MEND resumes attacks

Citing delayed negotiations with government, due to President Yar'Adua's absence, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday breached its 56-day ceasefire by attacking a major Shell/Chevron crude pipeline in Abonemma, Rivers State.

The attack is coming on the heels of MEND's complaints that President Yar'Adua's over three weeks absence from the country has stalled the ongoing talks between the government and the group's appointed negotiators, the Aaron Team.

The group's spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, described the attack, which was launched at about 2am, as a warning strike.

He said five boats involving 35 of MEND's fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy calibre machine guns, carried out the attack.

The Guardian could not independently confirm the MEND's attack.

A faction of the armed group loyal to repentant militant leader, Government 'Tompolo' Ekpemupolo, said its commanders were not aware of any attacks on oil installations.

In an online statement, Captain Mack Anthony, the spokesman to both 'Tompolo' and his (Anthony's) boss, Togo, said that the group had no hand in the reported attack.

MEND, he insisted, had not decided on any joint attacks in any of the Niger Delta States.

"Although we have our own grievances over how we were treated since we surrendered arms, if there is an attack somewhere, our General Commander, Government 'Tompolo' Ekpemupolo and my boss, Togo, are not aware," he said.

"But don't forget; there could be some pockets of misunderstanding resulting from communal differences against oil companies in the Niger Delta.

"The amnesty is not instrument of continued suppression by soldiers and multi-nationals. MEND is standing by the conditions of the peace deal," he stressed.

Tompolo had embraced Federal Government's amnesty programme, which the mainstream MEND scoffed at as doomed to fail.

Contacted, the Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) (Operation Restore Hope), General Sarki-Yarki Bello, said in an SMS that there was "no confirmation yet."

Similarly, spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, explained that they were yet to verify any attack as alleged by MEND.

According to him: "There is no verification yet by the JTF that a pipeline has been sabotaged around Abonnema.

"If this unpatriotic act is confirmed to be true, at a time the Federal Government is doing its utmost to consolidate on the gains of the amnesty programme, then the criminals behind the act are enemies of the Niger Delta and, indeed, Nigeria; and they don't deserve any sympathy."

Shell spokesperson, Mr. Precious Okolobo, in an SMS, said: "We don't have reports of our facility being attacked, and cannot comment."

He had earlier told The Guardian on telephone that he did not have details of what might have actually transpired, promising that, "if I confirm, I will get back to you."

An official of Chevron said he had not been able to ascertain the true situation since he was in Houston, United States.

 MEND'S mouthpiece, Jomo Gbomo gave reasons why the attack on Shell/Chevron pipelines was carried out yesterday in Abonemma in Rivers State.

According to him, the Federal Government had conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of MEND to President Yar'Adua, who is currently receiving medical attention in far away Saudi Arabia.

However, he noted that the same government "has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and re-tooling of troops under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the region to the President's ill health."

Gbomo said: "While wishing the President a speedy recovery, a situation where the future of the Niger Delta is tied to the health and well being of one man is unacceptable."

MEND accused the government, through the Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, the Ministers of Defence, Gen. Godwin Abbe (Rtd) and Ministry of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili of disseminating propaganda aimed at foreign investors, claiming that the situation in the Niger Delta is under control.

This assertion, according to him, is far from the truth.

Gbomo also accused the government of offering bribes to a number of militants, who surrendered their weapons under its amnesty programme in the form of contracts.

He said while the government perceives these individuals to wield some kind of influence in the region, MEND wants to make it abundantly clear that all those who had capitulated were of no significance to the continuation of the struggle.

According to him: "MEND is committed to continue its fight for the restoration of the land and rights of the people of the Niger Delta, which has been stolen for 50 years."

Jomo added that while MEND remains open to dialogue, "the indefinite ceasefire ordered by the group on Sunday, October 25, 2009 will be reviewed within 30 days from today, December 19, 2009."

MEND had last week told The Guardian in an online interview that the absence of the President had made it impossible for the Aaron Team to meet with the government after the first exploratory meeting last month.

