Oil Communities and Political Violence: The Case of Ethnic Ijaws in Nigeria's Delta Region

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 13, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 15-36

  Ukeje, Charles ^a,b  

^a NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE   (Sweden)

^b TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN   (Ireland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0035737287     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546550109609698     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Statement credited to Chief Philip Asiodu in 1984. He had served almost every government in one capacity or the other since retirement. He was permanent secretary under the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, served as Special Adviser on petroleum affairs to President Shagari during the Second Republic, and is presently Chairman of a presidential advisory committee in the government of President Obasanjo.
2. Excerpt from the report of a ministerial fact-finding team on the problems of the Niger Delta set up under the despotic regime of General Sani Abacha. Cited in ERAction: Newsletter of the Environmental Rights Action, Jan.-March 1999, p.8.
3. The Niger Delta mainly covers five states (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Delta and Rivers State) located in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The region is home to at least 25 sub-ethnic groups, including the Ijaws located predominantly in the newly created Bayelsa State.
4. Olaitan Oyerinde, 'Oil, Disempowerment and Resistance in the Niger Delta', in Olorode, Omotoye et al. (eds.), Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Crises of the Nigerian State (Lagos: CHHR 1998), pp.55-76.
5. See Alex Gboyega, 'Nigeria: Conflict Unresolved', in I. W. Zartman (ed.), Governance as Conflict Management: Politics and Violence in West Africa (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press 1997), p.177.
6. James N. Rosenau, 'Security in a Turbulent World', Current History 592 (May 1995), pp. 193-200.
7. See Steven Crawford, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil, Human Rights, and the Democratic Alternative', Journal of Modern African Studies (1996); Eghosa E. Osaghae, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State', African Affairs 94 (1995), pp.325-44; Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), Land, Oil and Human Rights in Nigeria (Lagos: CRP Publications, 1999); World Council of Churches, Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: WCC 1996); Ben Naanen, 'Oil Producing Minorities and the Restructuring of Nigerian Federalism: The Case of the Ogoni People', Journal of Modern African Studies 32/1 (1995), pp.65-75.
8. See Steven Crawford, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil, Human Rights, and the Democratic Alternative', Journal of Modern African Studies (1996); Eghosa E. Osaghae, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State', African Affairs 94 (1995), pp.325-44; Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), Land, Oil and Human Rights in Nigeria (Lagos: CRP Publications, 1999); World Council of Churches, Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: WCC 1996); Ben Naanen, 'Oil Producing Minorities and the Restructuring of Nigerian Federalism: The Case of the Ogoni People', Journal of Modern African Studies 32/1 (1995), pp.65-75.
9. See Steven Crawford, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil, Human Rights, and the Democratic Alternative', Journal of Modern African Studies (1996); Eghosa E. Osaghae, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State', African Affairs 94 (1995), pp.325-44; Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), Land, Oil and Human Rights in Nigeria (Lagos: CRP Publications, 1999); World Council of Churches, Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: WCC 1996); Ben Naanen, 'Oil Producing Minorities and the Restructuring of Nigerian Federalism: The Case of the Ogoni People', Journal of Modern African Studies 32/1 (1995), pp.65-75.
10. See Steven Crawford, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil, Human Rights, and the Democratic Alternative', Journal of Modern African Studies (1996); Eghosa E. Osaghae, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State', African Affairs 94 (1995), pp.325-44; Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), Land, Oil and Human Rights in Nigeria (Lagos: CRP Publications, 1999); World Council of Churches, Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: WCC 1996); Ben Naanen, 'Oil Producing Minorities and the Restructuring of Nigerian Federalism: The Case of the Ogoni People', Journal of Modern African Studies 32/1 (1995), pp.65-75.
