A CURSE ON DELTA?

By WALE ADEBANWI

One conclusion that history furnishes us  could be that the destiny of the Niger Delta people is permanently wedded to that of outsiders who believe that Providence or Nature had made a great mistake in the delta. But at every point in the essentially undesirable history of the delta, a strong character always emerges to galvanize his people towards contesting this conclusion. 

From King Jaja of Opobo, who defied the British imperialists, through Isaac Akaka Boro, who led the 12-day long secession under the flag of Niger Delta Republic in 1966, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, who took on the internal colonialists to whom the British handed over the bastard algebra that they had concocted in the heart of Africa, to the contemporary challenge by the impetuous, violent and far less strategic successors to the battle for the control of the resources of the delta symbolized by Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the delta has always attempted to defy the odds.

It was to the correction of that “Providential error” that the British swore themselves in the 19th century. The successor ruling elite has affirmed since then that it would continue to “correct” that error as long as Nigeria survives. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that President Umaru Yar’Adua has renewed the historic pledge. As the Nigerian military confronts the militants in an undeclared war for the pacification of the delta, let it be noted that in the last two centuries, neither high-minded peace nor inferior violence has convinced others that the delta people are deserving of a dignified life.

It is important to be reminded briefly of the historical context. The man who was later named King Jaja of Opobo was a mere slave in one of the city-states that emerged in pre-colonial Niger Delta area. But the city-states were unique in constructing a society in which a hardworking slave could become a king. This shrewd, clever, and enterprising man, Jaja, became very rich through the trade in palm oil and then set-up his own city-state. He controlled both the internal and external palm oil trade, even shipping palm oil directly to Liverpool in England. The British tried to curtail him to impose their terms in the area. Jaja ignored them and retained his sovereignty. They eventually tricked him onto their warship for a supposed meeting only to deport him to the West Indies. With King Jaja gone, the British seized control of the palm oil trade. On his “pardon” and return journey home, King Jaja died.

Crude oil soon replaced palm oil as the “curse” of the people of the delta. The Nigerian State replaced the British imperial order only to become a greater menace to this people. Then emerged Boro, a man who is emblematic of the fate and (mis)fortune of the delta people. He was a native of Kaiama (remember the Kaiama Declaration?), but was born in a “zero hour”, as he claimed, in Oloibiri where, in June 1956, Shell drilled the first oil well in Nigeria. After his rebellion was crushed, Boro was lured into joining the federal forces against the succeeding rebellion by Biafra, where he was “mysteriously” killed after “liberating” the delta from the Biafrans. As “rebel” and the “liberator” became synonyms and antonyms in a single instance, history rose as a permanent contradiction in the delta. The man born in the “zero hour” has since left his otherwise blessed people; but they are still left with “zero”.

A Ken Saro-Wiwa later emerged to channel the frustrations of the people and posed “unanswerable” questions to the Nigerian State. Unfortunately, some would conclude, Saro-Wiwa’s poser was raised at a point when the key representative of the ruling elite in power at that point was a thieving vampire and homicidal moron. To remind the delta people that the oil on their soil constituted a monumental providential error, Saro-Wiwa and eight other minority rights activists were hanged. 

But, as they say, it’s the fire next time! The exhaustion of civilized engagement with a bastard ruling class seemed to have advertised itself unequivocally to the youth of the delta after this atavistic action. As the delta youths rolled into their creeks and armed themselves to confront the irresponsible behemoth, the rhetoric of peace and caution was no longer sellable. They adopted a method different from Boro’s and one which cannot be easily crushed.

$600 billion in oil revenues over the past five decades has impoverished the people of the delta, destroyed their environment and institutionalized violence in their homes. While the federal legislators share the loot from the delta while sanctioning military action against the area, the people of the delta wallow in abject poverty. Nigeria, for the most account, exists by the grace of the crude oil found in the delta; but the country permanently disgraces the delta with unsurpassable crudity. Ordinarily, no one would sanction the criminality that has attended the recent reactions of some of the youths of the delta to their shameful plight. But anyone who starts out with the effects – that is, the criminality of the militants of the delta - but ignores the fundamental cause of this criminality is not worth the heart that beats in his or her chest.

There is a deafening, but, criminal silence in a section of the Nigerian press over the war in the delta which is related to the criminal complicity by the governors of the delta represented by Governor Timipre Sylva, who pointed to his father’s house with his left hand by announcing that “I have approved N50 million for relief materials for displaced people in the affected areas in Delta state”. When he is done, he and his like would never find any relief.

We are all Niger Deltans now! And every shot fired in the delta is fired at the heart of a dying polity. Condolences, still....