MEND’s threat to national security - Simon Ekpe

If ever there was a doubt about the capacity of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to inflict a mortal blow on this country, that doubt must have disappeared with Sunday‘s attack on Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos. The ease with which the attack was executed also raises a serious national security concern. It has exposed Nigeria as a country with a great deal of vulnerability to external attack.

In June last year, MEND ventured offshore to attack Nigeria‘s biggest offshore facility, the Bonga Oilfield, located at about 120 kilometres off the coast of Bayelsa State. There was no other explanation for that attack than just a demonstration of their ability to outwit the Nigerian security network, in furtherance of their plan to cripple the country‘s oil facilities. Sadly too, it is to the same reason that one can attribute Sunday‘s attack on Atlas Cove, a key port for the offloading and distribution of imported fuel to different parts of the country. The attack claimed six lives, including those of three naval personnel.

Since President Umaru Yar‘Adua‘s declaration of amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta, MEND has become more menacing in its attacks. The militant group has inflicted more harm on the country‘s economic interests than at any other time. The group has blown up oil facilities belonging to Shell, Chevron and other oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region. This has resulted in production shut-ins in the region of a million barrels per day. Only on Monday, it was reported that a newly-repaired Chevron pipeline was blown up again by the militants. In fact, they have formed a habit of issuing threats and carrying out their threats, unhindered.

The latest attack is not just another big blow to the country‘s oil industry but a declaration of war on the country. If the militants could take a trip through the open sea to Lagos from either Bayelsa, Delta or Ondo State without being detected, it means they could also carry out such attacks in any part of the country. If they could go as far as Kaduna to buy arms to the tune of over N100 million from the Nigerian army armoury, then no part of the country is safe from the reach of the militants.

In my column of two weeks ago, I did raise the question of what would happen between the time of the President‘s announcement of amnesty and when the amnesty would eventually start taking effect on August 6. Now, the answer has been provided. To show how daring the militants have become, they have timed their latest attacks to coincide with the release of their leader, Henry Okah, a beneficiary of the President’s amnesty. The message from MEND to the Federal Government is simple - in spite of the amnesty, the end to the Niger Delta crisis is not in sight.

What has been obvious in the battle so far is that MEND has been redefining its tactics and demands; but, as the militants appear to be changing their objectives, the FG must also redefine its tactics. The government can only go by that name if it can defend its citizens. This is the time for Yar‘Adua to defend not only the economic interests of Nigeria but the citizens of the country.

I pity the President who is faced with the unenviable task of confronting a faceless enemy. For all you know, Jomo Gbomo could well be a respectable permanent secretary in one ministry in one of the Niger Delta states, while Cynthia Whyte could be that smartly-dressed businesswoman that one sees everyday in Warri. She could be that woman that is usually described as incapable of hurting a fly. But that is why he is the President and Commander in Chief. Yar’Adua must ensure that the armed forces earn their upkeep.

What happened in Atlas Cove can be likened to a military invasion of Nigeria. If a foreign army were to descend on Nigeria from the sea, does it mean that their task would be made that easy? Nobody says the military should go into villages and start killing defenceless people - children and women. In fact, doing so, as we saw in Odi, Okerenkoko and Gbaramantu, is an act of cowardice. The military must be well equipped enough to detect the approach of an enemy, even from afar. When militants blow up installations within the creeks of the Niger Delta, it is understandable because of the difficulty of the terrain there. But when they venture off shore to attack Bonga Oil Field or move across the open sea to Lagos to bomb Atlas Cove, it is an act of recklessness and exposure of the nation‘s vulnerability to attacks even from a rag-tag band of rebels.

Aside from the weapons that were sold to MEND through Okah‘s brother from the Nigerian military armoury, the source of arms for militant activities has been through ships that come in through the open sea. Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, in a recent interview, accused the military, who are supposed to secure the oil facilities and the Nigerian waters, of complicity in oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. If the supply of arms is to be curtailed, then the military have to be more uncompromising in the policing of our land and sea borders. A government that cannot protect the territorial integrity of its country is not fit to be in power.

Besides securing the oil facilities and the land and sea borders, the government must also find a way of getting into discussions with the true representatives of the people of the Niger Delta region. In fact, all Nigerians must come together to discuss the modalities for the continuous coexistence of all the components of the Nigerian entity. Ultimately, it is dialogue and equitable distribution of resources that will end the problem in the Niger Delta.


In my column yesterday, I said that President Obama visited Venezuela. That is incorrect. He met President Hugo Chavez at the OAS meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. – Azu.