By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

High Chief Mike Ekayama Loyibo, doubles as the National Coordinator of Concerned Niger Delta Elders and Nigerian Leaders for Peace, two influential platforms that have been working hard in the Niger Delta to promote peace and stability in the troubled region. In this interview, the Arepamowei of Kabowei Kingdom, dispels claims that the Niger Delta is opposed to the present administration, insisting that only people with ulterior motives could possible do that. Loyibo maintains that Buhari means well for the Niger Delta given what he has so far done in one year and needs the total support and cooperation of the region to do more.

Excerpts:

How concerned are the Niger Delta elders, a group led by you, by the spate of attacks of vital national assets by the Niger Delta militants?

High Chief Loyibo

Well, what I can say as the National Coordinator of the CNDE, is that we are both surprised and not too surprised over the recent spike in oil facility attacks. We are not surprised because there are certain things that the government needed to provide in the Niger Delta but it has not done so up till this moment. These are the issues that gave birth to the Presidential Amnesty Programme. We are surprised that instead of addressing those germane issues the government merely tried to appease some people and allow the issues to fester.

Appeasing one or two persons is not the answer to the problem of the Niger Delta. What we want to see is to bring the bulldozers, to bring everything that is happening in Abuja and turn the Niger Delta area into a construction site. What we want is true federalism where we will manage our resources and only pay taxes to the Federal Government. They should as a matter of urgency address the huge infrastructural deficiency in the region and bridge the gap between Abuja and the Niger Delta in terms of development so as to give the people a greater sense of belonging to Nigeria.

Genuine people in the region have this sense of being cheated by the rest of the country and we want this to be urgently addressed.  But as a leader and an elder I feel that the government has done a lot to improve the Niger Delta region and should also be acknowledged. The main problem which most of our uninformed people do not realise is that our leaders have been mismanaging the resources given to them by the centre to develop the Niger Delta. It is so sad that we have been left at this level of poverty and deprivation because if somebody gives you N10 to manage and you cannot, there is no hope that if they give the same person N100 billion he would be able to manage it better. We are not happy today that oil production has fallen from 2.2million barrels per day to almost half.

But the attackers are not talking about only developing the Niger Delta, they are demanding dropping the corruption charges levelled against the former NSA, Sambo Dasuki and other high profile PDP members, who served in the previous government. Do you see any political undertone in all of this and should the Federal Government acquiesce to these demands?

No, these demands don’t even make sense to me and are laughable to right thinking Nigerians whether from the Niger Delta or not. At best such demands as you can see, is being teleguided by some criminals in the Niger Delta region. You cannot say that the whole idea of stealing money and committing heinous crime as many politicians did, should be overlooked just because you are from a certain part of Nigeria. If I may ask, what type of example would such a government be setting and how would that benefit the country and its people?

It is wrong, intimidate the government with a frivolous demand that those who committed serious financial crimes against Nigeria and caused untold hardship to the nation, should be asked to go home just like that and enjoy their loot as if they did something patriotic for the country. These are not the demands of the genuine Niger Delta people but that of a tiny set of elements bent on massaging their selfish ego. As far as we are concerned, those who stole money must return it or face the full weight of the law to serve as a deterrent to would-be looters.

Once there is a crime, the suspects must be punished in accordance with the extant laws of the land whether those involved are from Ijaw, Niger Delta or any part of Nigeria. Those who are asking the government to drop the charges have feigned ignorance of the fact that the present administration of Muhammadu Buhari campaigned and won election largely because he pledged to tackle corruption to a standstill. Doing anything to the contrary would diminish his government and cause it to lose future elections.

And for me the people I represent in Nigeria, we are totally in support of the present anti-corruption war, and that is why I have encouraged him and I have told him that he should go after the former governors in the Niger Delta region who stole huge sums of money and ran away. Some of them did not have anything to show after eight years in office but largely enriched themselves and their families to the detriment of the states. Others incurred huge debts that generations will not be able to clear.

I am not even after these court convictions here and there; what we want to see is that our money is brought back to us so that they can use it for the benefit of Nigerians. Does it make sense that men who have no means of livelihood suddenly became billionaires after being in public office for a few months? Must we allow this to continue just because they are from one region? So, Buhari must not be intimidated and must ensure that no charge against those who looted our treasury is dropped under any guise.  That is not the demand of our people and that is not the problem of the Niger Delta area.

So in specific terms, as elders of the Niger Delta, have you at any time sat down to articulate what this government should do to bring about peace and stability in the region?