He said: "At this point in time, the fragile peace process is hanging on to the thin thread of a ceasefire. Our demands have not been addressed because there is dialogue ongoing.

"We expect that when the President returns or if we find ourselves with another President, the process must continue with the current tempo and enthusiasm or else peace talks may collapse and the unrest will resume."

The Guardian

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Shell plans to sell about $5 bln worth of assets it has in Nigeria

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, is planning to sell oilfields in Nigeria valued at up to $5 billion, the Sunday Times reported, citing sources linked to companies interested in the assets.

The newspaper said the auction comes as Nigeria prepares to impose harsher terms on foreign operators and hand greater control to domestic firms.

The oil giant, which declined to comment on the report, is the biggest and longest standing Western oil producer in Nigeria.

But production has been hampered by insecurity in the oil-rich Niger Delta, government funding shortfalls and an uncertain regulatory environment.

The report coincided with a group led by Shell pledging on Sunday to spend tens of billions of dollars developing Iraq's Majnoon supergiant oilfield over the next two decades.

The Sunday Times said it understood Shell recently launched a formal sales process overseen by Ann Pickard, head of Shell Nigeria.

Chinese state-owned oil group Sinopec had requested information, it said, and Nigeria's independent oil group Oando and London-listed Afren could also be interested.

In Beijing, Sinopec was not immediately available for comment while domestic peer CNOOC -- reported in September as being in talks with Nigeria to buy large stakes in some of Africa's richest oil blocks -- declined to comment.

Shell has switched investment from Nigeria, which supplied 16 percent of its 2008 oil production, in response to growing violence from militants and a souring of relations with the government.

Reuters

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Kidnapping culture in Nigeria on the rise

A recent surge in kidnapping in Nigeria has seen prominent members of society — from all-singing, all-dancing “Nollywood” film stars, to the elderly father of a former central bank governor — becoming victims of abductions.

This year has seen a shift in kidnapping. Previously the targets were foreign oil companies’ Western workers who were taken by oil rebels usually in attacks in the energy-rich Niger Delta region. Now criminal gangs are becoming ever more interested in snatching wealthy locals.

“Kidnapping has become a serious criminal problem this year,” said Chief Adewole Ajakaiye, a recently retired police commissioner who has over 20 years’ experience in different parts of Nigeria. “If someone robs a house, maybe they will get a TV and a stereo. With this the profit is much higher — they can make millions of naira even after negotiating the ransom.”

Last month’s abduction of Nkem Owoh, a Nollywood actor known for a song about financial scams called “I Go Chop Your Dollar,” seems to have made high returns for his attackers. At the start of November, Owoh was snatched while driving along an expressway in eastern Nigeria. His abductors originally demanded 15 million naira ($99,000). He was freed a week later for an unknown fee, though local press reports say the kidnappers finally received 1.4 million naira plus the actor’s car.

Yakubu Lame, Nigeria’s minister of police, said in July that 512 kidnappings had been reported in the first half of this year, compared with 353 for the whole of last year. Nigeria is in the world’s top eight kidnapping hotspots, alongside war zones and failed states such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, according to U.S. security group Clayton Consultants.

Stories of kidnapped expatriates in the country have made headlines on many occasions this decade. In recent years, Niger Delta insurgents have abducted scores of foreign oil workers, both to draw attention to their political campaigns and to make a profit. From January 2008 to July 2009, foreign nationals were being snatched in the delta at an average rate of one every 10 days, according to U.S. State Department data — though the vast majority of kidnappings still go unreported.

But, as Western oil giants operating in Africa’s most populous nation — such as RoyalDutch Shell, Total and ExxonMobil — have tightened security and shifted staff out of the delta, attackers have had to start looking elsewhere. These days, oil workers who remain in the delta are confined to guarded compounds after dark.

Of the 35 Britons reported snatched in Nigeria since 2006, only four were abducted this year, according to the British government. Shell says 133 of its employees were kidnapped in the country between 2006 and 2008, but only 19 of those incidents took place last year, showing the start of a downward trend. The company refused to release data for this year.

