This report presents analyses and monitoring reports of the 2009 state and local government budgets of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States by members, volunteers and associates of the Niger Delta Citizens and Budget Platform (NDCBP).
Amnesty
The Niger Delta: Crisis Prevention or Post-conflict Reconstruction?
Events in the last three decades seem to indicate that the international community prefers post-conflict mediation and reconstruction, rather than crisis prevention. This appears to be the case especially by western governments. On the surface at least, instead of investing in crisis prevention, governments and institutions hedge their bets, measure domestic pulses, and engage in endless debates and diplomatic niceties insofar as a looming disaster is concerned.
Niger Delta: The Complexities of the Post-Amnesty Environment (part 1)
According to the United Nations, “the collapse of state authority, erosion of basic services, marginalization and exclusion of youth and women and endemic poverty over several decades were significant contributing factors to Sierra Leone's decade of war” which lasted from1991 until 2002.
Nigerian Militants Vow to Resume Attacks Next Week
Nigerian Militants Vow to Resume Attacks Next Week
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigeria's main militant group vowed to resume attacks after a cease-fire expires next week, while the government said Thursday that more than 8,000 militants had disarmed as part of an amnesty program.
Nigeria: Disarmament - Militants Name Soyinka, Akhigbe, Others Mediators
Lagos/Abuja — Wole Soyinka was on Tuesday named by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) among those to negotiate with Abuja on disarmament, bringing credibility to the process, as well as hope of a lasting peace in the Deep South.
Others in the 'Aaron Team,' as the MEND puts it, are Mike Akhigbe, Luke Kakadu Aprezi, and Sabella Ogbobode Abidde, as well as Annkio Briggs who will liaise on its behalf with these personalities who have volunteered to ensure a just resolution of the Niger Delta question.
Nigerian Government Preparing for Imminent Military Offensive in the Delta
There is mounting evidence that the government of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’adua is set to launch a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta when a ceasefire declared by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) ends on 15 Sep 2009.
And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch, and Russian companies.
Cameroon Army Weapons at Bayelsa Disarmament Ceremony
The Browning .50 Caliber Machine Guns (listed by government as Brandy Machine Guns)
displayed on Saturday, August 22, 2009 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state were identified by
Cameroonian Military Intelligence as suspected weapons seized after an attack on
November 12, 2007 in its territorial waters by unknown gun men from Nigeria believed
to be men of the Nigerian army in which 21 Cameroonian gendarmes were killed.
We hope that the Nigerian military whom we accused recently of providing its weapons
for display at that shameful disarmament ceremony will allow an independent
Bayelsa Disarmament Charade
"There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will sort out who
will go with you and who will not"
- God to Gideon (Judges 7:5)
The ongoing amnesty program by the government of Nigeria seems to have achieved
separating those who still have the zeal to fight for our freedom from those who
were in it for the money.
Today, Saturday, August 22, 2009 that sorting process was again re-enacted in
Yenagoa, Bayelsa state where weapons mostly bought by the government were
displayed and the boys separated from the men in the circus.
Soboma Jackrich AKA Gen. Egberipapa
Mr Soboma Jackrich aka Egberipapa who was arrested in December 2008 by the JTF
after he voluntarily surrendered to the Amayanabo of Buguma for a peace parley is
still languishing in Kuje prison Abuja even after his lawyer has notified the
government of his clients desire to accept the amnesty offer.
His continued detention is without any court order and he has not yet been charged
with any offense to date.
The selective amnesty parade of some individuals seems to confirm the suspicion of
many observers that the entire exercise is a charade.
Amnesty
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) categorically denies the
orchestrated rumors being peddled by government agents and propagandists that MEND
senior commanders, Farah Dagogo, Boyloaf and Soboma George have accepted to receive
amnesty by proxy as carried in some local newspapers.
It is a shame that the interior minister and his cohorts are offering bribes and
incentives to militants in a desperate attempt to get our cooperation in sharing the
50billion Naira budgeted for the amnesty exercise.
