There seems to be government outside government in Nigeria. They have no state power but they influence decisions or cause new decisions to be taken. At some point in Nigeria, agitation from Niger Delta indigenes became paramount. The late environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, took after his Niger Delta kinsman, Isaac Adaka Boro, a student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who left his chemistry classes to protest against the exploitation of oil and gas in the Niger Delta, to the larger benefit of the federal government, while the owners of the oil-bearing land were left with crumbs from the table of the federal master. He declared the Republic of Niger Delate on February 13, 1966, but the federal forces overpowered his militia in 12 days. He was jailed for treason with his comrades but was granted amnesty by General Yakubu Gowon at the outset of the Nigerian civil war in 1967 to join the Nigerian Army and fight against the Biafran forces. He died in rather mysterious circumstances in active service in 1968. He woke up the consciousness of his people to the short end of the stick which became their portion in the midst of the wealth in their land.
Ken Saro Wiwa was intellectual in his approach to the agitation, until his ruthless friend, General Sani Abacha, turned foe and hanged him with the now famous Ogoni Nine, except that the gallows spared Ledum Mitte in circumstances that can only be explained by the tribunal given that he was charged with the same things that saw his colleagues to the gallows. Their hanging, rather than end the matter, incubated more militant outbursts that held the Nigerian state captive with oil production dropping as low as 30,000 barrels per day. Then came the entry of Asari Dokubo and his Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Forces, which emerged as a major catalyst for unrest in the Niger Delta region. Other groups came into existence, resulting in armed conflicts against government security agents. Asari’s group became such a force that President Olusegun Obasanjo engaged their leader in a dialogue that failed and resulted in the eventual arrest of Asari. The violence and disruption of oil exploration did not stop with his detention. Military force could not stop the matter until President Umaru Yar’Adua offered the agitators amnesty. They exchanged their AK47 for scholarships, learning trades, monthly stipends, among other goodies.
It was evident that the country may have tottered on the brink of financial ruin but for the moves to assuage these non-state actors. They thus became powerful without state power. The likes of Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Ateke Tom and others began to wine and dine with politicians. Some of them have become big traditional rulers and contractors for mouth-watering sums of money. The other day, Asari Dokubo visited his friend, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in Aso Rock, after which he accused the top brass of the military and other services of complicity in oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta area. He revealed that his men brought peace to the Kaduna/Abuja expressway against that general belief that the armed forces did it. These non-state actors have metamorphosed from foe to friends of government. The situation recalls the well-known saying, popularized by the late sage, Nnamdi Azikiwe, viz: No condition is permanent. The former enemies have become friends.
Now bandits and Boko Haram have advocates who want them to toe the same line as those above. The other day, former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima, now a senator, joined in advocating that government engages the bandits in dialogue. He was specific about the carrot-and-stick approach, insisting that the military and other security forces cannot stop the menace. He alluded to the Yar’Adua treatment and how it largely resolved the negative activities in the Niger Delta region. The implication is that might is right in a clime where armed men are placated with goodies. Tompolo, an erstwhile agitator, is said to have got the contract to protect pipelines to the alleged tune of N4 billion every month. To be fair to the repentant agitators, they are said to have protected the pipelines diligently, an indication that they know where the shoe pinches in that matter. They know what to do, in contrast to the security forces who have not made appreciable impact on the matter. When President Tinubu was sworn into office, Tompolo took out the front page in virtually all national newspapers to congratulate him and assure the new President of his support. Those who can read between the lines know that he was angling for a continuation of the contract, which he got through the previous regime. When Asari visited the President at the Villa, it was evident that he wanted a piece of the pie when he told the world that the military elements were even part of the crime they were detailed to fight. He took the military to the gutters when he said the peace prevalent in the hitherto insecure Kaduna-Abuja highway was the handiwork of his team, insisting that the armed forces had little or no hand in it. Agitators have been placated. Now bandits are angling to get a piece of the action. The clear inference is that the armed forces cannot resolve that matter. Some people, including the former governor of Zamfara State, have advocated dialogue in place of force. Perhaps government should work out amnesty and regular payments equivalent to what the Niger Delta agitators got. Their advocates do not seem to have averted their minds to putting the activities of agitators and bandits on a scale of measurement. The yardstick being who does more damage to the state. The armed forces have ruled out amnesty for bandits. It implies that the armed forces would step up the game. The menace would thus be curtailed, else those advocating dialogue and amnesty would have hit the target. That would mean that might is right in this clime.