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The Faces Of Cultists In Rivers State: “Which Law Is The Rule?”
By Odimegwu Onwumere,
An article by one Kelvin Ebiri from, Port Harcourt, recently “Family, NPA fault police on slain
militants,” facts emerging from the New Year gun battle between the police and militants have
shown that some victims were innocent citizens.
The police have also risen to the occasion by exhuming the bodies of six of the victims suspected to
be militants.
Prior to the latest development, the police had branded as militants those who died in the crossfire
between the police and the militants during the latter's attack on Borokiri Police Station, Port
Harcourt on Tuesday.
The cases of a 23-year old boy, Clement Eli, and two employees of the Nigeria Ports Authority
(NPA), Port Harcourt, Henry Kebbi and Maclean David Olatubosun seem to contradict the police's
claim.
The victims' families and friends have debunked police allegations that they were militants. Eli's
grandmother, Mrs. Regina Nelson, told The Guardian that the computer analyst was returning from
church on Tuesday morning when the police shot him.
She said that probably in a bid to cover up the murder, the police hurriedly buried the remains of Eli
and others at the Port Harcourt cemetery. But following protests, the bodies were exhumed and
deposited at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port Harcourt.
Nelson, who expressed dismay that the police branded her son, whose office was opposite the
Borokiri Police Station a militant, said most heartrending to her family was the refusal of the police
to release his remains for burial.
Similarly, the Senior Staff Association and Maritime Workers Union of the NPA, Port Harcourt,
have denied allegation that two of their colleagues were militants and have demanded a commission
of inquiry to unravel the circumstance of their murder by presumably the police.
Chairmen of the two trade unions, Mr. Emmanuel Inyang and Stanley Amadi, told journalists in Port
Harcourt yesterday that their slain colleagues were returning to the residence of Olatubosun that
fateful night before they met their death.
Inyang said: "We were made to understand that the commissioner of police Rivers went on air to tell
the world that those who were killed yesterday (Tuesday) were militants. We want to debunk the
claim that our two officers, Henry Kebbi is a traffic officer with Port Harcourt Port and Maclean
David Olatubosun is a mechanical employee with NPA Onne, they are not militants. We want to let
the public know that they were murdered in cold blood and this can happen to anybody."
Inyang urged the state government to look into the circumstances of the killings. He noted that a
situation where innocent persons could be killed and hurriedly buried only to be exhumed after
protest was disturbing.
Amadi also reiterated that their men were innocent. According to him, the victims were shot in their
armpit, which means they had surrendered to whosoever might have killed them. "They raised their
hands up, indicating that they had surrendered and their identification cards were on them. Militants
don't carry NPA cards," he added.
The police spokesperson, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, said investigation is being carried by the command to
determine the culpability of the culprits.
Rejoinders to my article recently titled “Between Amaechi & Cultists,” said that Nigeria has been told
the solution (to the spate of cultists related actions) repeatedly for over 50years now, so it is not for
you to ask me what the solutions are. The question that should be asked is if the Niger Delta should
allow Nigeria to continue illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta's region.
The Ife & Modakeke of the Yoruba South- West, are mining their gold Ibadan is mining her
precious stones the same with Nassarawa state. All these activities were recognized by the Federal
government but it upheld their laws higher than the Nigerian government's laws so we should be
asking if it is Nigeria to be involved in illegal bunkering.
Nigeria always had the monopoly of arms and she had been dealing with Niger Deltans on the basis
of her arms for 50years now. Kenule Saro Wiwa came out with his placards and his articles he was
hung with his fellow kins men by the Nigerian government. Asari Dukubo negotiated with the
Nigerian State and handed over his weapons to them as he went for negotiation he was bundled to a
prison in Nigeria. Ateke Tom decided to follow the path of peace spending as much as a 100million
only for him to be attacked.
Today Nigeria accuses Niger-Delta polticians and monarchs of being militants because they
successfuly negotiated peace on behalf of the Nigerian state, so it is the Nigerian state that is
resorting to arms as its usual mode of operation. It was the same in Odi when the government
atttacked innocent villagers while they slept in their home villages.
