Soboma begs, asks Clark to save him from JTF* Ijaw leaders insist on emergency rule in Rivers

WARRI — RUNAWAY leader of one of the rampaging cult gangs in Rivers State, Soboma George, has sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) to Ijaw leader, Chief E. K. Clark, from hiding to save him from being killed by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF).
Soboma initially thought to have been killed when soldiers stormed one of his hide outs in Port Harcourt two weeks ago, says he is now ready to drop his arms and embrace peace.
Chief Clark himself yesterday at a press conference in Warri, yesterday, released the names of top politicians in Rivers State he claimed to be cultists and brains behind the recurring violence in that state.
The Ijaw leader told reporters that George, a former second-in-command to another gang leader, Ateke Tom, who recently renounced cultism, phoned him a day after the invasion of his hideout in Port Harcourt by soldiers to say that he was very much alive and asked for help.
Asked by Vanguard what really transpired between him and Soboma George when the latter phoned him, Clark said: “Soboma George was declared dead on a particular day, and the following morning, my telephone rang…Who was that, Soboma George, I was in Kiagbodo. And what happened, the boy said, I am not dead, I am alive and later the Inspector-General of Police confirmed it.”
Clark said the first thing he asked George was: “Who gave him my (Clark’s) telephone number and he said: ‘You are our father, you are our leader, I am not dead.’ And I now said: can we settle? Can I bring you and Ateke Tom together? He said: ‘Yes sir if you can do that but tell the Federal Government not to shoot us again.’
“He said they (soldiers) came to their village where they were hiding to shoot all of them and he told me how the hotel where he was staying was bombarded. So, I told him, you are a small boy, what are you gaining? I hear you and…Then, he told me the story. That Ateke Tom thought that he had a hand, and is benefitting from the mega-station and that was how it was bombed.
“I said well, I am going to bring the two of you together. Please don’t fight again, I will tell the Federal Government not to…and I have spoken to Ateke Tom. So I am in contact with them. I have spoken to Farah’s boys. I have spoken to most of them. I have spoken to Alele Horsfall. I have been in contact with these boys in the interest of peace. What will be my interest to organise these boys to go and fight people? What am I looking for? I have a duty to bring peace and the boys who are dying are our boys,” he said.
Chief Clark said since 1999 Rivers State has known no peace, adding: “Recently, Prince Igodo, one of the boys was killed in Tombia. Did you not hear that? That is part of this fight which is going on. These people are behind the whole thing. It is a very dangerous situation. The peace may go down today, tomorrow, it will come again. So, that is why we are asking for a new person to come and probe the place.”
He dismissed insinuations that the Ijaw elders were not in touch with the boys and were just grandstanding with their statement on the Rivers crisis, saying: “You can see that we are in touch with these boys, advising them to make sure that nobody uses them to cause crisis in the state.”
Tthe former Federal Commissioner for Information also threw more light yesterday on his call last week with some of the Niger Delta leaders for emergency rule in Rivers State. Besides, he released the names of government officials who he alleged are the financiers, patrons, mentors, sponsors and godfathers of some of the over 103 cult groups in the state.
He said the Niger Delta leaders actually wanted to submit the names of the cultists directly to President Umaru Yar’Adua but they “reluctantly decided to disclose some of the information we were holding back and which may cause a lot of embarrassment to the Rivers State politicians who have no conscience and who are masquerading themselves as innocent men after their attention was drawn to some comments of prominent Nigerians in the Saturday Vanguard of August 25, 2007 at page 5.”
Clark names suspected cultists
According to the 12-page address, entitled: “Who are the cultists in Rivers State — Why Celestine Omehia should step down for peace and stability to be restored in Rivers State,” jointly signed by Chief Clark and secretary of the Forum, Dr. M.P. Okonny, a list of 16 People’s Democratic Party (PDP) sponsors in the state was submitted by the State Security Service (SSS) to the party before the 2007 elections as cultists. A former top government official in the state was also named as the originator of the cult groups.
Vanguard, however, cannot publish the names on legal ground. But on the list are a former top official of the state Assembly, a former minister, a contender to a first class stool in the state, former federal and state legislators, and a serving commissioner.