I think the major problem we have is disunity which has made it almost impossible for us to come together and articulate our position as a people. So, I think the current spate of attacks and violence is not caused by President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration. The problem has always been there and it would be wrong to blame Buhari for it. Contrary to the allegation of some uninformed Niger Delta people, the Northern leaders don’t hate or discriminate against us. After all it was Sani Abacha, a Hausa man who created Bayelsa State; after all it was Buhari that built the Warri Refinery, after all it is the same Buhari that has authorized the cleaning of Ogoni land.

So, our position is that Buhari means well for the Niger Delta region going by the steps he has so far taken. From what he has so far done, it is clear to us and other well-meaning Niger Delta man and woman that Buhari is genuinely interested in the development of the area and should be encouraged by all to achieve his set agenda for the region. If you compare what Buhari has done for the Niger Delta region with what our son and brother, Goodluck Jonathan, did for six and a half years, you will agree that Buhari has done better in one year.  And what we need to do is encourage the President to turn Niger Delta into Lagos and Abuja so that the crime rate would reduce.

So given the understanding that Buhari has just done a year, why would the militants not give him time to deal with the challenges of the region given his willingness to do so?

That is our position and that is why we have been talking to whoever has been aggrieved to say that this man just came and this country has been destroyed for the last 16 years and when you look at this man, the man is not sleeping, he is working very hard to see how he can fix the economy. He is working very hard to revive the rail system, he is working very hard how he can stop the corruption monster and should therefore not be distracted by anyone, group or group of persons.

If you distract him, you are an enemy of Nigeria and to the Niger Delta people because he means well to the Niger Delta people and to Nigeria and that is why you must give him enough time. One year of every administration is not enough time for you to know whether the man is genuinely committed to develop the country or not.

And our position is that you don’t bomb pipelines as a demonstration of your anger over what is yet to be done for you. No, it does not work like that and I will never support such destructive tendency all in the name of Niger Delta struggle. Nobody has struggled more than myself. I am a part and parcel of the real struggle for the transformation of the Niger Delta and will therefore not fold my hands and see the destruction for the region we all love and work for.

So, my plea is that if you are not a criminal, and are genuinely committed to the development of the Niger Delta, come out so that we can put heads together and plan for the transformation of the area. The President wants to dialogue, he wants to listen to us and we must therefore give him the opportunity to talk to us rather than engage in wanton destruction of oil pipelines and other facilities.

But as you are speaking like this, they may accuse you of being sponsored or that you are supporting the President for something you are expecting from him?

No, my people will not accuse me of any of these things because they know me. They know me that by the grace of God I am a very comfortable person; since the last 20 years I have been living the way I am living and that I am not a hungry man to begin to sing the praises of any person. I only speak the truth no matter whose ox is gored.

If you see the President now, what type of advice would you give to him, given your wealth of experience and your interaction with the people and your own vital position as an elder in the Niger Delta?

Well if I have the opportunity and the President asks for my view,  I would  tell the President not to be distracted that the ordinary Nigerians that he represents are solidly behind him and that we would go to any length with him. He should speed up, step up a bit and also ask his appointees the ministers to be more proactive because this is not the time to play politics anymore. As far as I am concerned, we played enough of politics and it is time to give Nigerians action so as to sustain the momentum of Buhari’s massive electoral victory.

I would tell the president that fighting corruption is good but that Nigerians need to see food on their table and that they need to be able to move about freely without being harassed or kidnapped. And I will always tell, even if you are negotiating, you don’t negotiate with political jobbers, you negotiate with credible stakeholders and leaders of the Niger Delta and that if somebody is corrupt he should go after them no matter which tribe, political party, religion or creed they belong. He should also go after all the former political office holders and retrieve the nation’s stolen wealth from them no matter how highly placed they may be.

Should Buhari go after Jonathan, Obasanjo and Atiku?

Of course, including Jonathan, he must not exclude anyone so that the anti-corruption war would not be said to be selective. Above all, Buhari should not allow a cabal to exist within his government because most of them use his name to commit atrocities against other Nigerians.

As the National coordinator of these elders, have you made efforts at any point in time to look for these boys who are bombing oil facilities and engage them on why they are doing what they are doing?

On a personal note I have been making contacts with those that are willing to make peace. But like I said earlier, some of them have chosen to remain faceless because they believe that militancy pays faster and fatter. Most of them want to get rich quick and don’t listen to anyone else apart from their  cohort.