Nigeria should also not forget that she has planted a lot of live ammunitions in the Niger Delta. With
the victims of HIV/Aids through the rape of the Nigerian state, those in abject poverty that can not
put food on their tables, the ones that are terminally ill from Cancer etc as a result of the polluted
waters, you could imagine who has something to lose in comparison with the one that has
everything and is struggling for what he does not own.
The Niger Delta has always striven within the lawful means and it is about time things should be
done according to the laws of the region. Nigeria respects the North's decision to operate a sharia
system. She respects the Ife and Modakeke laws to mine precious minerals without giving any
proceeds to the Nigerian state and it is lawful that after 50years of waiting for other regions to come
on board, Nigeria learns to respect the laws of ownership that the Niger Delta communities have
over their territories and the resources within them just as Nigeria respects the mining rights of the
other regions.
The Nigerian state had always used the law of the jungle in dealing with peaceful and unarmed
requests of the region even before the killing of Saro Wiwa and his colleagues. For 50 years in that
region the region thought of Nigeria's interest, but a time has to come when that fellow in the Jungle
has to be treated for who he is.
Another fellow wrote that the current issue is between the JTF and the Okirika community that was
attacked in the process of settling their grouse with Ateke.
The Non-Rivers people have been siphoning crude Oil in Rivers state including Ateke Tom's home
community, it did not cause "anarchy or madness" in their communities so why should it cause
anarchy in Rivers state or any other area. The Ife and Modakeke people have been mining their gold
alone it did not cause madness or anarchy.
If the Oni of Ife, Obasanjo, Generals like Danjuma, Naval chiefs Adekeye etc are involved in
Bunkering including areas like Ateke's home town what makes it illegal for the indigenous people to
be involved in Bunkering?
You have also got to put into consideration that the military that is troubling the Okirika people over
Ateke is the same group that supplied him with uniforms and went on patrols with him under the
Obasanjo and Odili administration.
If the President and Chief Security Officer of the Federation Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and Chief
Security Officer of Rivers state could jointly agree to arm Ateke Tom with military hardware and
supplies so that he could deliver Rivers state to Obasanjo on a "do or die" basis how do you expect
Ateke Tom or his likes to feel that their actions at the time were illegal especially when they
committed most of those acts with the approval of President Obasanjo and Rivers governor Peter
Odili.
Omehia inherited Soboma George from the Odili government and armed him again to cause problem
in the state. He bribed corrupt JTF officials to work with Soboma George. When Omehia was is in
government it was still your likes that were claiming Ateke Tom was working with Amaechi against
Soboma to remove the Omehia government. When Omehia was there you people claimed because
he was "Igbo" the Okirika and Kalabari axis of the state were trying to remove him. Now Amaechi
came in you are claiming that because Amaechi is Ikwerre and his government is being supported
by Kalabaris Ateke Tom wants to remove them and put Omehia in. Please stop peddling rumors and
leave these people to live in their state in peace.
People have been dialoguing since; dialogue has not been a solution. The solution is to implement
what have been dialogued. When we come to the rule of law, which law is the rule? How did it
come into existence, and what were the agreements that brought it into existence?
One other writer said: I would not change what I said. Omehia got into office on a pool of blood. It
was the killing of over a dozen Rivers indigenes that facilitated his inauguration and even when the
tribunal case went on they tried through violence to prevent his ousting.
In the case of Amaechi he was not inaugurated by killings of individuals but by a Supreme Court
decision. There was peace until the JTF attack on Ateke Tom's community for no just reason, and it
is wrong to cook a reason for the attack that because the Kalabaris have a problem with the
Okirikans, they asked the Ikwerre governor to send the JTF in to attack Okirika. For me, this is
instigating violence between three Communities. The Rivers people deserve peace and we should not
let such silly rhetoric to plunge that state into a mess once more.
When Ateke Tom had a pact to rule with the Obasanjo-Odili government and Ateke Tom was doing
joint military patrol with the Nigerian military and Police where were you guys, why didn't you call
him a criminal then why didn't you have a problem with such a government. Now the guy is
peaceful you went to attack his community and persecute the monarch. Now the Police went to kill
people is it not innocent people they killed but it does not bother people like you.