Also on the list are some serving federal/state legislators and another top official of the state government, who he alleged was “a declared cultist in the university. He was rusticated, that is why he did not finish from the university.“The above submitted list by the SSS has never been refuted by any of the persons listed since the publication.”
He said although Governor Celestine Omehia may not be a cultist, he is surrounded by cultists and that a former official of the state government was responsible for the introduction of armed youths into the body polity of the state. “The evidence is there and the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is aware,” he claimed, adding: “Both Ateke Tom of Okirika and Soboma George of Kalabari accused each other of being sponsored by the Rivers State government. Ateke Tom accused Soboma George of having a contract from Rivers State government to renovate the Civic Centre in Port-Harcourt and that one of them has a ‘pump’ in the mega station and hence the opposing camp attacked and destroyed it. It is open knowledge that Asari-Dokubo, Ateke Tom, Soboma George, Phillip and Farah Dagogo have been financed by government at one time or the other.”
Ijaw elders insist on emergency rule
The elders, however, stated for the avoidance of doubt: “We are not against Omehia as a person or are we interested on how he became the Governor of Rivers State. What we are saying is, he is a victim or child of circumstance. He is therefore, part of the problems of Rivers State and they have all admitted he could not handle the one between Asari Dokubo and Ateke Tom in 2004.”
Explaining that Chief Clark in his capacity as national leader of the Ijaw nation and leader of the South-South zone negotiated in the past with the Federal Government, the release of Asari-Dokubo, leader of the Niger-Delta People’s Volunteers Force, as well as meeting and discussing severally with Odili when he was the governor of Rivers State on how to restore peace to the state, the elders said it was amusing for Omehia or anybody in his government to refer to him and other Ijaw elders as interlopers in the affairs of the state.
According to them, “there is a complete and total emergency in operation in Port Harcourt as at today and the only lacking ingredient is that the government in place in the state that has admitted her inability to cope with the ensuing militancy and cultism still operates in the state at the seat of governance. It is therefore, the lawmakers and Governor Omehia that are short-sighted, selfish and lack focus because all that they are doing is to perpetuate the status quo…
“We observe that presently, the elements for a state of emergency are already in place in Rivers State but the only thing missing is the appointment of a neutral, powerful and impartial administrator to ensure speedy recovery of real and lasting peace in Rivers State. The presence of Omehia cannot bring that expected peace and stability because Omehia is part and parcel of the problems of the Rivers State… As the lawmakers said in their statement, the cultists are fighting to gain supremacy of control in Rivers State.
“The fighting boys are on the payroll of each of these groups and in fact, some of the leading fighters are security details of top politicians and some of them have contracts which they are executing on behalf of the Rivers State government. How can it be said by any sane person that these political leaders are capable of bringing the desired peace and stability to Rivers State? Therefore, the people of Rivers State do not think that the state will be safe in the hands of Governor Omehia and fellow political grandeurs.”
They insisted that there was no way the present crop of political leaders in Rivers State would be able to resolve the problems of the state and since humanity abhors anyone being a judge in his own matter, it was right and proper that a third party comes in to deal a decisive blow to the monsters, which is the political class that has armed the criminal youths that carry out the attacks that have devastated Port Harcourt in the past weeks.
The Ijaw elders said it was because of corruption and vested interest that the PDP leadership in Abuja failed to take any action in the past against these politicians who have found themselves in government and corridors of power, saying: “And that is what brought us to the terrible armed conflicts amongst the cultists in Rivers state today.
“Once again, we repeat our call on Mr. President to take a decisive action by declaring a ‘state of emergency’ in Rivers State and appoint an administrator from outside the Niger Delta of not lower than a retired General or its equivalent to control the irredeemable breakdown of law and order in Rivers State. We are not against Omehia of ruling Rivers State. Our concern now is the security of the state. Thereafter, he can take over after six months as it was in Plateau State.
“Omehia is strongly advised to subsume his personal ambition to the general wish of the state and no amount of insult of the Ijaw elders and leaders will deter them from telling the truth and telling Mr. President to take appropriate action… We repeat , the declaration of state of emergency is the only answer to the complicated problems in Rivers State, which will flush out once and for all the criminals, monsters and cultists in Rivers State,” the elders said.
