*Oil War  was declared because we stopped militants’ bunkering activities, says JTF

*Militants’ hideouts close to Naval Base

For two weeks now, the nation has been besieged by daily reports of how militants, spearheaded by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), have been attacking oil companies and their production facilities in Rivers state and other Niger Delta locations.

These attacks, of course, have been repelled by the Joint Task Forces of the Nigerian military code-named ‘Operation Flush Out 111’ in Port Harcourt and ‘Operation Restore Hope’ in Warri and Yenagoa.

Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike

The impact has so stretched that the security situation in the area, especially as regards foreign investments and every day life activity is called to question with many oil workers relocating from Nigeria to places like Sudan and Angola , due to fears for their safety.

Amidst these attacks by the militants and counter attacks by security forces led by the JTF, supported by the Navy and Air Force, it was a determined and courageous Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike, the first Nigerian Air Force officer to attain the rank of a four-star general, who threw security concerns to the wind to embark on a fact finding tour of the trouble spots of the creeks.

Dike took the tour to find out why militants were so daring that they could attack oil platforms that are the sources of the wealth of the nation; attack security locations and threaten the nation as if they were laws unto themselves.

Dike, who was accompanied by Lt. General Abdurahman Bello Dambazau, Chief of Army Staff, also wanted to know why the military and other security agencies in the Niger Delta, laterally seemed bamboozled by superior publicity or propaganda stunts emanating from the militants body, MEND which seemed to portray that they (militants) were having an upper hand in trying to sabotage or ground the economic live wire of the nation when in actual fact, the Joint Task Forces and other security agencies were cutting these criminal elements and their several accomplices in the area down to size.

The militants had termed the attacks ‘oil war’ threatening that all oil production facilities in the Niger Delta would be destroyed to bring the nation to its knees, something that the CDS and Service Chiefs viewed as a blackmail stunt and dismissed as such.

“We can never fight a war against ourselves or the people we are trained to protect. But we will not allow criminal elements have an upper hand or hold this nation to ransom in whatever form whatsoever”, Dike had said in reaction to the declaration of an’ oil war’.

Thus on landing at the Port Harcourt Air Force base last Wednesday, at the start of the tour, it was a surprised Air Chief Marshal Dike and Dambazau who noticed significant efforts on the part of the Joint Task Force in bringing about order and sanity in the troubled Niger Delta area.

They are oil thieves, not militants, Navy

First, over 50 bunkering barges and vessels seized from the so-called militants with which crude oil are stolen after oil pipelines have been broken, were seen at the headquarters of the Naval base.  NNS Pathfinder, with the Commanding Officer of the base, Navy Captain Okojie, informed the CDS that the stoppage of the oil thieves masquerading as militants from bunkering and seizure of their barges, was indeed, one of the main reasons the militants are fighting back and not really the often claimed marginalisation.
                 
Lawless Island, 3000 creeks and rivers

When Chief Marshal Dike sought to know where and how the militants carried out their numerous attacks on oil platforms, both the Commander of the JTF in Rivers state, Brig-General Sarki Yaki Bello and Navy Captain Okojie told the CDS and COAS that an island which is about eight minutes ride by speedboat from NNS Pathfinder, described as ‘Lawless Island’, with several militant bases scattered all over  the place, was the hideout of the militants.

Among eight villages or creek towns in ‘Tombia’, the lawless Island, which is situated in an area spanning 35 nautical miles are Abonema and Alakiri, where militants attacked oil platforms but were repelled by the Joint Task Force. The Pathfinder Commander informed the CDS that the base needed a minimum of 30 gunboats to be able to patrol and secure oil platforms from the militant attacks.

In the end, Dike was told that there are over 3, 000 creeks and rivers spanning an area of 20,000 nautical miles that must be properly policed and patrolled by both the Navy and amphibious personnel of the Joint Task Force if the menace of incessant attacks and bunkering is to be checkmated.

Dike was however not happy to learn that militants were operating camps in Tombia, an island that is just eight minutes away from the Navy base with the knowledge of security forces and that nothing has been done about that. Consequently, he charged the base commander, Captain Okojie and the JTF Commander, Brig-General Bello to be extra vigilant and prepared for any attack by the militants as he (CDS) would not want to hear that the base was attacked.

His charge was further buttressed when Captain Okojie briefed him of an attempted attack on the base about two weeks ago during which militants, whose bunkering activities were nipped in the bud by the Navy, and their barges seized, tried to retaliate by attacking a Navy patrol team, patrolling close to Tombia island. At the end of the shootout, Dike was told that one of the two militant boats was sunk, one militant killed but the other boat was recovered with weaponry including two General Purpose Machine guns, a launcher and 150 rounds of live ammunition, as the occupants jumped into the sea.

After the revelation, the CDS said, “If these boys can muster the courage to attack a well armed gunboat of the Nigerian Navy, it means something is wrong somewhere. What is giving them this confidence and drive? This is the task I want you Commanders on ground to find out.”

Politicians, oil companies and militants connivance

Saturday Vanguard gathered however that the answers Air Chief Marshal Dike and Lt. General Dambazau were seeking to unearth were not too far to see. This is because on the day of the militants’ attack of the Navy patrol boat and the counter attack from the Navy which lasted about an hour, one of the militants who later jumped into the water, was overheard phoning frantically on his GSM, reporting how they were being over powered by the Navy in the shootout that resulted in one of the boats being sunk.