In a country that has the stark income gaps often associated with an oil economy, and where appearance is a matter of great pride, rich Nigerians can be easy to spot.

“Wealth here is conspicuous. The average Nigerian likes to show his wealth, to show that God has blessed him,” said Ajakaiye. “And when you feel that your right [to also be wealthy] has been taken from you, what do you do? You want to fight for it.”

The shift toward Nigerian victims has also seen kidnapping move beyond the delta, which is in the southeast. The father of Chukwuma Soludo, the former central bank chief, was seized at the end of October in Anambra state. Simeon Soludo, in his late 70s, was released some days later. His family denies paying a ransom. A senior government official was also abducted in the north this summer.

“The expat has become a more difficult thing to seize,” said one security expert in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, who wished to remain anonymous. “So kidnappers have rapidly turned their attention to wealthy Nigerians, their children, even their grandmothers. We can expect more in the leadup to Christmas, when crime traditionally increases here.”

Nigeria’s government is currently debating an anti-kidnapping bill, which, if passed, would mean life sentences for abductors and their assistants. Six of the country’s 36 states have this year adopted the death penalty for the crime, according to Amnesty International. More are considering it.

However, security analysts say tougher penalties are not the solution. In another sign of unevenly distributed wealth and opportunities, jobs are scarce in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy. Many Nigerians are on a daily hunt for instant cash. Some jobless young men, seeing the riches of foreigners and the country’s small elite, turn to crime to plot ways to get rich quick.

“This problem has root causes: unemployment, poverty, a lack of voice and a sense of disenfranchisement, all of which sit against the wealth of a few,” said the security expert in Lagos. “Draconian punishments won’t deal with it.”

Global Post

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77 year old man love machine to 16 women

"They can all testify to the fact that I satisfy them sexually in spite of my age. I don't use any drug. It is God Almighty that is behind me that created me like that, but sometimes, I used agbo, native herbs."

Those were the words of Pa Jimoh Iti-Ogede, a 77-year-old man, who shocked the people present in court while giving his testimony in a divorce suit he instituted against Mrs. Sukurat, one of his wives recently before an Igando Grade 'B' Customary Court, Lagos.

The man, who claimed that he is married to 16 wives, said that though some of them have deserted him or died, he was able to perform his duty in bed as a husband to all the women to the extent that some of them hailed and cherished him.

He told the court that all his wives could testify that he is a great performer when it comes to love making.

In his testimony, Jimoh told the court :"If my wife (Sukurat) leaves me today, another one will come in tomorrow as far as she has interest in me. I take good care of women," he said.

Sharing his experience in marriage, he said: "I have married up to 16 wives. Presently, three of them are living with me; some have packed out to live alone or live in their own houses, while some are dead. I have built houses for the majority of them.

I take good care of the ones that are living with me."

Insisting on separation from his estranged wife, he told the court to immediately dissolve the union between him and the woman, Sukuratu.

"This is because she fights all our neighbours and my tenants frequently. She does not respect me, she goes out at her own free will and comes back whenever she prefers. In fact ,I don't love her anymore."

Asked by the president of the court, Mr. J. A. Eko, where he is getting the powers to satisfy the women and if his action is not injurious to his health, he said: "The wives can testify to my claims that I satisfy them well in bed. If you ask me to bring any of them ,I will oblige the court. I don't feel bad or tired of it" .

Speaking further on the attitude of his estranged wife, the man said, "when she was served with the court summon, she came and gave me a thorough beating but I did not take it low. I invited policemen who arrested her. Like I said, my lord, I cannot sleep with her anymore, I want a divorce. I don't want her again; she should let me have the custody of my three-year old child and I need my peace."

In her own response, the woman told the court that the man had denied her sex since November last year. She claimed that contrary to the man's testimonies, he possess no power to satisfy her in bed again but she said she is still in love with the man if he is ready to reconcile with her.

"My Lord, he does not come to my room anymore. He made love to me last in November last year. I can tell the court that he was not doing it well again like before."

The matter has been adjourned for further hearing.

