POLITICAL EXIGENCIES AND THE RIVERS OF BLOOD. By Akeodi Ali

POLITICAL EXIGENCIES AND THE RIVERS OF BLOOD. By Akeodi Ali

The recent Supreme Court ruling which described the security situation in Rivers state before, on and after the last general election as “a theatre of war” is a metaphor of the horrendous experiences the people who live and work in the Treasure Base of the Nation are been made to go through in recent times. This ugly summation of the image of a once peaceful state by Nigeria’s Apex Court is not novel. An earlier analysis by the human resources unit of Marsh & Mclennan Cos, a company based in New York had categorized Port Harcourt with Baghdad, Sana’a of Yemen and Khartoum in Sudan as the world’s most dangerous cities. While commentators busy themselves with the polemics of the plausibility or otherwise of the taxonomy employed by the New York researchers to reach this grim conclusion, travel advise on the websites of several foreign embassies, news articles and citizen reports from the area does not paint a brighter picture.

As I put pen to paper, members of the Rivers state branch of the Nigerian Medical Association just ended a three day warning strike. The doctors decided to down tools to protest the unabated abductions of medical doctors in the state. Though medical doctors are not the only ones with the unfortunate tale of kidnapping for ransom that has become a ubiquitous daily occurrence, the Nigerian Medical Association in the state is worried that medical practitioners have become soft targets for kidnapers in Rivers state. Generally, no social or economic strata is completely shielded from the menace as there have been cases of primary school teachers, peasant farmers, artisans and petty traders being abducted for ransom. In fact, it is now said that you can only heave a temporary sigh of relief when you complete a twenty four hour circle without falling a prey to the merchants of modern day commoditisation of human beings in Rivers state. Just as the story of doctors’ abduction was beginning to fade out, news of the senseless massacre of 17 persons in Ubeta and Ula Upata communities of Ahoada East Local Government Area has become another sad reminder of why the world continuous to represent our state in dominant metaphors of conflicts, hostility and bloodlust.

Even though the proliferation of violence and violent crimes in Rivers state has been located in the intricate historical nexus of political desperation and the much abused concept of “Niger Delta Struggled since 1999, there is however a consensus among many commentators in the state and outside that the mobilizations for the 2015 general elections raised the bar of the Hobbessian security climate in the “Treasure Base of the Nation”. The supposition is that the prevailing macabre scenario is a function of an institutionalized “reward for crime system”. The patronage and appointment of known shady figures into public offices has made cult enlistment inversely proportional to secondary school enrollment and completion in the state. Seamless occurrences of kidnapping, assassinations, cult related violence, rape and armed robbery has reinforced unemployment and poverty levels as legitimate businesses are closing down or relocating to safer areas. An army of unemployable school dropouts held bound by the mirage of making quick money in the lucrative criminal economy which is stifling the formal economy of the state has continued to swell and the future of the next generation has become even bleaker. This persistent and omnipresent state of anomie leaves an eerie feeling of hopelessness among the citizenry.

From the unenviable conclusions of the New York based firm, it is easy to fall into the temptation of thinking that the insecurity in Rivers state is a Port Harcourt problem but in the actual sense, insecurity is worse in the rural parts of Rivers state where heavily armed criminals have exploited the near absence of government influence and the difficult terrain of the surrounding environment to create barracks and kidnappers’ dens overseen by “civilian generals” with lots of “civilian soldiers” who openly brandish sophisticated military hardware, replacing the once serene atmosphere of the rural areas with brigandage in places where they lay claim to territory. Bucolic populations across the state now live perpetually at the mercy of vicious cult groups and gang lords who force them to pay protection money from their meagre resources, rape their daughters and conscript their sons into violent cults. For most of the rural communities in Rivers state today, the traditional institutions that once complimented government in the maintenance of law and order have long gone comatose; the few that survive are in most cases subservient to powers of the underworld and government authority is almost nonexistent. The healthy socio-economic symbiosis between the urban and rural areas is now being altered by the massive outward migration of rural residents fleeing the daily belligerent situations in their hometowns. Rural dwellers displaced from their farmlands and fishing settlements without requisite job skills for city employments are adding more pressure to the inadequate facilities in Port Harcourt thus raising further, the security threat in the city as unemployable youths become vulnerable to recruitment into the many criminal gangs in Port Harcourt. The un official status of Port Harcourt as a giant IDP camp for rural dwellers in the state is made worse by the filling of the security vacuum in the local government headquarters and big towns on the fringes with the rule of gang lords and cult groups whose bellicosity and unending supremacy struggle over territories characterized by the sustained sounds of rapid gunfire has transmogrified several sub-urban towns into ghosts of their former bubbly self.

In view of the grim reality confronting the very fabric of our existence as Rivers people, it should have been taken for granted that the recent security action embarked upon by the federal government to rid the state of criminal elements in response to the hue and cry of the people would have been received with great joy by all and sundry and the courageous troops treated as liberators. However, taking a cue from the history, the proclivity of merchants of death whose stock-in-trade is making profit from the misfortune of others to intrinsically undermine peace enforcement should not come as a surprise. A handful of politicians, traditional rulers and pseudo activists obviously ‘acting on instructions’ have expressed their unequivocal disapproval of the move to restore sanity in Rivers state, especially the ongoing security operations taking place in Port Harcourt, Gokana, Asari-Toru, Abua-Odual, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni and several other local government areas which has led to the recovery of several assault rifles, live ammunition, hundreds of permanent voters cards and arrest of several individuals which the military say are wanted in connection with kidnapping, gunrunning, armed robbery, murder and other crimes. Among the pack of solicitors and image makers for the suspects wanted by the security agents in connection to various heinous crimes, the apparent solidarity expressed by the PDP led government of the state with the alleged crime kingpins as contained in the statement released by Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, the Special Assistant on Electronic Media to Governor Nyesom Wike on behalf of his principal has come as a rude shock to many, especially those whose lives have been affected by the unchallenged reign of terror in the state. For a government that is bound by a constitutional obligation to protect lives and properties, the unwarranted vituperation against the military and the open expression of affinity with crime suspects by Simeon Nwakaudu and other proxies is to say the least disappointing particularly since the same government has failed to take a definitive stand against the criminal elements that have turned the state into a mini Syria.

With the swiftness with which Mr Nwakaudu and his associates rise to condemn the sacrifices made by the military to liberate Rivers state from grip of murderous overlords, it is expected that by now plans are in top gear to honour and reward those young men who executed the carnage of 17 persons in their sleep at Ula Upata and Ubeta in Ahoada. The loud silence of the Rivers state government days after the feral butchery at Ahoada East Local Government Area may be an indication that the lives of the victims does not count in the political calculus and unlike the position espoused by Simeon when the police raided the hideout of some suspected criminals, the death of nearly men, women and children in Ahaoda is not likely to affect the outcome of the expected reruns in the state hence they can be forgotten.

The victims of the savagery displayed at Ahoada East LGA may not yet have a governor who is prepared to lead the call for justice on their behalf but with the renewed vigor of the security agents in Rivers state, we are almost sure the perpetrators of the dastardly act will be made to face the full wrath of the law even as we are sure that Nwakaudu and his co travelers have gotten their press statements ready and are prepared to tell the world that these murderers are being targeted because of their membership of the PDP. This notwithstanding, we urge the gallant officers involved in the mission to restore hope to Rivers people not be deterred by the expected whimpering as the tide is turning against those who make profit from the blood and tears of Rivers people .

Akeodi Ali is a Port Harcourt based new media journalist