…Calls On Niger Delta Militants To Give Peace a Chance
By Francis Sadhere
Apostle Clement Tonfawei is a prominent Niger Delta activist and an Ijaw leader who has been in the forefront of the Niger Delta struggle from the beginning. In this interview with FRANCIS SADHERE, he talks about series of issues bothering the region and how they could be solved. Excerpt:
Please introduce yourself.
I am Apostle Clement Tonfawei. I am from Oporoza, Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri South West Local Government area of Delta State.
Recently the Delta state government held a meeting with stakeholders in the state, what is your observation during the meeting?
That meeting is one of the most disappointing meetings I have ever attended in any government functionary. This is a governor that is believed to know the pains of the people in the oil bearing communities, yet he is still adopting the same method that previous governments have been using to oppress and shortchange the same people they claim to be fighting for. I will not call that a meeting because this was a meeting that was supposed to discuss about destruction of pipelines by youths in the region, yet no single youth was given the opportunity to speak in that meeting.
What did you expect him to do?
I expected him to first of all apologize to the oil bearing communities that he has also wronged them. For the past one year, I know how much has come to the state from the federal allocation and I also know about several projects that he has commissioned in Asaba and other parts of the state. Yet Governor Okowa did not deem it fit to put any project in the oil bearing communities. This is the highest level of injustice I have ever seen since I was born. I am speaking on behalf of my people because I am a leader in my community and I have involved myself in the struggle for a very long time.
What would be your advice to Governor Uduaghan on this issue?
I will advise him not to complain to us that allocation coming to the state has dropped. He has been part of the government for the past seventeen years. What did he do when the state was receiving over 20 billion as allocation? He has been a part of this injustice because he did not do anything to address the injustice done to our people. I will advise him to address this injustice now if he wants peace to reign in the state.
Now, why do you think governor Okowa has not addressed the perceived injustice since he assumed office?
It has been their formula in government for so many years now. I agree that today, Oporoza, my community has been in the news for the wrong reasons but I believe that the government is the cause of what is going on there now. Go to Oporoza today, you will see how the people in that community are suffering despite the fact that they are the people contributing the largest chunk of Nigeria’s oil. There is no state or federal government presence in that community. They are the most peaceful people in Delta state and that that is why you can see all tribes living there.
I will also want to say that the purpose of us having the deputy governor slot in this government has failed because Barrister Kingsley Otuaro has not been able to persuade the governor to come and develop the Ijaw communities. Look at all the empowerment programs of the present government. No Ijaw community has benefited. A lot of boards have been constituted by this government and the only people that have benefited have been those people who been benefiting from time immemorial. Those people who have been suffering right from the beginning of democracy are still suffering till today. It is the same people they have been using and if they continue like this, the peace they are looking for will elude them.
Are you saying that if government does not change their attitude toward the people the struggle will continue?
struggle will continue. Though I am not in support of the Niger Delta Avengers and any form of arm struggle, but if Okowa and his click failed to bring justice to the people, there will never be peace. There cannot be peace when there is no justice. This is why you see that the fundamental issues that led to the Warri crisis are still pending. I do not expect Governor Okowa to come and ask us what the problems are, because the issues are there for everybody to see. I want the governor to act on the issues on ground. That is the only way the youths can partner with him to fight the injustice in the state. If they want to continue to encourage people who are carrying arms, then there will be more arms in circulation. I am a living legend of the Niger Delta struggle and nobody can tell me about it. I am a key player in the system despite the fact that I do not carry guns. I have sacrificed my time and blood for this struggle. So nobody should see me and those fighting against arm struggle as betrayers. Nobody will come and develop an area that does not have peace. So they should give peace a chance.
But it seems like the only language the government understands is violence. How do you see this development?
