The Causes and Consequences of the 2011 Post Election Violence in Nigeria

The causes and consequences of the recent post election violence in Nigeria

The incessant ethnic, religious and political attacks on lives and properties in many states in Nigeria are caused by the appalling intellectual and political ignorance among majority of Nigerians.

If the terrorists unleashing their grievances on both their perceived enemies and innocent people have been educated and informed on the sanctity of human life, the values and virtues of peace and stability for mutual benefit of all the citizens, they would not have committed the terrifying and horrifying atrocities in their own regions and other places they have attacked.
The ruling political class is guilty of exploiting the ignorance of the poor majority in their power struggle and once they have secured their own families and properties, they no longer care about the fate of the victims of their political battles.

• They have misappropriated the public funds for health care and abandoned the broken down public health centres, clinics and hospitals for the poor masses and fly overseas to the developed nations for foreign Medicare and they have spent billions of naira of tax payers money and misappropriated funds on paying foreign medical bills.

• They have misappropriated the public funds allocated for education and neglected public schools and universities with obsolete laboratories and libraries and outdated curricula, broken down campuses with nightmarish facilities and utilities, because they can send their own beloved children to the expensive private schools and universities in Nigeria or in the US and the UK where they pay astronomical school fees from their misappropriated public funds.

• They have misappropriated the public funds allocated for industrial development and preferred to spend their ill-gotten wealth from looting the treasury on imported goods and services.

The list of the corrupt practices of the Nigerian kleptomaniacs in government is very long.

Corruption causes the leakages of power, undermines security and weakens leadership at all levels of human administration.
As corruption increases insecurity will become worse.

The Maitasine riots were the worst political and religious uprisings in Nigeria between 1980 and 1983, during the corrupt administration of President Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a Hausa Muslim from northern Nigeria who served as the President of Nigeria's Second Republic (1979–1983) from the corrupt National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He was a weak leader and could not stop the Maitasine riots and over 4, 000 people were killed. The corrupt civilian government was overthrown in a military coup. And when the military ruled Nigeria there was relative peace in the country until the June 12 Crisis. So, whether the President is from the South or North does not matter to these terrorists who would attack their targets for political, religious or tribal agitations from the Niger Delta to Maiduguri.

The fact is, petty political reasons have been the criteria for many political appointments favouring loyalists of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and they compromised the rules of engagement in their responsibilities.

President Goodluck Jonathan desperately sent his ministers and PDP governors to campaign for him and ensure that they win their states in the presidential election. So the PDP flush with slush funds went to work to win by all means and at all costs by using political bribery and power of incumbency to manipulate the electoral process and rig the elections and many cases of PDP using National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and others to rig the elections were reported online and offline and with over 75 million users of GSM phones in Nigeria the reports from BlackBerry pings were circulated fast.

Two female NYSC members working for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were caught thumb printing in Enugu and the video of massive thumb printing by identified members of the PDP in Rivers State was circulated widely on YouTube.
The public proof of PDP rigging elections provoked millions of the supporters of the Opposition. So, when the results showed that the PDP was leading and winning, they went on rampage.

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
~ John F. Kennedy,
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963) in a speech at the White House, 1962.


Anti-government rebels on rampage in Northern Nigeria after the disputed presidential election of April 16, 2011.

The PDP is responsible for the corruption and insecurity destroying lives and properties in Nigeria since 1999 to date. So, President Goodluck Jonathan knows the bitter truth and is only pretending.
The genesis of the crisis is the maladministration of the corrupt ruling party.

Every armed robber and other criminals in the Niger Delta are now claiming to be militants and enjoying Amnesty, but the same PDP government refused to dialogue with the Boko Haram militant in the northern region and has not extended Amnesty to them, because there is no OIL at stake in the North.

The Amnesty Programme is political bribery to woo and win the support of the so called militants. Then President Goodluck Jonathan also dangled the huge bait of $200 million fund to greedy and hungry artistes to win their support.
If Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) had the power and offered them $300 million, they would have painted the town red to act, dance, rap and sing the praises of Buhari too. He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Who is fooling whom?
President Goodluck Jonathan and his ruling party are guilty of the insecurity destroying Nigeria.
Medicine after death cannot raise the dead.

