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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Talking With a Niger-Delta Militant Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Terhemba Aindigh, Nigeria Jun 19, 2007
Peace & Conflict   Interviews
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23:45hrs: New Year’s Eve.

Fifteen minutes before the year 2007 I heard an odd explosion. I could humour myself by assuming they are just fireworks, after all, it’s a festive season and banger-obsessed children must be at it again. Wrong.

My friend (son of the local chief whose residence hosts my family) seems to know about this. He grabs his jacket, boots and keys, preparing to set out to where exactly I’m not sure of. “I’m coming too,” I inform him. “Very well then, but my father will know nothing of where I’m taking you.” Right.

Well, that was me at the right place at the wrong time. School had reluctantly granted a ten-day break for the holidays and, as my family had agreed, we began a quasi-nationwide tour that eventually led us to a land, the land where I found “The Power of Natural Resources” manifest most brutally: The Niger-Delta area of Nigeria.

A vast wetland region accounting for most of Nigeria's oil wealth, making her the seventh largest exporter in the world and the fifth largest to the US (bigger than Iraq and Kuwait combined), the resource-rich Niger-Delta is an area plagued with administrative neglect, crumbling public infrastructure and services, environmental devastation, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty and endemic conflict.

Simply put, people in the delta have been alienated from their land and natural resources, leaving them frustrated with both the foreign oil companies and governments that have failed to regulate them.

The consequences have been dire: local youth organized into militia groups have clashed with government forces, sabotaged oil pipelines and installations, taken foreign oil workers hostage and masterminded numerous lethal car bombings, demanding the government grant oil concessions to Delta groups, withdraw troops, and release their imprisoned local leaders. They have so far ‘succeeded’ in disrupting Nigeria’s daily oil production by up to 25%, that takes it from 2.5 million to less than 2 million barrels per day. It will be recalled that the threats and activities of these militants helped drive worldwide oil prices beyond the $50 mark for the first time, and the instability there greatly contributed to the record high oil prices on global markets in 2006.

At the stroke of the New Year, the militants struck again, blowing up more major oil pipelines and releasing an expatriate hostage on account of his health and birthday.
_____________________________________________________

00:00hrs: Happy New Year.
Well-away from the town-centre merriment, he pulls over on a lonely path, asking that we walk through a swampy forest “to meet” his “friends”. Once deep into the woods, I find trucks, aged men making merry, younger men well armed, and a few women catering to them all.

He greets them and introduces me as his “half-brother”.

A man – the foreigner – is obviously the chief celebrant. He looks pale but glad, carrying a smile I bet he has so his captors don’t change their minds. Following my first instinct, I walk up to him, asking why he doesn’t look as upset as a typical hostage would. "I have no animosity toward them at all," he says as though speaking to a journalist. "I've seen their little villages; they're dirt-poor, poor as field-mice." Certainly.

Nearby is a young man, not too different from me except he’s carrying a gun. A woman caring enough to be his mother pours him water to drink, whilst my footsteps push me in their direction, whispering 'Season’s Greetings', to which he responds rather warmly. I ask him if any of what I see here has to do with the infamous Niger-Delta “militants”; if he knows about the explosions I had heard. He chuckles, “are you new around?” “I am a student from Lagos who came to spend the Yuletide here,” I calmly answered. We continue.

The Militant: You see, my brother, I was like you one time. I graduated from university over fifteen years ago. I remember how high my hopes were for the future, how proud I was of being amongst the few from around who were so privileged to find an education. I dreamed of serving my community someday. I came back home to find a life, but fifteen years have gone by and I have never even earned an employment, not to talk of breathing fresh air or drinking clean water. The society is as primitive as our forefathers left them.

Me: I understand, but that explains little about the explosions.

Militant: It does. Look around you. You’re standing on land that is home to over twenty-seven million Nigerians, about 70% of which are adequately poor. Here too lies Nigeria’s primary source of earnings. Underneath the rivers and mud, you must have heard Nigeria has up to 35 billion barrels of oil. But over the past 50 years, the oil production here has meant gas flaring, oil pipes leaking, dredging, acid rain, and the consequences of these things have created villages where people feel a kind of colonial presence. Many of the women struggle to do things like sell kerosine on their front porch instead of fishing. People here survive in mud-huts and eke out a living, traveling in the swamps on dug-out canoes to reach the outside world. There is a very high infant mortality rate. There is terrible disease.





