Dear Freedom Fighters: I have been following your struggle from the time you showed up on the scene few years ago. I am not sure if I am very correct here but I believe that the period when you showed up was about the time that Asari Dokubo, Ralph Uwazuruike and other members of MASSOB got arrested that you stepped up and have remained at the fore-front of the struggle to challenge the system that have short-changed the people of the country. I believe that your area of focus remains the Niger Delta region or shall I say the entire Old Eastern Region but do not forget that there are sections far removed from your front lines that are equally yearning for emancipation. I am sure you are aware of what took place in Jos, Plateau State not long ago and what that means for those that reside there.
Now my question for you has to do with your latest demand for armistice instead of amnesty. My understanding of the word 'Armistice' is from the Marian Webster dictionary which goes this way: "Temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement between the opponents" Who are your opponents? Who do you want to negotiate with from the other side? Who will stand in the gap as mediators in this matter? There is a place where Armistice is still in place more than fifty five years after the end of major hostilities and that place is the borderline dividing North and South Korea. A war that the United States could not win led to that De-militarized Zone which remains in place to this day because there is (was) no peace agreement between them. The United Nations were behind the formation of that DMZ but bear in mind that Oil & Gas was not at the center of the Korean war as is the case in the Niger Delta. Do you think that the powers that control the UN, such as the United States and UK will allow a motion that will favour you in place of their economic interest? Remember that this ongoing Niger Delta conflict will have a far reaching effect on Africa and its resources are treated by the outside world who have always viewed African resources as their right.
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Don't you think that your ability to take on the oil companies by taking on their platforms and pipelines, remains more effective and must be sustained before you call for any sort of negotiation? What do you want to get out of this on going engagement and what do you think that Nigerian government wants out of it?
Yusuf N'danusa
NIIA, Lagos
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