The government was duly informed and warned of the dangerous states by the State Security Service (SSS), but President Goodluck Jonathan failed to address the emergency and spent billions of naira on his presidential campaign than the amount of money spent on security for INEC staff and other citizens who have lost lives and properties in the post election catastrophe.

Anyone blaming Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is wrong. Buhari did not send those murderers on rampage to murder innocent citizens.

If the army and police already assigned in those states came out to stop the murderers, no innocent life would have been lost and no vehicle, house or church would have been burnt.

Where were the police and army when those mad boys went on rampage?

I worked for the Alhaji Bamanga Turkur Presidential Campaign in 1990 and I once carried a rifle for his Director of Publicity for use in self defence.

I have gone to the Niger Delta to address the militancy and spoke to the militant leader Asari Dokubo to bury the hatchet and he agreed, but before I knew it, the Federal Government arrested him for just openly expressing his political belief and detained him without trial and that was what provoked the emergence of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and I simply left the government to face their Frankenstein monster.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

The fact is we have an incompetent government that failed woefully to provide security, because of corruption.

The government keeps on telling lies upon lies to hoodwink the ignorant masses.

They boast that they have provided regular supply of fuel, but there is scarcity of kerosene, the fuel of the masses.

There is no regular supply of petrol in remote places in Northern Nigeria, the most underdeveloped region in Nigeria.

The majority of voters are in the rural areas and kerosene means more to them than petrol.
Regular water supply means more to them than petrol.

Any dummy government can provide regular supply of petrol.
Where is the petrol coming from?

Is the regular petrol from our refineries or imported with millions of dollars from foreign countries?

Ask the oil marketers why we now have regular supply of petrol.

Why is the world's eighth largest producer of crude oil importing fuel from overseas?

What happened to the refineries?

Is it not corruption that has made the government to turn to an importer of fuel?

The Nigeria extractive industries transparency initiative (NEITI) has indicted the government agencies supplying petrol of corrupt practices.

Many members of Nairaland, the largest Nigerian online forum display appalling ignorance that you cannot see on any forum in civilized nations. I am a well known member of the Huffington Post and participated in the online presidential campaigns of the 2008 US Presidential Election and our discussions were based on intelligent analyses of the realities in the US and not on hearsay by people who have never been on field trips to rural areas and who do not even read reports on the realities in the rural areas, but only shuttling on the streets of their urban comfort zones of ghettos posting from their PCs or smart phones and made themselves armchair pundits. But they are among the most silly supporters of the corrupt and incompetent government of President Goodluck Jonathan and his corrupt ruling party that was seen rigging on video posted on YouTube for the whole world to see and millions of northerners who are politically informed hooked on free cable TV and BBC News in Hausa were provoked to go on rampage against the PDP, INEC and innocent citizens caught in the mayhem.

You can fool them sometimes, but you cannot fool them all the time. They are rebelling against the corrupt government of the ruling party.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Between the ill wind and the whirlwind in Nigeria

In all contests, there will be winners and losers, no matter whose ox is gored.

What makes any leader great is not only the feat of a victory, but the courage to overcome the agony of defeat.

Those who ignore an ill wind should be ready for the whirlwind.
I said the issues of these elections are corruption, security and energy, but the political aspirants thought their ego was all that matters.
Where is the joy of victory in the house of anarchy?

I said these primitive natives are not ready for democracy.
How can you practice Democracy, when you violate her virtues?

Goodbye to all that, but I know that without President Goodluck Jonathan and his kith and kin across the Niger, the People's Democratic Party(PDP) would have lost woefully. And after him, who is next?

There cannot be trust where there is no truth and there cannot be peace where there is no justice.
Those who do not want peace will end up in pieces.

