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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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South-South and the 2007 war games
HAVING thrown their hats into the ring over the presidential race in 2007, leaders of the South-South geo-political zone have embarked on a "reaching out" strategy.
It is a remarkable achievement for a zone reputed for speaking in cacophony of voices.
With a meeting in Abuja of the leaders under the South-South Consultative Assembly (SCA), a coalescing of forces appears to be taking place.
The zone accounts for the bulk of Nigeria's oil resources, the main stay of the nation's economy in the past 37 years. The leaders said producing the president in 2007 would not be asking for too much.
Strikingly, the governors of the six states of the zone, and serving federal lawmakers were not at the meeting. Some of them are not in support of the zone producing the President in 2007.
Notable among them is Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State and Lucky Igbinedion, his Edo State counterpart. While Attah said a caucus of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had taken a decision that the North should have it in 2007, Igbinedion said the South-South was not ready.
However, in a chat with The Guardian, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the first civilian governor of Edo State, said the leaders were working on the issue. According to him, the SCA has started reaching out to politicians that have contrary view on the necessity of the zone producing the president in 2007, to reconsider their stand.
Said he: "We have started re-organising ourselves. The purpose of the meeting was to dissuade our people from playing a second fiddle. We are qualified to take a shot at the presidency. Anybody who betrays us in this struggle because of his personal gains will have posterity to judge him. We have asked Anenih to reconsider his previous position of aligning with the north."
The leading politicians and elders of the zone took the decision to produce the president in 2007 recently in Abuja. They buried their political and ethnic differences to adopt a common stance on some burning issues affecting their region. The suit by 22 state governments seeking to reverse the gains of the new oil dichotomy abrogation law and the 2007 presidential race top the issues they reached consensus on.
The arrowhead of the South-South challenge is Second Republic Senate President, Dr Joseph Wayas, and the highest ranking political office holder of the zone. With him are erstwhile Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. David Ejoor and acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih. In the league also are the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) National Chairman, Chief Don Obot Etiebet, former Bendel State Governor, Dr. Osaigbovo Samuel Ogbemudia and former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe.
Others are Odigie-Oyegun, erstwhile Foreign affairs Minister, Dr. Mathew Mbu and his Information counterpart, Chief Tony Momoh, Chairman Daar Communications Limited, Chief Raymond Dokpesi and a host of serving ministers, National Assembly members, and Ambassadors.
The litigation of the 19 northern governors, and their three Southwest counterparts, seeking to quash the Onshore/Offshore Dichotomy Abrogation Act may have been a back handed tonic for the southern minorities to build up a platform for speaking with one voice. The action is viewed in the lights of the activities of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB: a war game.
Since the (SCA) meeting, Wayas had spoken determinedly on the issue. In Lagos last week where he had a chat with media men, he said the zone was being both politically and economically short-changed.
Wayas said it was unfortunate that the sacrifice of the South-South in accepting political solution to resolve the onshore/offshore dichotomy in the interest of the well-being of the country had not been appreciated.
The former Senate President lamented that jostling for the presidency of the country in 2007 had been going on without any consideration for the South-South, which is yet to produce the president since independence.
The current agitation of the South-South is coming behind the clamour of the North and South-East to produce the president in 2007. Anenih had said at a time that in 2007, it would be the turn of the North to produce the nation's helmsman.
However, the non-confirmation of the assertion by President Olusegun Obasanjo when he said recently that only the Southwest would be excluded somewhat made the race open or undecided even in the PDP that had elected to pursue a rotational formula.
At the close of the meeting, the leaders resolved to "work assiduously in concert with other zones to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2007." In its communiquZ
Other resolutions in the communiquZ
The assembly pledged the total loyalty of the zone to the Federal Government and affirmed the nation's indivisibility unity and territorial integrity.
The assembly also frowned that the zone had not been well compensated though it had contributed immensely to the economic, political and social development of the country.
It described as ill motivated, unpatriotic, provocative and insensitive, the on going moves by northern and some South-West governors to reverse the gains of abrogated onshore/offshore dichotomy.
Perhaps the origin of the SCA could be traced to a meeting of Bendel Elders Association held at Palm Royal Hotel, Benin on June 14, 2002. Then, the South-South zone faced similar problems as they are being confronted with today. Preparations for the 2003 elections were on, and the Federal Government was in court over the onshore/offshore resources issue.
Chaired by the first civilian governor of Delta State, Olorogun Felix Ibru (now a Senator), the meeting was convened and hosted by Ogbemudia. At the meeting were Chief Oyegun, Chief Sam Igbe (Iyase of Benin Kingdom), Chief P. I. G. Onyeobi (Iyase of Asaba), Madam Grace Bazuaye, Chief (Mrs) Magareth Unukegwo, Professor Sam Oyovbaire, and Prince Clifford Eweka among others.
A series of meetings followed up to June 27, 2002 and the meeting was re-christened Bendel Consultative Council (BDCC).
At the first meeting, the elders resolved that there was need for:
Speaking at the occasion, Ibru expressed hope that the meeting would be enlarged in future to include "the larger South-South zone; and after that, as a part of the larger council of South-East and South-South states, which are equally concerned as ourselves."