Rivers Patriots differ with elders
Meanwhile, the Committee of Rivers Patriots, reacting yesterday to Chief Clark’s statement defended the state government and said “this committee is aware of Chief Edwin Clark’s news conference in Warri this morning (yesterday) and wishes to state the following:
“We have since advised the government of Rivers State not to join issues with Chief Edwin Clark and his clique any more, as doing so would definitely amount to distracting itself. We insist that our governor, Sir Celestine Omehia, should remain focussed and continue with his five-point agenda, otherwise known as SHIRE social contract, for the people of Rivers State.“We are happy that the Federal Government under the leadership of President Umaru Yar’Adua appreciates the problems in our state, and recognises the capacity of Sir Omehia to respond to it appropriately.
“Our group, Committee of Rivers Patriots, commends the Service Chiefs for their quick intervention in response to the call by His Excellency, Sir Celestine Omehia, as they recognised the fact that the internal security of the country and its component parts, is purely the responsibility of the Federal Government. We applaud the stand of Rivers Elders and other well-meaning bodies in the state, for their support and understanding.
“Finally, we wish to advise Chief Clark and his diminishing crowd to find other ways of keeping themselves busy, and stop the habit of making inflammable statements that do not help the course of peace, order and development.”The statement was signed by Tamuno Tonye-Princewill.

Port Harcourt Cult Leaders Plead for Amnesty

The Rivers State Gover-nment has announced the extension of thecurfew imposed in Port Harcourt for another one week for what itsaid was meant to sustain the peace so far attained in the State.The extension is coming as a major player in the cult groups€ ’²war and Leader of Niger Delta Vigilante Move-ment (NDVM), Mr.Ateke Tom, wrote to request for amnesty from Governor CelestineOmehia whom he pleaded with to guarantee his safety from harm.His counterpart, George Soboma, who survived a military assaultlast week, is also reported to have made advances to the stategovernment, promising to renounce violence if the state wouldgrant him amnesty.Ateke, in a letter dated August 13, 2007 and entitled € ’³Totaland unreserved support for the current peace efforts ofgovernment renunciation of violence and request for amnestyannounced by you€ ’´ said that since he renounced violence atthe Okrika Peace Declaration on July 14, he had distanced himselffrom violence.Ateke who signed the request to Omehia as € ’³Comrade€ ’´ saidhis boys were not involved in the fracas which claimed severallives and told Omehia to grant his request under the tenets ofthe Peace and Reconciliation Committee.€ ’³Your Excellency, I use this medium to deny any involvementin the recent spate of shootings in the city of Port Harcourt. Idid not and will never again engage in such conduct.€ ’³Sir, I believe that your public and unambiguous offer ofamnesty to all who renounce violence is genuine; and I and NDVMmembers hereby request and appeal to be rendered the amnestypromised by you. With the granting of amnesty to me and mymembers and the guarantee of our safety by your government, I amsure the process of peace in our land will be complete€ ’´,Ateke requested.Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Joint Task Force,Major Sagir Musa has said that they will guaranty the safety ofany of the cult leaders who surrenders and give them adequateinformation on what they need to know as they were not interestedin killing anyone.Sagir€ ’²s explanation is coming in the face of alleged moves bythe cult leaders now driven into the creeks seeking for amnesty.Apart from Ateke who has officially written asking to be grantedamnesty with his boys, it was also learnt that Soboma George,leader of Outlaws has promised to come into the open to prove hewas ready for peace if his safety would be guaranteed.Responding to such requests, Musa said they were ready to assureanyone with good intention s of their safety but had statedearlier that they will get those they were looking for who are onthe run as it was only a matter of time.The curfew extension was made public by the Attorney General ofthe State, Mr. Okey Wali, after the State Executive councilmeeting decided on it Wednesday night. He said the extension wasexhaustively deliberated upon before a decision was taken.Wali expressed appreciation of the State to President Umaru MusaYar€ ’²Adua for the understanding and role he has played toensure the return of peace in the State and condemned calls forthe declaration of State of Emergency in the State.€ ’³Following the reappraisal of the current security situationin the State, the Rivers State Government has announced anextension of the curfew in Port Harcourt for another one week, tosustain the peace already achieved.