The reason is because Nigeria as a nation has failed. Nigeria has failed because it has lost its norms and values. A lot of wrong things happen in a failed society. Until we go back to our old values, the country will not develop. If all the oil bearing communities are developed today, nobody will talk about oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism. The people living in these communities do not even know that the oil pipeline running through their communities is what is used to develop the whole country. It is that same oil that is used to build skyscrapers in Abuja and other parts of the country. So until they give us all the basic amnesties in life, the oil bearing communities will continue to agitate for what is rightfully theirs. The environment around these communities has been polluted and the people are sick without any hospital to go to. The government and the oil companies are perpetrating injustice in the oil bearing communities and until this injustice is addressed, the region will know no peace.
The ministry of Niger Delta affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission have all failed the people, how do you think the Niger Delta region can be developed when all these agencies put in place have not done anything to develop the region?
That is a very good question. The fact is that NDDC, DESOPADEC and the Niger Delta Ministry are all fraudulent and corrupt agencies meant to enrich a few people in the region. The money that has been assigned to all these bodies since they were created is enough to develop the region. I want to really thank President Buhari for the fight he is fighting against corruption. I want to thank him for investigating those people that have stolen our country blind. I want him to investigate all the monies that have been pumped into these agencies. The government should make sure that they are made to return all the money they stole from the region. Today it is like the oil bearing communities are not part of Nigeria. Today Okowa will commission different projects in the upland and forget the people in the riverine communities. The federal government will take our oil money and use it to develop Abuja and other parts of the country while the oil bearing communities are left to die. What exactly are they taking us for? They should give us what rightfully belong to us.
Is there any other thing you want Nigerians to know about?
There is something that is bothering me. By speaking the truth, some people will want to label you as a betrayer. We need to change our orientation by telling ourselves the truth. If somebody is not in support of arm struggle that person cannot be said to be a betrayer. The high level of poverty in the region has affected their level of reasoning. Nobody is betraying the region. The cause we are fighting for is for justice and not injustice. You cannot fight a just cause in an unjust manner. So let us fight a just cause that will benefit all of us. Look at Oporoza for example, because of the degradation of the environment the area is now prone to flood. We need a higher institution in Oporoza. We have contributed a lot to this country and the only way we can feel the pulse of our contributions is for the government to give us a higher institution that will bring development to our area.
I will continue to appeal to my itsekiri brothers that we should stop fighting each other. If we are fighting ourselves then it is a great mistake. Look at Ugborodu, there is no single road there and there is no pipe borne water to drink. The Itsekiri communities are worst than our communities because we the Ijaws have the interest of our communities at heart because individuals, once in a while, go to our communities to develop them by building houses and citing some other projects there. But the itsekiri leaders are not interested in their communities. They collect all the monies and go back to Warri. The Ijaw and Itsekiris should come together and fight as one. Our common enemies are the government and the oil companies. If we come together as one, we are going to see changes and the peace we are clamoring for.
If we keep playing games with ourselves this country will continue to go down. Buhari has pleaded with us to give him the chance to develop the region. So we should give him the opportunity. If the avengers are demanding for the release of Okah or Kanu, they are not making any sense because these are no demands at all. If anybody commits an offence, the judiciary is there to deal with him. It is not the right of any individual to say they should release him. So, we are calling on the government to do the needful and we will take care of the security of these pipelines because we all know that the military is corrupt. Look at the billions of naira being looted by the military men in power.
On the maritime university in Okerenkoko
If anybody wants to relocate that university from Okerenkoko to another place, then the government and the oil companies are indirectly telling us that they do not need the oil in our communities. If anybody wants to relocate the maritime university that has already been established by law and where there are already structures built in readiness to take off, then the federal and state government should get ready for anything they see.
However, I want to strongly advise that we should exercise patient with the government because from the bold steps he has taken to go after corrupt people in the country has showed that he is ready to develop the region. We all know the controversies surrounding his emergence as the President of this country. He is just one year in office, so we should give him time. I am a PDP member and not an APC member. The government does not belong to APC alone but to all Nigerians. He is the president of Nigeria so I have the right to air my views on his government.