What is the credible government that the River's people need? Is it not Omehia that sent Soboma
George to kill Igodo, and is not the Omehia government that made Soboma George the head of the
Rivers vigilante group. Is it not the same Omehia government that had cultists as commissioners and
also shielded Soboma from the military so how did Omehia fight cultism?
I did not make any comments on Ateke's economic activities but no one in the Niger Delta can be
accused of being involved in illegal acquisition of resources in their domains. You do not take Oke
nkpu illegally in a land that belongs to you.
What the Rivers people need is peace, people should stop hitting heads together with these silly
attempts to push the responsibility of the JTF's action on different communities within this state.
Ateke Tom was one of the first to welcome Amaechi after his landmark victory at the Supreme
Court. He waved the olive branch and called for peace in Okrika and Rivers State. He called several
meetings of different factions of his group that they should work together for lasting peace. He even
held reconciliatory meeting with Asari Dokubo.
The leader of the Joint Task force, instead of rejoicing at the development, declared that Ateke Tom
must be brought to book for past atrocities. This would not have been strange if the man could
match his actions with words. The next thing was that Ateke Tom's residence was bombed down in
a midnight raid, his camp was vandalized and arms and ammunitions were seized. Ateke escaped
and promised to avenge the destruction of his properties.
The gworo eating head of the JTF declared total victory and promised to deal ruthlessly with
anybody that caused problems. Ateke licked his wounds quietly and planned his revenge. That was
what we saw on New Year's Eve. The military men had quietly withdrawn from the scene before he
struck.
Truly, the attack has little to do with Amaechi as a person but he is culpable since he did not advice
the JTF people rightly when they were singing the war song. He has now gotten himself into the
fray by asking Okrikans to hand over Ateke (on his way to a holiday abroad).
If Amaechi wants peace, he knows how to get it.
Odimegwu Onwumere, is a poet and author writes from Rivers State. (08032552855).
By Odimegwu Onwumere,
An article by one Kelvin Ebiri from, Port Harcourt, recently “Family, NPA fault police on slain
militants,” facts emerging from the New Year gun battle between the police and militants have
shown that some victims were innocent citizens.
The police have also risen to the occasion by exhuming the bodies of six of the victims suspected to
be militants.
Prior to the latest development, the police had branded as militants those who died in the crossfire
between the police and the militants during the latter's attack on Borokiri Police Station, Port
Harcourt on Tuesday.
The cases of a 23-year old boy, Clement Eli, and two employees of the Nigeria Ports Authority
(NPA), Port Harcourt, Henry Kebbi and Maclean David Olatubosun seem to contradict the police's
claim.
The victims' families and friends have debunked police allegations that they were militants. Eli's
grandmother, Mrs. Regina Nelson, told The Guardian that the computer analyst was returning from
church on Tuesday morning when the police shot him.
She said that probably in a bid to cover up the murder, the police hurriedly buried the remains of Eli
and others at the Port Harcourt cemetery. But following protests, the bodies were exhumed and
deposited at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port Harcourt.
Nelson, who expressed dismay that the police branded her son, whose office was opposite the
Borokiri Police Station a militant, said most heartrending to her family was the refusal of the police
to release his remains for burial.
Similarly, the Senior Staff Association and Maritime Workers Union of the NPA, Port Harcourt,
have denied allegation that two of their colleagues were militants and have demanded a commission
of inquiry to unravel the circumstance of their murder by presumably the police.
Chairmen of the two trade unions, Mr. Emmanuel Inyang and Stanley Amadi, told journalists in Port
Harcourt yesterday that their slain colleagues were returning to the residence of Olatubosun that
fateful night before they met their death.
Inyang said: "We were made to understand that the commissioner of police Rivers went on air to tell
the world that those who were killed yesterday (Tuesday) were militants. We want to debunk the
claim that our two officers, Henry Kebbi is a traffic officer with Port Harcourt Port and Maclean
David Olatubosun is a mechanical employee with NPA Onne, they are not militants. We want to let
the public know that they were murdered in cold blood and this can happen to anybody."
