By FRED BRISIBE

THE Niger Delta Question has never lost its footing anytime in the several years of the strug­gle for equal rights and justice.

Each agitator endeavoured to sustain this primordial question with great verve and gusto. The variegated shades of activist voices in the past have all gone in the direction of a consensus to attain economic, political and social freedom from internal imperialism.

In the same spirit, the stream of demands recorded from the time of the late Major Jas­per Adaka Boro to the present regime of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) rises to high tide with the legitimate agitation for a right to exist with dignity. In fact, records of the fact that the principal object of the Niger Delta people is sub­sumed under the two alternatives of either to remain in the Nigerian state as an autonomous region – Niger Delta Region -with full control of all resources of the land within its domain with payment of an agreed percentage tax to the central government, or form a separate sover­eign state – Republic of Niger Delta – are safely archived in libraries. This demand is sacrosanct, and it is the sacred philosophy with which the NDA is guided.

The agitation by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) still carries the breath of life because, despite the age of the struggle and the many occasions of economic and human losses, the Federal Government and the international oil and gas companies have continued to refuse to lift the petitions away from the desecrated altars of contempt and neglect.

It has become obvious as a pattern set in place by past leaders to keep the region perpetually in the shackles of internal slavery. This is apparent­ly the fate the militants of the “oxygen” region fight to change.

The militants are confronting a bad fate tied around their neck by the Nigerian state. It is in­correct to insinuate that they are motivated by greed or a quest for recognition to venture into this risky expedition. It is a struggle to bring Ni­geria to the stark realisation of its imminent col­lapse resulting from the grave structural defects at the foundation. It is a fight to make respect for indigenous rights one of the most funda­mental ethos in the Constitution. The Aveng­ers are attracting the world to the Niger Delta because they believe that an opportunity should be created for all Nigerians to participate in the repositioning of this amorphous union. There is absolutely nothing so sacrosanct in the present forced marriage called Nigeria.

Therefore, it is a blatant insult to the intelli­gence and sensibilities of any reasonable Nigeri­an, particularly those bearing the oxygen cham­bers of the union, for anybody to proclaim that this union, which was foisted on us by some imperialists for their own administrative con­venience over a century ago, is non-negotiable.

The NDA has pushed the vision with action to a point of near success, but MEND sprang up with strange songs that seem to have been com­posed for the purpose of spoiling a good dance. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been lying prostrate since 2009 until just recently when the world began to reckon with NDA as a true liberation organisation.

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The resurrection of MEND is not only sud­den, it also comes in a manner that quickly tells of a tendency to obfuscate the main issues and obliterate the efforts of the NDA. The nauseat­ing big-brother posturing would not have pro­voked suspicion if MEND had acted so with clear intention to reconcile and align itself to the philosophy of self-determination for which it once stood. The body was well organised with definite operational departments before the Amnesty crumbs crumbled its voice out of existence. The dream died with it without com­ing to fruition. It made great fame for itself, but apart from the Greek-gift of amnesty, the efforts of MEND brought no significant achievement to the region. It has appeared once again simply to crush it before the seed produces the desired fruit.

MEND allegedly conscripted Tompolo into a group of negotiators. This betrays its purpose as one solely and unnecessarily to expose Tom­polo for arrest and humiliation. There are other former leaders of MEND who are alive, free and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that are capable of running such undigni­fied errands. Why seek to distract a man whose thoughts are currently undulating? It is also high­ly unconvincing to state in defence that Tompolo was added to the list to give credence to the lame claim of superiority, because an appeal for his par­don would have been sufficient.

In the sight of the Niger Delta people, MEND is dead. A sensitive intelligence system should know from the sound of the drum where the procession is marching from. Unfortunately, the government, to further promote insincer­ity, is flaunting unflinching dependence on the competence of MEND to resolve the problems confronting the oil economy. This is most un­fortunate, but expected of a nation where sound advice is treated with despise.

The Federal Government is not prepared to undertake any profound dialogue regarding the issues leading to the hostilities in the area. The Buhari administration is allegedly opposed to restructuring the country which will lead to the greater good of the masses.

The fear of the Northern cabals that they may plunge into bankruptcy should the country be properly delineated was recently represented by the President who considers ownership of oil by the people whose land produces it and restructur­ing of the country as two devils. This is outright death sentence to the Niger Delta question. It defines unrepentant hatred for the region and an intense and selfish desire to oversee the revenues from the sales of crude oil and gas for many more generations.

It is better to adjust early to the fact that the proposed dialogue is a hoax than building castles in the air. MEND is already playing out its role as consultant/facilitator by urging the Avengers to ceasefire, setting up a negotiation team and giving a template for discussion. A prophet is not needed to decipher the mind of the government and to tell what the end holds.

In the end, a list of irrelevant and diversionary demands will be presented to the President and his heads of security agencies before the unsolic­ited presence of members of the European Union (EU) and US who are already working behind the facade as negotiators instead of mediating. Seeing the war as conquered, Mr. President will consult with MEND and the Hausa/Fulani hegemony to nominate amenable statesmen for appointment as chairman, secretary and members of a “tech­nical committee” to review the report on the Ni­ger Delta crisis. After a month, and as usual, the committee comes with flimsy suggestions. The core question remains unanswered and the circle pauses awhile to start itself again. Indeed, it would remain a vicious circle for as long as the symptoms of a deep-rooted illness are treated as its causative agents.

This is the sad reality. To avoid this scenario, we must take in our hand our collective destiny as a people. We should be steadfast and stand firm enough to resist any compromise. The people so far nominated are credible in all standards, no doubt, but he who pays the piper dictates the tune. The delegates can only wait until the coast is clear.

n Brisibe, Coordinator of the Ijaw Human Rights Monitors, writes from Warri, Delta State.