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Terhemba Aindigh


Terhemba Aindigh is currently with the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps. Having obtained a first degree in International Relations at Covenant University, Nigeria, with a flair for writing professionally, Terhemba enjoys making commentaries on issues that command worldwide relevance.

His essays have earned him an enviable reputation both nationally and internationally. Some of his writings have ensured his active participation in international conferences like the prestigious St. Gallen Symposium, South American Business Forum, and the Model World Trade Organization. He has also been awarded for exceptional writing by the World Bank and the World Federation of United Nations' Associations.

Most recently, Terhemba was announced as one of the 15 winners of an international essay, video and poster competition sponsored by the World Federation of United Nations Associations. This ensured his participation in the Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World Seminar, held at the United Nations Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. Consequently, he and the other winners were inspired to birth a global anti-nuclear weapons youth network.

As a founding member of the Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World Youth Initiative, Terhemba and his colleagues have taken up the immense responsibility to help in realizing a world free of nuclear weapons.

At present, he is doing what he loves to do best: writing more essays to compete in the likes of the Japanese Foreign Trade Council and Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library essay competitions, amongst others.

His ultimate ambition is to attain the heights of great men like Kofi Annan, who have made no little contribution to ensuring that our world is peaceful and just.
Comments


Parker | Jul 3rd, 2007
Fantastic interview! It was disturbingly informative and shed a whole new light, albeit a disappointing one, on an issue that is so well concealed and supressed in western media. Great job!