When all have been said and done, we would be gone, but the echoes of our voices and the totems of our deeds will testify for us or against us.
Why not use our common sense and say Goodbye to all the Nigerian nonsense of the power brokers who have done us more harm than good.

~ By Orikinla Osinachi

Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
18 Apr 2011
20:16	Statement by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on the presidential election in Nigeria
19:19	Nigeria / L'élection présidentielle se tient dans un climat délétère pour la presse
19:14	Nigeria / Presidential election being held as attacks on media increase
19:12	Nigeria Elections Credible and Creditable - Commonwealth Observers
18:16	ECOWAS observer mission to the presidential elections of 16 April 2011 in the Federal Republic of Nigeria
18:06	Mission d'observation de la CEDEAO de l'élection présidentielle du 16 avril 2011 en République fédérale du Nigeria

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).

Nigeria's 2011 election: Opportunity to boost Democracy and Commonwealth Values

14 Sep 2010 06:11 Africa/Lagos


Nigeria's 2011 election / A momentous opportunity to deepen democratic practice and uphold Commonwealth values


LONDON, September 13, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, has called on the leaders and people of Nigeria to work together towards a peaceful and credible election which will enjoy the full confidence of all Nigerians and the wider Commonwealth community.

Mr Sharma made this call following the formal release of election dates in January 2011 by the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC). According to INEC's timetable, National Assembly Elections are due on 15 January, Presidential Elections on 22 January and Gubernatorial Elections on 29 January.

“Nigeria is a valued member of the Commonwealth. It is the Commonwealth's largest member state in Africa and plays a leading role in a variety of ways in West Africa and beyond. It is therefore in the interest not only of the Nigerian people themselves but also of Africa, the Commonwealth and the international community as a whole that democracy thrives in Nigeria,” Mr Sharma added. political parties, civil society, the media and the electorate -- had a role to play in entrenching democratic culture and practice in order to achieve this goal.

“The Commonwealth,” Mr Sharma reiterated, “is committed to assisting Nigeria towards achieving the best ever election in its political history.” To this end, he urged all political parties to work together to ensure that the upcoming elections live up to the Commonwealth's stated democratic values and principles, to which Nigeria strongly subscribes.

Mr Sharma wished INEC, political parties and all other stakeholders all success in their preparations for the elections.


Source: Commonwealth Secretariat

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Win An all-expense-paid Trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood

About the challenge
Create a video short that completes the phrase “Democracy is…”
The Prize
• An all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood.
• Gala screenings of the winning videos in Hollywood, New York and Washington
• Exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry.
• Meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society.
The Timeline
• SUBMISSION DEADLINE - MIDNIGHT GMT JANUARY 31, 2010.
• Challenge semifinalists will be selected on or about March 31, 2010.
• An independent jury will narrow down the semifinalists to 21 finalists on or about May 15, 2010.
• The general public will vote online for the winning videos May 15 – June 15, 2010.
• Seven winners – one each from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South & Central Asia, East Asia/Pacific and one anonymous winner – will be announced in mid-June 2010.
• The six publicly identified winners, one from each of the six geographic regions, will travel to the United States to claim their prize in the fall of 2010.
The Details
• You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Videos can be any style: fiction or documentary, animated or live action.
• Videos must be no longer than three minutes.
• Videos must be in English or have English subtitles.
• Contestants may enter anonymously, but anonymous winners cannot collect the grand prize.
• See contest site for a complete list of rules, CLICK HERE TO ENTER NOW

Gani Fawehinmi: The Conscience of the Nation is Gone!

Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi, (22 April 1938 - 05 September 2009)

Honorable Gani Fawehinmi was the conscience of Nigeria and there will never be another Gani Fawehinmi again. He and the late Afro beat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti were the most outspoken Nigerian human rights activists of the 20th century. As Fela used his music as the instrument and vehicle for the social and political emancipation of the poor masses, Gani used his law to fight for justice and liberty in Nigeria.