11. See Steven Crawford, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil, Human Rights, and the Democratic Alternative', Journal of Modern African Studies (1996); Eghosa E. Osaghae, 'The Ogoni Uprising: Oil Politics, Minority Agitation and the Future of the Nigerian State', African Affairs 94 (1995), pp.325-44; Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), Land, Oil and Human Rights in Nigeria (Lagos: CRP Publications, 1999); World Council of Churches, Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: WCC 1996); Ben Naanen, 'Oil Producing Minorities and the Restructuring of Nigerian Federalism: The Case of the Ogoni People', Journal of Modern African Studies 32/1 (1995), pp.65-75.
12. Others, including ExxonMobil (USA), Elf (France), Total (France), Chevron (USA), Agip (Italy), have various types of joint venture relationships with the state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) dating from the early 1960s, when they entered the oil sector. The head start by Shell no doubt enabled it to secure by far the largest and most lucrative oil blocs.
13. Tgeo, 'From Bonny To Baglan Bay: De-Unionisation and Human Rights Issues in the UK Oil Industry', 1996. www.McSpotlight.org/beyond/delta2_nov96.html
14. See Steve Kretzman, 'Nigeria's Drilling Fields', Multinational Monitor (Jan.-Feb.1995); Soremekun Kayode and Cyril Obi, 'The Changing Pattern of Foreign Investment in the Nigerian Oil Industry', Africa Development 18/3 (1993), pp.5-20.
15. See Steve Kretzman, 'Nigeria's Drilling Fields', Multinational Monitor (Jan.-Feb.1995); Soremekun Kayode and Cyril Obi, 'The Changing Pattern of Foreign Investment in the Nigerian Oil Industry', Africa Development 18/3 (1993), pp.5-20.
16. Ike Okonto, 'Shell in Nigeria. Scenario Planner or Adept Manipulator of Nigeria', Delta News 3 (Oct. 1997), www.oneworld.org/delta/3_news3.html
17. Robert H. Holden, in 'Corporate Officials Embrace Latin American Dictators at Private Chamber of Commerce Session', Multinational Monitor 12/5 (1982), reported a strikingly similar sentiment among oil multinationals in Latin America, where there has been a consensus that there is more 'democracy for business' under authoritarian regimes.
18. Shell argued that it retained 15% to cover investment and operating costs, 6% to the private industry partners, while 79% goes to government and NNPC in taxes, royalties and equity stake. See West Africa (27 Nov.-3 Dec. 1995), p. 1,834.
19. G. Lean, 'On Shell and Global Warming', The Independent on Sunday, 10 Dec. 1995.
20. The most notable of these organizations, with a fairly national spread, included the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), and the Committee for Democracy (CD).
21. Claude Welch, The Anatomy of Rebellion (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press 1980), pp.27-30.
22. C. I. Obi, 'Globalization and Local Resistance: The Case of the Ogoni Versus Shell', New Political Economy 2/11 (1997).
23. Frynas George Jedrzej, 'A Socio-Legal Approach to Natural Resource Conflicts: Environmental Impact of Oil Operations on Village Communities in Nigeria', Paper presented at the African Environments: Past and Present Conference sponsored by the Journal of Southern African Studies and St Anthony's College, University of Oxford, 5-8 July 1999, pp.1-32.
24. Manochehr Dorraj, 'State, Petroleum and Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa', in Manochehr Dorraj (ed.), The Changing Political Economy of the Third World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner1995), pp.119-143.
25. The 'State' is an over-subscribed construct in the social sciences. Unfortunately, there is no accord amongst scholars on its fundamental nature and behaviour. The conceptual challenge and crisis posed by the state (and by extension, the question of state repression) is unlikely to abate for a long time. Stephen J. Rosso, 'The Insecure State: Reflections on the "State" and "Security" in a Changing World', Daedalus 124/2 (Spring 1995).
26. Claude Ake, 'The Nigerian: Antimonies of a Periphery Formation', in Claude Ake (ed.), Political Economy of Nigeria (London: Longman 1985).
27. Adefemi Victor Isumonah, 'Oil and Minority Ethnic Nationalism in Nigeria: The Case of the Ogoni', Ph.D. thesis. Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, 1998.