meddahi | Aug 15th, 2007
[x] بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والصلاة والسلام على إمام المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين..أما بعـد إنـني غاضب جــدا جــدا لأن هذه المعوقات التي تريد أن توقف مسيرتي الأدبية من شدة الفـقـر والحرمان اللذان أعيش فيهما إنهما ليعيقان مسيرة الشعرية التي ستفيد الإنسانية جمعاء بإنشاءاته الإبداعية المتشعبة الأطراف... بـيـنما أنا أنــقـح قصيدة جديدة وأنتم بحكم ثقافتكم تعلمون أن العالم أو الأديب أو الشاعر يحتاج إلى الهدوء والراحة الجسمية والمعنوية وحتى الظروف المالية .. لكي يستطيع أن ينتج أدبا رفيعا يفــيـد الإنسانية جمعاء بإنشاءاته الإبداعية المتشعبة الأطراف... إذا بأمي المكرمة تعنفـني تعنيفا كبيرا لم تحتمله نفسي وأنتم تعلمون نفسية الشاعر الحساسة إلى أقصى حدودها المترامية ............... فقلت لها إنني أعمل من خلال قصيدتي التي أتمم أجزاءها بردار خيالي من أمكنة بعيدة لا يدرك كنهها إلا من أتاهم الله تعالى يصيرة شفافة وإنه عملٌ فكريٌّ لا يستطيعه إلا أولي الأحلام و النهى ولا يفهمه إلا ذوي الألباب الناضجة فهذا العمل ليس ككل الأعمال اليدوية البسيطة التي يستطيعها أي إنسان بعد خبرة قليلة فقالت لي بكل سخرية واستهجان إنك تهــذي.. إن هـذا الأدب الي أنت تُزاوله لا يجني عليك من المال شيئا ولا من جاها......... بل أنت تضيع وقتك هباء منثورا بينما أبوك يعمل ليصرف عليك فقلت لها يا أماه يا أماه يجب أن تفهمي مرادي البعيد وسيأتي اليوم الذي ستفهمين فيه قصديَ النبيل أنــــت لا تدركــين بُعـد عـملي الفكري هذا ولا غيرك من الناس الذين لا يؤمنون إلا بالمادة التي هم يتنعمون بها دون أن يُــؤدوا شكرها اللازم لأن المولى عز وجل قد سخرها لهم في هذه الحياة الدنيا الفانية فإن هذا الأدب الذي أنا أضحي ليلا ونهارا من أجله قد حباني الله تعالى به دون أن أدرس في كبريات الجامعات لله الحمد والمنة ………………. إنه عمل جليل يشرفك ويشرف أبي الذي هو يرعى هذه الموهبة الـفــذة و يشرف وطــني العزيز و الأمة الإسلامية جميعا فقالت إن الله تعالى لا ينزل عليك من السماء كنزا إذا لم تعمل في الأعمال اليدوية ستصاب بالفقر الذي سيدفعك إلى التسول يوما من الأيام ........... نعم إن أمي تبني أحكامها على الأوضاع الجارية في الأمة العربية والإسلامية ................. وتلك الأحكام منطقية إلى أبعد الحدود ..... فكم من الأدباء تشردوا وكم من الأدباء أصابهم اليأس والقــنوط من جراء التخلف والتشرذم الذي يجري حولهم ولكن تلك العهود قد مضت ولله الحمد ونحن نرى بشائر الرقي والازدهار بادية لكل من كان له قلب أو ألـقى الســمع وهــو شهـيـد ....... ولكن لا نلوم بعض الناس لأن عقولهم لا تدرك الإرهاصات المستقبلية ببعض العوامل التي تراها في الحاضر ........... وما أضيق الحياة لولا فُسحة الأمل ... ..آلمتـني كلماتها القاسية التي نزلت على قلبي كالصاعقة المحرقة التي تحرق من القلب الرهيف كل آماله وأحلامه التي كان يحلم بها طوال السنين القاسية وأضافت إلى أسماعي كلمات أخرى بكل برودة وقالت إن هؤلاء الذين يذيعون قصائدك لمَ لم يساعدوك حتى الآن لكي تكمل مسيرتك الأدبية التي تدعيها فقلت لها يا أمي كل شيء في أوانه ينضج إنني أتألم إن وجداني ينفجر من شدة الغضب لماذا أولئك الذين لا يملكون من الكفاءات إلا الشيء القليل نراهم يكرمون ويبجلون أمام أعيننا أما نحن الشعراء نعيش وسط الحرمان والفقر المدقع لماذا لماذا وألف لماذا إنني أستنكر هذا الإهمال هذه الشريحة التي تمهد لمستقبل زاهر تتنعم فيه البشرية بالأمن والسلام والمحبة الصادقة .......... لماذا هذه اللامبــلات التي طال زمانها ..أنظروا إلى الغرب كيف تقدم لأنهم يقدرون المواهب الإبداعية في أي مجال كان، لكي يُثروا مجتمعاتهم بالأشياء النافعة التي تعود على المجتمع بالخير والرفاهية الكبيرين لماذا نهين العقول الناضجة ونكرم العقول البائسة التي لا تنتج إلا بعض التفاهات التي لا تُسمن ولا تغني من جوع ..إنني أتألم وإن وجداني ليبكي من شدة هذه الإهانات المتعددة التي تنهال علي من حين لآخر كأمثال الحجارة الصماء التي لا تسمع ولا تــنـفع ..لماذا لا تنشؤون صندوقا خاصا بالمبدعين الذين يثبتون للساحة الأدبية أنهم قادرون على الإبداع و الإختراع والإنتاج سواء الإنتاج الفكر أو اليدوي المتوفر في كل مكان عكس الإنتاج الفكري النادر لأنه يعتمد على الموهبة المُعطاة التي تغــــــــوص في بحر التجارب لتكتسب المعرفة العميقة تلك المواهب التي تكتسب بعد سنوات من الجهد المضني المرير شخصـــــــــــية قــــــــوية لا تقـتـلعها حتى أعـتا الأعاصير المدمرة هذه الشخصية التي تحقق أهدافها بإذن ربها العلي العظيم لأن أهدافها سامية ونبيلة لا ينكرها أحد من الناس العقـلاء إنها تؤثرة في المجتمعات تأثيرا إيجابيا لأنها تعي ما تقول وما تفعل لا تندفع وراء الحماسة الزائدة التي تسبب آلاما للأمة العربية والإسلامية تزيد من أزماتها المعـددة التي هي بغنى عنها وخصوصا في هذه الظروف المحزنة التي تمر عليها الإنسانية جمعاء ... ولكن الخير آت آت آت إن شاء الله تعالى فلها من الحكمة الواعية التي تضع كل شيء في محله الذي يليق به.. إن هذا العصر الذي نوجد فيه لقد انبثقت فيه معظم العبقريات الكبيرة التي أثبتت وجودها بكل فاعلية ولكنها لا تلقى الرعاية الكاملة التي تحتفظ بهذه العقول التي تنفع البشرية جميعا ....؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟............؟ من أخوكم المعذب في الأرض الشاعر العصامي مداحي العيد من الجزائر الحبيبة إلى قلوبنا جميعا meddahi | Aug 15th, 2007 [x] MERCIFUL peace and prayers be on the senders and the machine owners and all .. After I am very, very angry because these constraints that want to stop my life literary The severity of poverty and deprivation in which they lived, which hinders the march of poetry that will benefit all mankind Banchaeath creative branched parties ... While I revise a new poem and you know that the ex Thagawickam world or writer or poet needs to be calm and relaxed physical, moral and even financial circumstances .. In order to be able to produce literature High benefit humanity Banchaeath creative branched parties ... If Pamy Mecca Tanfani Taneva not significantly unbearable myself and you know psychological poet sensitive to the limits vast ............... I told them that I am working through Gosaidti which Transact Brdar imaginary parts of the places far not only aware of essences Wrath of God Isaireh transparent He also worked for reconsideration first goal only dreams and Prevention nor understood only with mature minds. It is not a whole handicraft simple can in any human being yet little experience Li said both ironic and deploring you Theve .. This literature to you do you practice you do not reap money from nothing prestige ......... But you wasted your time squander your father worked for a while you spend I told them you Amah Amah you must run, I understand Moradi day will come when my noble Stphmin You Do you not yet practical intellectual in this crowd of people who believe not only that article are Itnamon without thanks to perform necessary because God Almighty has marshalled them in this mortal life This literature which I became a day and night in which he addressed to me may God by without studying in the major universities thankfully, the best ... ... ... ... ... .... That work Jalil Echervk oversees Abe who is a sponsor of this inimitable talent and oversees national Aziz and the Islamic Ummah all She said that God does not descend from the sky, you treasure if they do not operate in manual jobs will be hit by poverty, which will push you to begging Days ........... Yes, that my mother built its case on the current situation in the Arab and Islamic nation ................. Those provisions logical extremely ..... How many literary displaced How many writers and despair suffered as a result of underdevelopment and the fragmentation that was happening around them But those times have passed, thankfully, we see positive signs of progress and prosperity displaying each have a heart or hearing a martyr ....... But do not blame some people do not realize that their minds precursors future Some of the factors that you see in the present ........... The narrower life in the expanse of hope ... .. Matni her harsh blow to my heart thunderbolt Holocaust that burns the heart of every Alerhev hopes and dreams, which he had dreamed for years of harsh Her ears to the words of another All cooling She said that those who advertise Kassaedk It did not help you until now to complement it gives moral course I told them my mother everything in premature ripens I am hurt that emotional burst of intense anger Why Those who do not have the skills, very little We see them honored and have revered Before our eyes As poets we live amid deprivation and extreme poverty Why, why and why A. I deplore this neglect of this tranche, which will pave the way for a bright future Ttnam human security and peace and love and sincere .......... Why this Allamblatt long time .. Look at how the West provided they appreciate the creative talent in any field was so enriched their objects beneficial to society and the well-being of the great minds mature Why humiliate honoring minds miserable not only produce some platitudes that do not protect fatten or hunger .. I am hurt and emotional cry of the severity of these multiple insults heaped upon from time to time Like unto stones dumb not hear no avail .. Why not Tencion special fund creators who prove to the literary arena they are capable of creativity and invention Both production and production of thought or manual Available everywhere in reverse intellectual production rare because it depends on the talent given by Sank in the Sea of tests to gain deep knowledge of those talents acquired after years of painstaking effort bitter strong personal Tuguetlaha not even Atta devastating hurricanes These personal permission achieve its objectives because the Lord Almighty objectives and lofty undeniably one of the people Sensible It preferences positive impact in the communities because they understand what it says and do not go beyond the euphoria which cause suffering to the Arab and Islamic nation further crises that are listed unnecessary, especially In these sad circumstances with the whole of humanity ... But goodness AT AT tires that, God willing, It may be prudent to develop conscious everything in place that it deserves .. That era find it has emerged how ingenious the most significant proved themselves both effective, but do not receive full care they retain minds that benefit all humankind ....???????????????? ?............? Your brother of the martyred poet in the land of self-reliant Mdahi feast Algeria beloved to all our hearts بلغ عن هذا المقال أو التعليقات عليه لTakingITGlobal علىeditorial@takingitglobal.org. يرجى ادراج الموقع أو العنوان بالتحديد للمقال الذي تقرأه والسبب وراء تبليغك عنه. اصنع العلاقات | تحرك | تصفح المصادر | عبر عن نفسك | تفهم القضايا | اكتشف

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