For decades Gani risked life to defend the defenseless poor and powerless people of Nigeria and was imprisoned dozens of times for his protests against military dictatorship and injustice. Gani was a fearless and incorruptible prisoner of conscience. Gani was a great man and would be remembered as one of the greatest civil rights leaders of our time.

Nigerians Report hereby proposes that we should have a special day to be celebrated as a Gani Fawehinmi Day in Nigeria.

Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi, (22 April 1938 - 05 September 2009) was a Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer, politician and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) (the equivalent of the rank of Queen's Counsel in the United Kingdom).




Startup Weekend Nigeria Rocks!

The Untold Truth About the Niger Delta Crisis

The Untold Truth About the Niger Delta Crisis

• MEND is not responsible for the Niger Delta Crisis
• The Nigerian Government and Multinational Oil Companies are responsible for the Niger Delta Crisis
• The Solution to the Niger Delta Crisis is the Administration of True Federal Democracy as Practiced by the United States of America.

In 2004 as I was aggrieved by the rampant cases of cultism and gangesterism in Rivers state and the destruction of innocent lives and properties, I felt the urgency to address the critical issues and meet with the leading principal actors I could reach and persuade them to end the violence. I informed the international headquarters of Shell of my pacific mission before I left Lagos for Port Harcourt on a night coach.

I arrived Diobu at midnight and was told that the town was a danger zone after the mayhem caused by warring cultists. But I went on to the residence of my elder sister Mrs. P William-West on Nnewi Street in Rumumasi. I discussed my mission with her two sons and daughters and one of my nephews told me that he had to leave a cult when he saw one of his closest friends shot and killed in a violent clash with a rival cult in the oil city of Port Harcourt in 2003. I told him I was glad he had become born-again as he confessed. He gave me the details of the genesis of the cultism ravaging Rivers state since they were affected by the violence from their home town in Buguma to the state capital of Port Harcourt. I stayed for a couple of days and crossed over to Bonny Island to continue my investigation and pre-production of my documentary on the causes and consequences of the Niger Delta crisis aggravated by the recruitment of many members of the cults as political thugs of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

From my safe haven on Bonny Island, I contacted an insider named Felix and told him of my critical mission and we agreed to meet at a popular hotel off Olu Obasanjo Road in Port Harcourt. He told me that Shell and the other multinational oil companies operating in the littoral states of the Niger Delta were not interested in peace, but to fish in the troubled waters, because they had little or nothing to lose. They were breaching the contract of the MOU they signed with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and they did not care about the devastation of the eco-system or the deprivations of the host communities.
Their cosmetic social community welfare projects and scholarships were only meant to white-wash their horrible and terrible acts since they began oil exploration in the Niger Delta region. I found out that the hotel was owned by a retired Major in the Nigerian Army and he has been actively engaged in illegal oil bunkering with other retired and active senior military officers, especial those in the Nigerian Navy and their criminal activities were not secret. Those engaged in illegal oil bunkering and those who acquired oil blocks were partners in crime and were well known title-holders in their respective communities. In fact my in-law Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) had a suite in the hotel.

I returned to Bonny Island and called Asari and we discussed on how to put an end to the violence and he told me that he was already now engaged in providing security service for the oil service companies in the region and was no longer engaged in any violent dispute with any rival cult or gang. I was glad to hear that and told Felix that Asari would fare better as a leader by contesting in a democratic election and could in fact be elected as the governor of Rivers state.
“He only needs to improve his manner of dressing and public relations,” I said.
I was glad that Asari would be willing to participate in my documentary film and commended the website Akumafiete of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force

I was meeting with a top official of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Lagos, because Shell wanted to sponsor my documentary film and in fact the top official asked me if the documentary could be produced in a week, which was not realistic, even though I was working with one of the best filmmakers in Nigeria who has won awards for his documentaries.

I was still making progress when the Nigerian government ordered for the arrest of Asari Dokubo and detained him for outrageous statements of treasonable felony. I warned the government to release him or the situation in the volatile Niger Delta region would become worse. But the government ignored my warning and the SPDC now felt that the government had succeeded in caging the lion of the Niger Delta militants and thought the unconstitutional detention of Asari Dokubo would tame the thousands of members of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force and allied groups. But I warned the government there was a greater militant group in the offing and they thought I was joking until the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) shot up from the creeks!