€ ’³The State Executive Council deliberated on the securitysituation in the State and commended the steps taken to securelives and property within the State, emphasising that the needto sustain the gains recorded necessitated the extension of thecurfew by one week€ ’´, he said.He was particularly critical of the role some indigenes of theState in collaboration with some non-indigenes have played in thecall which he said was misplaced, pointing out that what was onground was that some cult groups clashed which has already beenbrought under control and therefore did not merit the call foremergency rule.Also lending its voice to the condemnation of the call foremergency rule, the South-South caucus of the House ofRepresentatives said the situation did not call for such punitiveaction as it would derail the development vision of the region.Speaking to THISDAY, Leader of the caucus, Hon Andrew Uchendusaid, € ’³I am most uncomfortable with the call by some of ourmuch respected leaders when we have a major agenda, programme andstruggle which border on development€ ’´.Continuing, Uchendu reminded the advocates of emergency rule thatif it was imposed, they will have to fight for its lifting beforecontinuing the drive to address development adding, € ’³Onestate is having a cult related problem that is neither ethnic norpolitical so why ask for State of Emergency€ ’´.

Behind calls for state of emergency in Rivers From Kelvin Ebiri

THE caution by some Ijaw elders that there would be political instability in Rivers State unless the circumstances surrounding the emergence of Celestine Omehia as governor were resolved may not have been taken seriously by the powers that be both in the state and outside.
At last December's governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), four out of the eight candidates cleared to contest, namely Senator Martyns Yellowe, Dumo Lulu Briggs, Samuel Pawariso Horsfall and David Briggs were of Ijaw extraction.
Before the primaries, the Ijaw aspirants led by Senator Yellowe staged a walk out. Yellowe had emerged second behind the former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chibuike Amaechi.
According to him, "the governor (Peter Odili) was said to have decreed that Amaechi is his candidate. Now we are seven of us here and we are protesting that we will rather have a level playing field and lose than this kangaroo kind of election. We would not accept it and we are walking out in protest."
A pro-Ijaw political group, the Rivers State Ijaw Consultative Assembly (RICA) condemned the conduct of the primaries in strong terms and rejected the result by calling for fresh polls.
Expectations among the Ijaw became high during the flag off of the PDP presidential campaign in January when former President Olusegun Obasanjo said that the party's governorship ticket (Amaechi) had a K-leg. They had assumed that since Yellowe came second, the ticket would be given to him.
They were wrong. A few days after the party announced Celestine Omehia, from the Ikwerre ethnic group as the governorship candidate. Omehia, then was a Special Adviser to Odili on inter-religious and administrative matters, was never in consideration, as he did not contest the primaries.
The RICA, which like other Ijaw groups had anticipated the emergence of an Ijaw aspirant, rejected the nomination. The chairman and secretary of RICA, Nemi Adoki and Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo respectively, argued that with the disqualification of Amaechi, Yellowe should have been the logical replacement or alternatively, any of the aspirants that were cleared for the primary.
RICA cited the case of Bayelsa State, where Dr. Bola Igali, was dropped for Mr. Timipri Sylva, who came second at the primary. RICA argued that Igali was dropped on the ground that he did not go through the due process of nomination and party primaries.
The aggrieved Ijaw were of the view that the imposition of Omehia is shrouded in mystery, foul play and corruption because he was until his selection by a serving political appointee of the state government and did not resign his appointment three months prior to his nomination as required. RICA urged the PDP not to condone what it described as an act of political fraud.
The group argued that it would be fair, just and equitable if the next governor of Rivers should be a riverine Ijaw. It hinged the stability of the state on the upholding of the principle of power rotation between the upland area and their riverine counterparts.
The allocation of the position Speaker of the state House of Assembly to the Ijaw did not douse their political aspiration. And on Monday, the Ijaw under the aegis Niger Delta Ijaw Elders and Leaders Forum, decided to break their silence that has been maintained by groups like RICA since the emergence of Omehia as governor.