Moments after the phone call, and while the shootout was still going on, call from top politicians including some from Abuja, the federal capital, started bombarding Navy Captain Okojie and the JTF Commander, with the Pathfinder Commander being threatened of dire consequences if he did not stop repelling the militants.

“How can that be? A furious Dike retorted when he learnt of the phone calls. I can’t understand it. But one thing is certain, we must not succumb. We must bring this disturbing trend to an end”, he told the Commanders.

At Yenagoa, the CDS who was shown over 60 tankers capable of taking over 100, 000 litres of stolen crude and other barges that were seized from militants. Aside the tankers, the JTF Commander on ground, Lt. Col. Musa showed the CDS, a large cache of arms and ammunition recovered from militants after a successful operation sometime in the last three weeks.     

How foreigners aid militancy

Saturday Vanguard learnt that most of the arms and ammunition being used by the militants, are gotten from foreign oil operators whose oil vessels patrol international waters close to the Nigerian boundary and after buying stolen crude from these militants at give away prices, they pay 70 per cent cash in dollars and complete the balance of 30 per cent with arms shipment to the militants.

Surprised that the seized arms and ammunition were dominantly foreign rifles and sub machine guns and they could find their way to the militants, Air Chief Marshal Dike was happy that the JTF through superior intelligence and capabilities was able to recover the cache of arms.

He later proceeded to the headquarters’ of ‘Operation Restore Hope’ at Effurun, Delta State where after he was briefed by the JTF Commander, Brig-General Nanven Rintip, he addressed the troops. At this juncture, it should be made known that the CDS had obviously noted certain findings that encouraged and facilitated militant’s ceaseless attacks, as well as reasons why JTF personnel sometimes found it difficult to snuff out the activities or threats of the militants or criminal elements.

It was no surprise therefore that he had this at the back of his mind when he addressed the troops either in Port Harcourt of Warri. It was a case of looking them in the eye and telling them the bitter truth that they have either erred, connived or facilitated the cause of the militants and oil thieves either because of personal and selfish gains or engage in sabotage of operations that has led to their colleagues being killed because of monetary gains.

Dike’s stinging words, “We have gotten reports about harassment by men of the JTF. We have gotten reports about extortion by men of the JTF. The mandate you have here is to protect lives and property. If in an attempt to discharging that duty, you start harassing men, children and women, you lose your respect.

For sometimes now, the Nigerian military and the police have lost some little bit of their respect because of the way we behave. We are determined to put things straight. No amount of sacrifice that you put in here will mean anything if you don’t have self respect. For any well trained soldier to be focused, you must be disciplined. If you lack discipline, you cannot achieve anything.

“I am a bit worried also, about the way information leaks out to people who should not get to know about the content of the message. Everything again boils down to discipline. We pass messages from Abuja , before it will get to where it ought to get to, the message is already leaked. Is it that some of us here are informants, or some of us lack the requisite discipline to wear this uniform? We need to work hard to get the respect that the Nigerian military used to have because anything you do here, if you lack discipline, it is zero.

“There are suggestions in certain quarters too, that some of you in one form or the other encourage bunkering. I don’t want to believe that some of you participate in it. If you do gentlemen, your days are numbered. It is unheard of that men of a disciplined force will involve themselves in economic sabotage, because if you are involved in bunkering, it is nothing short of economic sabotage. That is why I am saying, do not spoil the good work that you are doing here.”

To the officers, Dike said, “You must lead by example. If you don’t lead by example, these soldiers and men cannot follow you rightly.

Allowances must be paid as and when due. Events of the past will no longer be tolerated. We (Service Chiefs), have decided that anybody who messes around with anybody’s allowances, we are going to wear the same trousers.

“For the men, when you have grudges, complain. There is a proper channel of communication. The question of writing anonymous letters, seizing radio stations; these are things we have never heard of in the military before and these are the reasons why people no longer respect us.

There should be a change in attitude. Nobody is going to owe you. Your allowances will be paid as and when due.

“I know that your colleagues probably in Sudan and other peace enforcement operations abroad are better paid while probably, there are more casualties here.

I recognize that and we are looking seriously into that. As soon as we are comfortable with certain things we are trying to put together, we will make certain proposals known to government on the need to probably boost the allowances of those involved in operations in Nigeria .

But that can only be possible if discipline becomes your watchword.”

Regarding the media, Dike told his men that, “For too long, things written about the Nigerian military in the press have been negative. We have had bad names for too long and you and I are not helping the situation.

We must develop that mentality of bringing the members of the media closer. It is not by arresting them, it is not to be seizing their cameras, it is not by making them do whatever you want them to do that you bring them closer. Do not forget that we are not fighting a war.

Most of the things you require here are psychology and for any psychological operations to be successful, it needs the members of press to let the world know what you are facing.”

With these words of admonition and promises by the CDS, the consensus from officers and soldiers was that a new dawn had arrived the Nigerian military as Air Chief Marshal Dike appears not only ready to look at officers in the face and tell them to wake up and face challenges headlong, but to go to government and tell them what they have not been doing to make the Joint Task Forces and other security agencies put the so-called militants, where they belong.

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