The solution to the protracted Niger Delta crisis is the administration of true Federal Democracy as practiced by the United States of America and this is what both MEND and NDPVF have been demanding for and also the prosecution of all the retired and serving senior military officers found guilty of illegal oil bunkering.
The Nigerian Navy can actually stop illegal oil bunkering by asking for the assistance of the US Navy to patrol the territorial waters of Nigeria and to attack all tankers, boats and barges engaged in illegal oil bunkering since they can be easily identified from the authorized tankers and vessels on Nigerian waters.
Then the multinational oil companies must be prosecuted for the violations of the MOU they signed with the Federal Republic of Nigeria since 1956 to date.

The Joint Task Force of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the Niger Delta should be withdraw, because it an unconstitutional mission.
All licenses of illegal oil blocks must be withdrawn.
The local and foreign bank accounts of Nigerians suspected of ill-gotten wealth from misappropriations of revenue allocations for the oil producing states and over-invoicing of government contracts should investigated and those found guilty should be prosecuted in a public trial and not behind closed doors.

The former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State and Obasanjo's successor, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua have the full list of the criminals who are still engaged in illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Egyptian Public to Greet Obama With Suspicion

3 Jun 2009 03:00 Africa/Lagos


Egyptian Public to Greet Obama With Suspicion

COLLEGE PARK, Md., June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds Egyptians continue to view U.S. foreign policy quite negatively and see President Obama as closely aligned with it. At the same time, Obama has much better ratings than Bush had, and there are signs of thawing feelings toward the U.S.

Asked how much confidence they have in Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, 39 percent say they have some or a lot of confidence -- up sharply from the 8 percent who viewed George W. Bush positively in January 2008. Views of the United States government have also improved with favorable views rising to 46 percent from 27 percent in an August 2008 WorldPublicOpinion.org poll.

However, there has been little change in the views of U.S. foreign policy. Sixty-seven percent say that the U.S. plays a negative role in the world.
Large majorities continue to believe the U.S. has goals to weaken and divide the Islamic world (76%) and control Middle East oil (80%). Eight in 10 say the U.S. is seeking to impose American culture on Muslim countries (80%). Six in ten say it is not a goal of the U.S. to create a Palestinian state. These numbers are virtually unchanged from 2008.

When asked about Obama's goals, Egyptians' views are almost exactly the same as their views of U.S. goals. Sixty percent say they have little or no confidence that Obama will do the right thing in international affairs.
"Egyptians appear to be saying to Obama, 'Show me you are really different,'" comments Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.
The poll was conducted through face-to-face interviews from April 25-May 12 with 600 urban Egyptians. The margin of error is 4.1 percent.
Respondents were also polled on their views of democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Afghanistan.

For more information, please visit: www.worldpublicopinion.org.
Source: Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of
Maryland

CONTACT: Steven Kull, Director of PIPA, +1-202-232-7500
Web Site: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/

Question of the Day:

Can Obama win Muslim hearts and minds?

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Democracy in Retreat as Recession Deepens

20 Feb 2009 10:49 Africa/Lagos

Democracy in Retreat as Recession Deepens

LONDON, February 20/PRNewswire/ -- In a dire warning to global leaders, Robin Bew of the Economist Intelligence Unit warns that the march to democracy round the globe is now stalled and could move in to reverse. Regions of the world that have adopted economic liberalism allied to more political openess may very easily slide in to protectionism and more closed government, he warns in his monthly Global Forecast programme on http://www.cantos.com. This would bring to an end a political and economic phase in international development that might herald growing social instability. Organisations like the World Trade Organisation that monitor free trade face a respect deficit and could be increasingly challenged by countries unprepared to play by the rules anymore.


The interview and transcript are available now on http://w3.cantos.com/economist.


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Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

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