Ijaw elders led Chief Edwin Clark, at a press conference prayed the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Rivers and after six months, conduct a free and fair election for the people to pick an acceptable governor.
Ijaw leaders present at the briefing included, former Aviation Minister, Alabo Graham Douglas, Chief Albert K Horsfall, former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Chamberlain Oyibo; Air Vice Marshal Mbu (rtd.), Admiral Bob Manuel (rtd.); Prof. Princewill, Prof. Don Pedro, Chief Francis Doukpoulagha Mr. Edward Akpangbo among others.
The Ijaw leaders reviewed the political situation in Rivers since 1999 and accused most politicians in PDP of being members of secret cults and bemoaned the party's decision not to heed the advice of the State Security Service (SSS) to stop them from holding power in government.
They urged the Federal Government to set up a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the immediate and remote causes of the present gang war in Rivers. They also asked for a probe into the killings of the former national vice-chairman, (South-South) of the All Nigerian Peoples party (ANPP), Chief Marshal Harry, former National vice-chairman of the PDP, Chief Alfred Dikibo among others.
Omehia felt that the call for a state of emergency was a larger conspiracy aimed at pulling him down. He noted the fact the two accused masterminds of the recent disturbances in the state, Ateke Tom and Soboma George, are Ijaw and it is their elders who are clamouring for a state of emergency.
At a hurried convocation of Rivers stakeholders meeting on Tuesday, the governor condemned the elders for their failure to appreciate efforts being made to solve what was purely a political matter.
He said: "Some people from Rivers and outside Rivers wanted to control Rivers from their state where criminality is worst, decided to hold meeting in Lagos, calling on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Rivers.
"Those people are enemies of Rivers; they are the sponsors of the criminal activities in Rivers. Any person who believes that we should not end the criminal activities going on in Rivers does not mean well for all of us."
The governor recalled that he had set up the peace and reconciliation committee primarily to rehabilitate and economically empower those involved in hostage taking. He said that he regretted that his initiative was rebuffed.
"The miscreants, criminals, I won't call them the militants decided to shoot sporadically all over the place including the front of Government House, took over the streets of Port Harcourt and all they were asking for give us money," he said.
The chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, Uche Secondus aligned with the governor to castigate the Ijaw elders. Secondus described the call for a state of emergency as being driven by selfishness. He argued that since there exist a democratically elected government, the elders should have deemed it necessary to meet with the governor in order to proffer solution and "not sing war songs because state of emergency is a war song.
He said, "we condemn their statement and this call and ask the Federal Government and the president to disregard this as they are self serving and mischief makers. When the elders chose to turn the other way when people die then the undertone of the recent violence in Rivers can easily be known and traceable to some of these mischief makers."
He regretted that the crisis in the state and government's effort to restore order and fish out elements had elicited unwarranted provocative reaction from the Ijaw elders. This reaction is rather typical of the antics of those people who fan the ember of discord and disappear to other states to stir more trouble.
Secondus said a few criminals and a few self serving elders in the state cannot hold the people of Rivers who welcome what government has done to the state to ransom. The PDP chairman dismissed allegations that the party was involved in the recent disturbance in the state.
On the arrest of a state lawmaker by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in connection with the disturbance in the state, Secondus said the party would not hesitate to expel any party man indicted by security for sponsoring gangsterism.
"The JTF should investigate the matter and if he is found wanting, the law would take its course. We as PDP will not protect anyone who is lawless," he said.
He lauded the efforts of the Federal, Rivers governments in mobilising the JTF to fish out the gangsters and those behind them in undermining the peace and security of the state.
The son of the Amanyanabo of Kalabari and the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate, Prince Tonye Princewill, said the party as co-stake-holders in Rivers does not believe that the declaration of state of emergency would solve the resultant consequences of accumulated crimes against people these past eight years.
"There is a constitutional means to changing a despotic and unpopular government and that is why we should appeal to our people to continue to tolerate this arrangement and allow the military to restore peace among our people and for the election tribunal to hasten their efforts," he said.
He urged the election petition tribunal to reclaim their peoples; stolen mandate so that "we can have a government elected by our people, that will serve the purpose of our people and not a government by a clique and for the clique that is secluded from our people."
