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Dangling
of the final eclipse
Thanks to the
views of erudite law professor, Itse Sagay published in The Punch
penultimate Saturday, the news of our drift to shreds would have
been lost in the cacophony of a grinding strike. Nigerians still
reeling under the weight of an excruciating fuel price hike would
have missed what is likely to become the final eclipse of their
country. Unknown to them, what started as some upturn of the popular
struggles against the Anglo/Nigeria Defence Pact in the 60s by this
regime may be consummated in a foreign military take over of the
largest black nation in the world. If the government of President
Olusegun Obasanjo endorses the move already in the works as reported
by The Guardian of London on June 17, to deploy United States troops
to the troubled Niger Delta region, the country may be on the threshold
of a banana island. It may just be time to bid bye, bye to the Nigerian
state, once it is okayed by Obasanjo and President George W. Bush
who is expected in the country this week. No doubt the Niger Delta
region has been restive because of the escalation of youth agitation
against despoliation and neglect of the oil producing areas. Both
the government and the oil companies are culpable for making mincemeat
of the demands of the people and dishing mere tokenism.
The area has
lately witnessed heightened backlashes involving the Ijaw, the majority
group in the area and the Itsekiri for control of territory, leading
to the periodic suspension of oil exploration by several oil companies
including Chevron/Texaco and Mobil, both American owned. Even the
business of the oil service companies including that of Haliburton,
formerly headed by the US Vice President Dick Cheney is said to
have suffered greatly from the persistent closure. The deployment
of Nigerian soldiers and Naval forces to the area has not yielded
worthwhile dividend in halting the skirmishes. And that’s why there’s
a new thinking that America needs to militarily secure the area
to protect its investments. Judging from the renewed move by the
US to explore oil markets beyond the volatile Middle East region,
it was just a matter of time for it to bare its fangs against restive
youths in the Niger Delta, whose activities are inimical to the
sustenance what is perceived as America’s global oily business.
Chevron/Texaco for instance produces about 450, 000 barrels per
day from its tank farm in the Itsekiri homestead of Ugborodo, located
in the Escravos River. While it is not too clear whether the US
will be deploying its service troops or contracting the services
of one of the Private Military Companies PMCs which are now active
in several flash points in Africa, it is necessary to say that any
form of foreign intervention in the Niger Delta will compound the
crises in the area.
It is even
feared that the Americans who have 230,000 troops in Iraq and another
10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, may get bogged down by the internal
politics of the country. I support the view by Sagay that the political
control of the country is likely to shift to whosoever is the commander
of the US troops particularly with the scorn by President Bush for
international law and norms. It is likely to move us closer to the
kind of lawlessness, disorder and anarchy, which has engulfed Iraq
since the ending of Gulf War 11 on May 1. Over $500 million deposits
is reported to have been looted from Iraqi banks while 16 American
and six British soldiers have been killed in ambushes and sniper
attacks by armed groups in a reign of terror. Neither the former
US Administrator, General Jay Garner or his successor, Paul Bremer,
seem to have an answer to checking the outlaws who are said to be
highly resentful of the continued American control of their country.
American paranoid on expunging any trait of the Baath party, which
previously controlled Iraq, does not seem any significant antidote
as the country daily veers away from the conduct of any normal life.
It is certainly
not a wish for Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The Americans have shown that
they meant business in seeking new oil trading partners when last
year they brokered the surprising end of the Angolan Civil War,
which has raged since the country’s independence in 1975 by what
is perceived as the contrived ‘wasting’ of former UNITA leader,
Jonas Savimbi. This was plausible because of the need to maintain
a foothold on the Angolan oil located in Cabinda region. The US
also played a significant role in setting the stage for the truce
between the Sudanese government of President Al Bashir and the John
Garang-led Sudan Peoples Liberation Army SPLA which controls the
southern part of the country as part of the grand plan to be the
major player in the oil industry there. In spite of the claim that
the war in Iraq was conducted to rid the country of Weapons of Mass
Destruction WMD, cut off its links with Al-Qeada and overthrow President
Saddam Hussein, events thereafter has revealed that the Americans
were propelled more by the urge to get cheap oil for their citizens
at home.
And that was
why the torrents of bombs it rained on Iraq during the last Gulf
War deliberately avoided hurting the oil ministry in Baghdad or
the oil industry located in Basra, Monsul and Kirkuk. In a piece
titled No Tears at Malu’s Golgotha, wrtten in the National Interest
shortly after former Chief of Army Staff, General Victor Malu was
removed from office, because of his disagreement with the Obasanjo
government over the training of the Nigerian Army by MPRI, an American
based PMC, I had argued that we may have returned the Anglo/Nigeria
Defence pact through the back door. Those who paid scant attention
to the grumbling by Malu can now see that it appears this government
is bent on frittering away the country’s independence for a bowl
of akara.
First published
in the Sunday Punch on July 6, 2003..
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