28. BBC, Focus on Africa, 20 May 1996.
29. Reuter, 'Shell regrets "Mistakes"', May 1996.
30. HRW, 'Oil Companies Complicit in Nigerian Abuses: Rights Group Urges Oil Firms to Help Prevent Niger Delta Crackdown', (Lagos, 23 Feb. 1999).
31. Kay B. Warren (ed.), The Violence Within: Cultural and Political Opposition in Divided Nations (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1993). On pp.259 ff Warren analyses the role of culture in the study of violent conflicts, bemoaning the marginalization of cultural issues in conflict analysis, particularly in the aftermath of the Cold War.
32. Goddy Nwabueze, 'Contextualising the Niger Delta Crisis', CASS Newsletter 6/2 (1999), p.2.
33. Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movements: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996).
34. Despite this demographic spread, the Ijaws are concentrated in the newly created Bayelsa State, where the recent clamour for oil communities' empowerment has been concentrated.
35. There are several other factors that assist Ijaw nationalism, including the oil factor, a history of collective struggle, strong cultural affinity over a wider area, being the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, and finally, a major demographic shift in favour of youths.
36. Among those tortured were the traditional ruler and several of his advisers. The traditional ruler was publicly murdered by a soldier who used a heavy boulder to knock him down. See Charles Ukeje, Youths and the Collapse of Public Order in the Niger Delta. Forthcoming in Africa Development (CODESRIA, Dakar).
37. For the full text of the communiqué signed on behalf of the collegiate leadership by Felix Tuodolo, Isaac Osuoka and Kingsley Kuku, see Ijaw Youth Council, Press Statement, Saturday, 16 Feb. 1999. In Delta News Release ,www.oneworld.org/delta/990119.html
38. 'Forward March to Freedom', Communiqué issued at the end of the 7th Council Meeting of Ijaw Youths Held at KOLOBIAMA community in the Opobo Clan of Ijawland on 20th Day of March 1999. See www.kemptown.org/shell/mar20.html. Of course, the release did not limit itself to purely Niger Delta or Ijaw matters. For instance it, condemned an ambassadorial posting by the Abubakar regime as 'insensitive, unfederal and provocative'.
39. A. I. Gedicks, The New Resource War: Native and Environmental Struggles Against Multinational Corporations (Boston: South End Press 1993).
40. The name 'Chicoco' is inspired by the organic soil common to the Niger Delta on which the mangroves grow. On it, a variety of seafood thrives while also protecting the shoreline. The soil, according to the Charter of the movement, is also used 'to build dwellings and protective embankments, and to reclaim degraded lands ... To the people of the Niger Delta, Chicoco is a balm'.
41. Aleibiri was deliberately selected for launching this initiative, as Shell had refused to clean up a major oil spill that had occurred there six months earlier. Like the Kaiama Declaration, the birth of Chicoco sent an alarming signal to government and oil companies' circles about the devastating prospects of a united front by oil communities.
42. Adapted from 'The Chicoco Movement... Reclaiming our Humanity. Enough is Enough: A Message from the Niger Delta', Aleibiri/Yenogoa, Niger Delta, August 1997.
43. Secessionist projects that have suffered similar fates since the civil war were the Isaac Adaka Boro 'Revolution', the coups led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu and Gideon Orkar respectively, and a neo-Biafra group called MASSOB that recently attracted public ire.
44. See note 27 (pp.2-3).
45. HRW, 'The Destruction of Odi and Rape in Choba' (Executive Summary), HRW Report 2000, 22 Dec. 1999.
46. For HRW's account of how the bandits emerged, including their use as thugs to terrorize political 41.
47. Reported in The Punch (Lagos), 2 Dec. 1999.
48. See statement by HRW Africa at www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nigeria2/Ngria993.htm.
49. Charles Taylor, 'Modes of Civil Society', Pubic Culture 3/1 (Fall 1990), pp.95-117.