Princewill called on the government to apologise to Clark and other elders for castigating them. But that might not be possible as the battle line appears to be drawn.
In the state government's determination, the governor has ordered the commencement of the reclamation and demolition of all the slums along the waterfronts in Port Harcourt before December. The waterfronts included those in Aggrey, Ndoki, Marine Base, Bundu, Nembe, Belle and Bonny. Others are Abuja/Prisons, Reclamation, Borokiri, Elechi, Afikpo, Timber, Abonnema wharf, Okirika, Captain Amagala, Dockyard Creek, Rex Lawson, Enugu, Ojike and Abba waterfronts.
This issue of the demolition, which is now being interpreted by the Ijaw who inhabit the waterfronts, as a deliberate attempt by the Ikwerre to expel them from Port Harcourt, might be another flank for the Ijaw and the governor to continue their war of attrition.

20 feared killed in fresh onslaught in Rivers* Ateke Tom pleads for amnesty

PORT HARCOURT — REGARDLESS of the massive deployment of soldiers on the streets of Port Harcourt in the aftermath of the recent cultists’ activities in Rivers State, armed cultists yesterday struck afresh at Rumuekpe in Emohua Local Government Area of the state, killing 20 people.
One Baribor Kerebion was also reportedly matcheted to death at Bodo yesterday by people suspected to be cultists. Emohua local government area is a short distance from Port Harcourt.
The state government has, in the meantime, extended the curfew imposed on the state by another week with a view to consolidating the relative peace in the state capital.
One of the main gang leaders locked in the supremacy battle in the state, Ateke Tom, has also reportedly applied to Governor Celestine Omehia for pardon.
Efforts to get the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, or the Police PRO, Mrs. Baresua Ireju, to comment on yesterday fresh attack failed. A police source, however, said nine persons were killed.
Community sources put the death toll at over 20. Sources said the community had been embroiled in a chieftaincy/ youth leadership tussle for some time now. One of the groups in the disagreement reportedly mobilised the gunmen swho launched the attack.
The army PRO in the state, Major Sagir Musa, said the army had not been briefed on the incidents. He, however, vowed that the army was ready to crush any mayhem in any part of the state.
The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Okey Wali, who announced the extension of the curfew after a meeting of the State Executive Council said the exco deliberated on the security situation in the state and commended the steps taken to secure lives and property, emphasizing that the need to sustain the gains recorded necessitated the extension of the curfew by one week.
Mr. Wali said the executive council also expressed gratitude to President Umaru Yar’Adua and the Service Chiefs for their interest and love for Rivers people and the prompt action taken to ensure that peace returned to the state.
The Commissioner said the council considered the statement from some indigenes of Rivers State in collaboration with some non-indigenes who addressed a press conference in Lagos calling for emergency rule in the state and described their action as most regrettable because there was no basis for such a call.
He explained that the problem in the state was that of cultism and all such security problems were being adequately handled by the security agencies, pointing out that internal security and defence of the country is the responsibility of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Mr. Wali asked Rivers people to take interest in the return of peace to Port Harcourt and the state in general and urged the elders involved in the statement to retrace their steps and join hands to take the state to the next level.
Ateke pleads for amnesty
Meanwhile, one of the cultists on the wanted list of security agenciess in Rivers State and leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, Ateke Tom, has reportedly applied to Governor Celestine Omehia for pardon. Tom in a letter allegedly urged government to guarantee his safety.
He said since the peace/reconciliatio n parley he had with other cult groups at Okrika on July 14 he has been shunning violence. Meanwhile, when Vanguard contacted the Secretary of the Peace and Rehabilitation Committee constituted by the state government to rehabilitate reformed cultists in the state, Mr. Jerry Needam, if he was aware of any letter to the governor from Tom for forgiveness, he merely said the Governor had not granted amnesty to anybody but declined to say if there was such letter before the governor.
According to the letter, Tom said his boys were not part of the recent cult mayhem in the state. His words: “Your Excellency, I use this medium to deny any involvement in the recent spate of shootings in the city of Port Harcourt. I did not and will never again engage in such conduct.