Inyang urged the state government to look into the circumstances of the killings. He noted that a
situation where innocent persons could be killed and hurriedly buried only to be exhumed after
protest was disturbing.
Amadi also reiterated that their men were innocent. According to him, the victims were shot in their
armpit, which means they had surrendered to whosoever might have killed them. "They raised their
hands up, indicating that they had surrendered and their identification cards were on them. Militants
don't carry NPA cards," he added.
The police spokesperson, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, said investigation is being carried by the command to
determine the culpability of the culprits.
Rejoinders to my article recently titled “Between Amaechi & Cultists,” said that Nigeria has been told
the solution (to the spate of cultists related actions) repeatedly for over 50years now, so it is not for
you to ask me what the solutions are. The question that should be asked is if the Niger Delta should
allow Nigeria to continue illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta's region.
The Ife & Modakeke of the Yoruba South- West, are mining their gold Ibadan is mining her
precious stones the same with Nassarawa state. All these activities were recognized by the Federal
government but it upheld their laws higher than the Nigerian government's laws so we should be
asking if it is Nigeria to be involved in illegal bunkering.
Nigeria always had the monopoly of arms and she had been dealing with Niger Deltans on the basis
of her arms for 50years now. Kenule Saro Wiwa came out with his placards and his articles he was
hung with his fellow kins men by the Nigerian government. Asari Dukubo negotiated with the
Nigerian State and handed over his weapons to them as he went for negotiation he was bundled to a
prison in Nigeria. Ateke Tom decided to follow the path of peace spending as much as a 100million
only for him to be attacked.
Today Nigeria accuses Niger-Delta polticians and monarchs of being militants because they
successfuly negotiated peace on behalf of the Nigerian state, so it is the Nigerian state that is
resorting to arms as its usual mode of operation. It was the same in Odi when the government
atttacked innocent villagers while they slept in their home villages.
Nigeria should also not forget that she has planted a lot of live ammunitions in the Niger Delta. With
the victims of HIV/Aids through the rape of the Nigerian state, those in abject poverty that can not
put food on their tables, the ones that are terminally ill from Cancer etc as a result of the polluted
waters, you could imagine who has something to lose in comparison with the one that has
everything and is struggling for what he does not own.
The Niger Delta has always striven within the lawful means and it is about time things should be
done according to the laws of the region. Nigeria respects the North's decision to operate a sharia
system. She respects the Ife and Modakeke laws to mine precious minerals without giving any
proceeds to the Nigerian state and it is lawful that after 50years of waiting for other regions to come
on board, Nigeria learns to respect the laws of ownership that the Niger Delta communities have
over their territories and the resources within them just as Nigeria respects the mining rights of the
other regions.
The Nigerian state had always used the law of the jungle in dealing with peaceful and unarmed
requests of the region even before the killing of Saro Wiwa and his colleagues. For 50 years in that
region the region thought of Nigeria's interest, but a time has to come when that fellow in the Jungle
has to be treated for who he is.
Another fellow wrote that the current issue is between the JTF and the Okirika community that was
attacked in the process of settling their grouse with Ateke.
The Non-Rivers people have been siphoning crude Oil in Rivers state including Ateke Tom's home
community, it did not cause "anarchy or madness" in their communities so why should it cause
anarchy in Rivers state or any other area. The Ife and Modakeke people have been mining their gold
alone it did not cause madness or anarchy.
If the Oni of Ife, Obasanjo, Generals like Danjuma, Naval chiefs Adekeye etc are involved in
Bunkering including areas like Ateke's home town what makes it illegal for the indigenous people to
be involved in Bunkering?
You have also got to put into consideration that the military that is troubling the Okirika people over
Ateke is the same group that supplied him with uniforms and went on patrols with him under the
Obasanjo and Odili administration.