Vanguard

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U.S. to pressure Nigeria to embrace change

The United States has said that it will vigorously put pressure on the Federal Government to make changes that will be beneficial to Nigerians.

The US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, made this known while presenting an overview of the President Barack Obama administration’s agenda on human rights and democracy at the Georgetown University in Washington DC on Monday.

The US government regularly focuses on human rights, good governance and democracy issues, including an annual human rights reports as mandated by the US Congress in its relationships with governments of other nations.

In her speech, Clinton classified some governments under three categories.

The first are those that are able but unwilling to make changes desired by their people while the second are those willing but unable. The third are governments that are both unwilling and unable.

Nigeria and Cuba were listed by Clinton as those in the first category, while young democracies in Africa came under the second.

She did not mention such young democracies in her speech that was gazzetted and made available on Tuesday by the State Department to a US-based Nigerian news agency, Empowered Newswire.

Congo was the only country mentioned by Clinton as being among nations that belong to the third category of ‘unwilling and unable.’

In the speech, the Secretary of State said Washington would vigorously put pressure on Nigerian and Cuban leaders to end repression, improve on their human rights records and democratic practices.

She said, “like Cuba or Nigeria, (these) governments are able but unwilling to make the changes their citizens deserve. There, we must vigorously press the leaders to end repression, while supporting those within the societies who are working for a change.”

In the case of countries where “governments are willing but unable to establish strong institutions and protections for citizens,” the Secretary of State said the US would “extend our hand as a partner to help them try to achieve authority and build the progress they desire.”

Three former US Ambassadors to Nigeria, including Mr. Walter Carrington, had recently expressed the view that Nigeria‘s global significance was declining.

Referring to countries like Congo and others ” where governments are both unwilling and unable,” Clinton said, “We have to support those courageous individuals and organisations who try to protect people and who battle against the odds to plant seeds for a more hopeful future.”

She said that in all countries, human development must be part of “our human rights agenda.”

Clinton said, “Because basic levels of wellbeing - food, shelter, health, and education - and of public common goods like environmental sustainability, protection against pandemic disease, provisions for refugees - are necessary for people to exercise their rights, and because human development and democracy are mutually reinforcing.

“ Democratic governments are not likely to survive long if their citizens do not have the basic necessities of life.”

Referring to US President Barack Obama‘s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize last week, Clinton reiterated Obama’s position that ”while war is never welcome or good, it will sometimes be right and necessary.”

The Secretary of State added that the same set of values in the US Declaration of Independence were also ”the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the prerequisite for building a world in which every person has the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential and the power behind every movement for freedom, every campaign for democracy, every effort to foster development, and every struggle against oppression.”

She declared that the US government’s human rights agenda for the 21st century was ”to make human rights a human reality, and the first step is to see human rights in a broad context.”

Clinton said, “People must be free from the oppression of tyranny, from torture, from discrimination, from the fear of leaders who will imprison or ’disappear’ them.

“But they also must be free from the oppression of want - want of food, want of health, want of education, and want of equality in law and in fact.

”I don‘t need to tell you that challenges we face are diverse and complicated. And there is not one approach or formula, doctrine or theory that can be easily applied to every situation.”

She added that sometimes the US government ”will have the most impact by publicly denouncing a government action, like the coup in Honduras or violence in Guinea.”

“Other times, we will be more likely to help the oppressed by engaging in tough negotiations behind closed doors, like pressing China and Russia as part of our broader agenda. In every instance, our aim will be to make a difference, not to prove a point,” the Secretary of State said.

According to her, the US ”will hold governments accountable for their actions, as we have just recently (done) by terminating Millennium Challenge Corporation grants this year for Madagascar and Niger in the wake of government behavior.”

She added that Washington was ready ”to help governments that have committed to improving themselves by assisting them in fighting corruption and helping train police forces and public servants.”

She disclosed that the US government would also “support regional organisations and institutions like the Organisation of American States, the African Union, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations, where they take their own steps to defend democratic principles and institutions.”

Punch

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