“Sir, I believe that your public and unambiguous offer of amnesty to all who renounce violence is genuine; and I and NDVM members hereby request and appeal to be rendered the amnesty promised by you. With the granting of amnesty to me and my members and the guarantee of our safety by your government, I am sure the process of peace in our land will be complete,” he said.
The spokesman of the JTF in the state, Major Musa, who also could not confirm the letter, however, said the JTF was not in the state to harm lawful and responsible citizens. He said any cultist offering to surrender would not be killed by the soldiers.

JTF Attack on Soboma George

The remains of Obiabere Lodge PH, the alleged hideout of Soboma George that was bombed by JTF in an attempt to flush cultists from Port Harcourt.

Uneasy Calm In Port Harcourt, As Curfew Bites HardThere are still palpable anxieties and hardship hitting Port Harcourt residents hard as the curfew imposed by the Rivers State Government to stem the tide of cultism enters a critical stage. Penultimate week, military operation against cultist groups in some parts of Port Harcourt reportedly left over 50 persons dead while several others were seriously injured. It would be recalled that the Rivers State Government, in an attempt to provide lasting solution to militant attitude in the state, imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the entire state. Residents in the state are expected to be indoors from 7pm in the evening to 6am in the morning. Our correspondent who monitored the curfew in the last three days reported that the curfew have inflicted further hardship on the people living and doing business in Port Harcourt. On the first day a motor-cycle spare parts dealer who was traveling back from Imo State, Mr. Peter unaware of the curfew arrived Port Harcourt late, and met a long traffic jam. According to Mr. Peter, the soldiers descended heavily on them stating that they hit him on the head with the butt of a gun.He therefore, pleaded with appropriate authorities to impress on the soldiers to be more civil, even as he welcomes the presence of the military to contain the activities of the cultists in the state. Another traveler who spoke under condition of anonymity said he was entering Port Harcourt for the first time unaware of the curfew. He decried the hardness of the security operatives on them. On the first day of the curfew, most motorists, according to our correspondent were trapped in the long traffic jam which kept them on the road till 8pm, far beyond the stipulated time of the curfew. Local transport was also hard as vehicles were off the roads. Mr. Edwin, a journalist, was held by the security men, refusing to let him off beyond the curfew time.He was, however, released after spirited efforts by his boss. For the okada operators, it has posed fresh difficulties for them. A number of the okada operators who spoke to Niger Delta STANDARD said the 6pm curfew has further eaten deep into their operational time. They noted that this has affected their income drastically, even as they said they hardly meet up with their daily needs. The curfew is also reported to be affecting business activities in town. Most shop owners contacted lamented low patronage. Even traders who usually travel to Aba to bring in their goods complained of difficult times as they hardly return on time to meet up the curfew time schedule. This, they said, had always exposed them to undue confrontation with soldiers and other security operatives in the state.

The Yar’Adua Family’s Oil Holdings

Umaru Yar’Adua’s election as Nigeria’s president will oblige oil companies operating in the country to take a fresh look at their alliances in Nigeria and court firms and persons close to the new leader. Several members of his extended family are already active in the industry.Yar’Adua Family interests in Intels.
The elder brother of Yar'Adua, Shehu Yar’Adua, who was Olusegun Obasanjo’s vice president in the former president’s first term of office, took part in founding the oil logistics and port concern Intels. Run out of London by two Italian nationals, Jan Angelo Perruchi and Gabriele Volpi, as well as by France’s Daniel Sigaud, Intels manages the oil terminals and oil services zones at Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri and is also active in Ivory Coast, Congo-B and Angola.Since Shehu Yar’Adua’s death in prison in 1997, his family’s interests in Intels have been managed by his widow, Hajia Binta Yar’Adua. Intels has also employed several nephews of Umaru Yar’Adua, notably Murtala Yar’Adua, eldest son of Shehu. The fact that Intels can open doors to the president’s office will be invaluable to it. During the final years of Obasanjo’s presidence, the company found itself in bad odour with the government because of its links with former vice president Atiku Abubakar, who stood unsuccessfully for the presidency against the candidate of Obasanjo’s People’s Democratic Party.Family Ties to NNPC.