If the President and Chief Security Officer of the Federation Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and Chief
Security Officer of Rivers state could jointly agree to arm Ateke Tom with military hardware and
supplies so that he could deliver Rivers state to Obasanjo on a "do or die" basis how do you expect
Ateke Tom or his likes to feel that their actions at the time were illegal especially when they
committed most of those acts with the approval of President Obasanjo and Rivers governor Peter
Odili.
Omehia inherited Soboma George from the Odili government and armed him again to cause problem
in the state. He bribed corrupt JTF officials to work with Soboma George. When Omehia was is in
government it was still your likes that were claiming Ateke Tom was working with Amaechi against
Soboma to remove the Omehia government. When Omehia was there you people claimed because
he was "Igbo" the Okirika and Kalabari axis of the state were trying to remove him. Now Amaechi
came in you are claiming that because Amaechi is Ikwerre and his government is being supported
by Kalabaris Ateke Tom wants to remove them and put Omehia in. Please stop peddling rumors and
leave these people to live in their state in peace.
People have been dialoguing since; dialogue has not been a solution. The solution is to implement
what have been dialogued. When we come to the rule of law, which law is the rule? How did it
come into existence, and what were the agreements that brought it into existence?
One other writer said: I would not change what I said. Omehia got into office on a pool of blood. It
was the killing of over a dozen Rivers indigenes that facilitated his inauguration and even when the
tribunal case went on they tried through violence to prevent his ousting.
In the case of Amaechi he was not inaugurated by killings of individuals but by a Supreme Court
decision. There was peace until the JTF attack on Ateke Tom's community for no just reason, and it
is wrong to cook a reason for the attack that because the Kalabaris have a problem with the
Okirikans, they asked the Ikwerre governor to send the JTF in to attack Okirika. For me, this is
instigating violence between three Communities. The Rivers people deserve peace and we should not
let such silly rhetoric to plunge that state into a mess once more.
When Ateke Tom had a pact to rule with the Obasanjo-Odili government and Ateke Tom was doing
joint military patrol with the Nigerian military and Police where were you guys, why didn't you call
him a criminal then why didn't you have a problem with such a government. Now the guy is
peaceful you went to attack his community and persecute the monarch. Now the Police went to kill
people is it not innocent people they killed but it does not bother people like you.
What is the credible government that the River's people need? Is it not Omehia that sent Soboma
George to kill Igodo, and is not the Omehia government that made Soboma George the head of the
Rivers vigilante group. Is it not the same Omehia government that had cultists as commissioners and
also shielded Soboma from the military so how did Omehia fight cultism?
I did not make any comments on Ateke's economic activities but no one in the Niger Delta can be
accused of being involved in illegal acquisition of resources in their domains. You do not take Oke
nkpu illegally in a land that belongs to you.
What the Rivers people need is peace, people should stop hitting heads together with these silly
attempts to push the responsibility of the JTF's action on different communities within this state.
Ateke Tom was one of the first to welcome Amaechi after his landmark victory at the Supreme
Court. He waved the olive branch and called for peace in Okrika and Rivers State. He called several
meetings of different factions of his group that they should work together for lasting peace. He even
held reconciliatory meeting with Asari Dokubo.
The leader of the Joint Task force, instead of rejoicing at the development, declared that Ateke Tom
must be brought to book for past atrocities. This would not have been strange if the man could
match his actions with words. The next thing was that Ateke Tom's residence was bombed down in
a midnight raid, his camp was vandalized and arms and ammunitions were seized. Ateke escaped
and promised to avenge the destruction of his properties.
The gworo eating head of the JTF declared total victory and promised to deal ruthlessly with
anybody that caused problems. Ateke licked his wounds quietly and planned his revenge. That was
what we saw on New Year's Eve. The military men had quietly withdrawn from the scene before he
struck.
Truly, the attack has little to do with Amaechi as a person but he is culpable since he did not advice
the JTF people rightly when they were singing the war song. He has now gotten himself into the
fray by asking Okrikans to hand over Ateke (on his way to a holiday abroad).
If Amaechi wants peace, he knows how to get it.
Odimegwu Onwumere, is a poet and author writes from Rivers State. (08032552855).