ Mrs. Patience Goodluck, the first wife of President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

The above exchange of words between the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state took place in Okrika last Tuesday August 24, 2010, when Mrs. Jonathan criticized the governor for his insistence to demolish water fronts to build a school. After the unpleasant incidence, she left the state without completing her tour as she angrily returned to Abuja from her civic reception ground in Okrika. She no longer visited the prisons where some inmates were waiting to be released and she cancelled the inspection of the model Secondary School at Ebubu Eleme.

Madam First Lady Patience Goodluck Jonathan has been throwing her weight around and supported by the desperate camps of President Goodluck Jonathan who have been paid millions of naira, including many Nollywood actors, to use image laundering to delete the money laundering case against Mrs. Patience Goodluck and her proxies.

Lest we forget that on September 11, 2006, Mr. Osita Nwajah, the EFCC spokesman made a public declaration that a whopping sum of $13.5 million Dollars(US) was seized from Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of then Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

“Abia is number one (of corrupt state) not because it is number one alphabetically, but because we have one of the biggest established cases of stealing, money laundering, diversion of fund against Governor Kalu. The governor used his mother, daughter, wife and brother to divert N35billion to build his business empire including Slok Airlines, Slok Pharmaceuticals and newspaper house…Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu corruption is of international dimension.There is s also a petition against the Governor of Bayelsa’s wife. She was involved in laundering the sum of one hundred and four million into foreign account. She is also being investigated.”

~ Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, during the plenary section of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which held on September 27, 2006.

The case is suit number FHC/ABJ/M/340/06 filed on August 21, 2007 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

For a detailed account of the EFCC case of money laundering implicating Mrs. Goodluck Jonathan, see Jonathan Goodluck’s Family, Sahara Reporters, Ribadu or Adewuyi: Who Lied Against Whom? By Adebiyi Jelili Abudugana, Published 06/19/2010, in the Nigeria Matters of Nigerians In America.

Re: Bayelsa State Governor in a N100 Billion Scandal

Timpriye Sylva, the Bayelsa State governor

Timpriye Sylva, the Bayelsa State governor, is set for trouble with Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the agency prepares to slam him with a multiple-count charge of money laundering and diversion of public funds to the tune of about N100billion.

~ From Bayelsa State governor in a N100 billion scandal

March 28, 2010 01:28AM

I WANT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA.

THIS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION.

ONCE FOUND GUILTY, PLEASE HANG THE CRIMINAL UNTIL CONFIRMED DEAD.

Corruption has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Nigeria for decades and these evil and wicked corrupt politicians, military officers and others are shamelessly UNREPENTANT, therefore they do not deserve mercy.

Imagine General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (Rtd) shamelessly boasting of his ill-gotten wealth from an ill-gotten oil block. And nobody is talking about the public robbery of Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan.

In September 2006, The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) named Mrs. Patience Jonathan, wife of Goodluck Jonathan, then Bayelsa State Governor, as an accomplice in the N104million-money laundering case involving Mrs. Nancy Ebere Nwosu.
The EFCC in suit number FHC/ABJ/M/340/06 filed on August 21, 2007 at the Federal High Court, Abuja alleged that the governor’s wife was the one that instructed her agent to launder the huge sum in a First Bank of Nigeria account number 3292010060711 held in the name of Nansolyvan Public Relations Limited.

http://www.elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2860:ap-goodluck-jonathan-and-the-war-against-corruption&catid=52:daniel-elombah&Itemid=73

Majority of Nigerians are corrupt from their cheating at home and school to stealing in public office and private office, that is why corruption is now their way of life.


"O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
~ Matthew 12:34