In view of the social, economic and political dynamics of the time, he urged that the leaders must :
said he: "Midwest was one of the country's four regions. We may be the smallest in size and population but we are the greatest in quality; in human resources, in contributions to the economic growth of the country and in the battle to preserve the corporate existence of Nigeria. Permit me to recall that at the end of the Civil War Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who was the Head of State, remarked that, 'but for the Mid-West, there would have been no Nigeria.'"
"Today, this same Midwest appears to have been forgotten, or at least, not accorded its rightful place in the scheme of things. I cannot pretend not to be aware of the complaints and agitation of our people."
On his part, Ogbemudia said elders had "the onerous duty of maintaining the momentum, sustaining public interest and meeting the high expectations" they had created.
"This is the only way our message will remain serious. It is also the only way our vision will come true and our mission realised. We must note that the entire country is now watching us. The government, both at the state and federal levels, are also keenly observing our moves. They are suspicious, curious, and anxious. But that should neither bother nor derail us," he added.
For Oyovbaire who delivered a guest lecture at the meeting, "the Niger Delta situation is an antithesis of federalism, or true federalism."
He said: "The last straw is the so-called Resources Control Suit which the Federal Government has been celebrating. In what appears to be an act before a thought, the Federal Government after instituting the suit, securing its victory and celebrating it, suddenly realised how pyrhic it is. It then set up a panel to look into the implementation of the judgment of the highest court of the land.
"Surely, this is an invitation to institutional affront, judicial contempt, and another bout of constitutional conflict. Yet, that judgement remains the greatest legal absurdity in our contemporary constitutional history.
"This, therefore, leads me to the question of political control, leadership, and followership as they relate to Bendel State. That Bendel or Midwest is mini-Nigeria is as true today as it was 39 years ago when it was constitutionally created as the fourth Nigerian Region. Our diversity was a source of strength. Over the years however, this was exploited and used against us as our differences and our bane. Consequently, only the Midwest out of four regions has not produced the President or Head of State of this country.
"Even those who opposed the continued existence of the country, or repudiated the leadership, or abused its privileges, have once or severally enjoyed occupancy of the pivoted office. Yet, Midwest, which has contributed so much to sustain the federation, has gone home with so little. This is not only a food for thought but also a call to duty for our political elite in the region."
In fulfilment of Ibru's hope, the BDCC has been enlarged to cover the entire South-South zone but whether the quest to clinch the presidency in 2007 would materialise is another question.
The division among the governors has caused a fissure on the wall of the zone's to produce President Obasanjo's successor in 2007.
Whereas SCA has resolved to produce the next president in 2007, Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, insisted that the "idea of the North producing the next President was very practical, and that all must not shy away from it."
President of the Federation of South-South Movement (FSSM), Mr. Temisan Luma, said it was in the interest of the South-South to the North in 2007 so as "to get their support in future."
Governor Alamieyeseigha, however, said his position should not be misunderstood to mean that he was against the zone producing the next President, adding, "after all, no one can lay an exclusive claim that he loves the South-South more than some of us who have been labelled "resource-control government."
"I believe in practical politics and wish to be practical always. For those who wish to listen, I make bold to aver that after the South's eight-year tenure, the North should be allowed to occupy the position. This is something very simple and logical. You don't do to others what you won't want others to do to you," he submitted.
Specifically, Alamieyeseigha canvassed that the "vice-presidential slot must come to the South-South, not as a privilege but as a right. We produce the nation's wealth; if not for us to protect the corporate unity of this nation, I will be talking about the North producing the next president. But as we grow in our national life, it is only normal that sacrifices are made by all for Nigeria to move forward."
He advised the South-East not to think of getting the vice presidential ticket.
He took a swipe at the 19 Northern Governors for challenging the offshore/onshore dichotomy Abrogation Act, warning, "the result of their action is disastrous."
He interpreted the action as "an indirect move aimed at undermining the unity of the nation. The foundation of Nigeria is under threat, and they (the governors) do not have the capacity to absorb the consequences that will follow if they do not have a re-think of their action."
He continued: "At our level, there are many options open to us; even though we are not contemplating that, people will be astonished to know what we have in mind. We will resist oppression; gone are those days when other people dictated to the Niger-Delta."
"The National Assembly is the voice of the people, it has passed a law, they (North) had their senators and representatives who are in the National Assembly; so I don't think what they are doing is in the interest of the entire North. The society cannot grow without equity, justice, and fairness. We are firm, resolute, and decisive on the issue."
Obviously, the 2007 political war games on whose side victory would go is a question of time. `
The zone accounts for the bulk of Nigeria's oil resources, the main stay of the nation's economy in the past 37 years. The leaders said producing the president in 2007 would not be asking for too much`
Strikingly, the governors of the six states of the zone, and serving federal lawmakers were not at the meeting. Some of them are not in support of the zone producing the President in 2007. Notable among them is Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State and Lucky Igbinedion, his Edo State counterpart. While Attah said a caucus of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had taken a decision that the North should have it in 2007, Igbinedion said the South-South was not ready`
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