Akanimo Sampson: Fresh War Drums In Rivers

FOUR months after the unitaral ceasefire initiative by militants in the Niger Delta, after their economic-crippling ''Oil War'', the volatile oil and gas region is gearing to relapse into another cycle of violence. This time, the focus is multi-dimensional. On the one hand is a unilateral revocation of the ceasefire, and a declaration of war on Ateke Tom, by the Bush Boys whose leader Sunny Obuambe, was shot dead last Sunday night by unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt.

The Bush Boys (a.k.a Peace Makers) which was obviously pro-All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) claimed in Port Harcourt yesterday that there will be no enduring peace in the state if they failed to avenged the killing of the leader.

They are suspecting the Ateke-led Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) which aided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take control of Okrika in the controversial 2003 polls, as responsible for the killing of their leader.

This is, however, coming as the leadership of the NDV and the Niger Delta Patriotic Force (NDPF) in a statement by their spokesman, Tamunokuro Ebitari, condemned what they described as ''brutal murder'' of Sunny Opuambe.

According to the Ateke groups, ''though we cannot trace the reason and people behind this murder at the moment, we want to say that, there was no sentiment between the various factions in Okrika that could have led to the brutal murder of our brother. Late Opuambe was a signatary to the famous Okrika peace pad that was entered by all the waring factions in Okrika in July, 2007 and as such, it was most unpatriotic for any man from Okrika extraction to have contributed to his death.

''The demise of Opuambe is a painfull thing to everyone of us. He was a brother who had cause to met with us in the creeks to discuss ways of strenghtening the peace in Okrika, we will all miss him.

''We want to use this opportunity to appeal to Okrika people to lay down every sentiment and come together and face our common challenges of cultural, traditional, economic and political extinction that is upon us. We cannot afford to be indifference to the cultural and political decadence that has engulf our town. Enough is enough of the killings amongs ourselves. We cannot afford to be killing ourselves anylonger, when we also have the JTF in our communities engaged in all manners of extrajudicial killings of our people''.

Continuing, they claimed that this is the time for all well meaning sons and daughters of Okrika to forget all kind of internal conflicts amongs us,and come together to stem up a vanguard against the intimidation, oppression, miming and killing of our people by the JTF sanctioned by the parochial, calous and ethnic oriented imposed governor of our state

In the mean time, Ateke has given all oil and gas corporations operating in the Rivers state axis of the oil region up to February 14, 2009 to quit or be caught in their ''Operation Zero Oil Exploration'' war. The insurgents said their resolve to lauch a fresh war was due to the alleged excesses of the special security outfit, JTF, in the oil-bearing communities.

Although the JTF Spokesman in the state, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, said their operation is within the bounds of ''peace keeping operation'', Ateke is alleging that they are going about their business with impunity. ''They have been wasting suspected militants and repressing oil communities suspected to be hosting militants'', Ateke alleged.

Apparently not moved by the threat, the Rivers State Government is busy urging citizens not to panic over the recent security challenges, occasioned by activities of kidnappers, as security operatives have been directed to step up surveillance activities in all parts of the state.

Information Commissioner, Mr Ogbonna Nwuke who stated this while briefing correspondents on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting in Port Harcourt, said the state was on top of the situation .

''The state government is alive to its responsibilities to protect lives and property of its citizens, noting that the events of the past few days should not lead to unnecessary panic as security operatives are fine tuning strategies to arrest the situation'', he said.

Nwuke used the opportunity to appeal to parents to advice their children and wards to refuse to be used to cause disaffection in any part of the state, pointing out that the present administration would continue to insist on the observance of the rule law.

ENDS

© Scoop Media