One of the top executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is also well known to the new president. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua (A.L. Yar’Adua) is group executive director in charge of refineries and petrochemicals and sits on the board of the state-controlled company. Although they share the same family name (the Hausa language name for a tree in northern Nigeria) A.L. Yar’Adua and the new president aren’t close relatives. However, both hail from the town of Katsina in northern Nigeria and have known each other since childhood, when they were raised together in the 1960s. A. L. Yar’Adua spent almost all of his career at the Kaduna refinery, managing it from 1996 to 1997 and again between 1999-2000 before taking over as boss of the Integrated Data Service, NNPC’s geophysical department. A.L. Yar’Adua has been in charge of refineries for NNPC since 2003 but could be take on new duties in an expected shake-up of NNPC’s management in coming months.First Alliance.
The British group Afren, which is chaired by former OPEC secretary-general Rilwanu Lukman, was the first company to form a tie with members of the Yar’Adua family. Earlier this spring, Afren penned an agreement with the Nigerian oil concern Independent Energy to take part in financing the marginal Ofa field, which Independent Energy won earlier in the present decade. One of Independent Energy’s executives is Murtala Yar’Adua. The Indian-Russian group Suntera has also forged ties with the Yar’Adua clan. Headed by Steve Lowden in London, Suntera teamed up with the Nigerian group Gas Transmission & Power on OPL 905. The group is headed by Babangida Hassan Katsina, cousin of the new president and son of major-general Hassan Usman Katsina, who was governor of the northern region of Nigeria

BETWEEN STATE OF EMERGENCY AND OMEHIA’S WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE BY SENIOR FYNEFACE

BETWEEN STATE OF EMERGENCY AND OMEHIA’S WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
BY SENIOR FYNEFACE
A theme that ran throughout Celestine Omehia’s inauguration speech as governor of Rivers state was the emphasis that he will continue from where Peter Odili stopped.
He was very emphatic that he would build on Odili’s legacy. The question is: Which legacies did Odili leave behind? Any indigene or resident of the state can easily count Odili’s legacies to include insecurity in the state, bloodshed and gangsterism, celebration of bribery and corruption, enhanced looting of state treasury for fraudulent personal investments including Arik Air, sponsorship of cultism and assassinations, and so on and so on. So which of those legacies is Omehia talking about? Anyway, there is the popular saying that ‘a snake must give birth to a long thing,’ as it is beginning to be evident in the state.
The description of the current street battles in the state by the Omehia government as “not an isolated scenario, but part of the Niger Delta crisis, which would take time to resolve” was a clear indication of the insensitivity and helplessness current leadership in the state.
Hear what the government had to say: “The Governor Omehia-led Government from the first day in office had demonstrated a clear commitment to give the State purposeful and people-oriented leadership. Governor Omehia has a pedigree for accomplishments and no matter the ploys of a few disgruntled persons, the Government will not be distracted from its avowed commitment to serve the people”, this is pure nonsense. Who is interested in praise singing now in the state as the armed crisis is becoming more and more devastating and the fire is fast spreading to areas that were previously peaceful.
It is really unfortunate that the Rivers State Government could say that “the sporadic gun fire experienced a few days ago in Port Harcourt was the handiwork of people who plan to discredit Government for their own selfish gains.” As far as the Omehia government was concerned, “the scenario has not degenerated because if you want to achieve peace, you have to embark on reorientation and this process takes time before yielding result.” Maybe, the result would start manifesting when everybody in Port Harcourt and environs has been killed by bullets of the warring government-sponsored gangs,” may God forgive all of you in government.
Rivers state could be rightly described as a huge theatre of absurdity. Just few weeks ago, the Douglas/Needom- led Rivers State Peace and Rehabilitation Committee (RSPRC) was doling out a whopping sum of one million (N1 million) to any one who professes that he or she is a cultist, militant or gangster and would quit the trade.
As was widely reported in the media both national and Port Harcourt-based, hitherto blood-thirsty militants, cultists, and other criminal gangsters were clutching their bibles shouting hosanna in the highest and trooping to Rivers State Government House Chapel as Pentecostal born-again Christians even though Douglas a Sunni Moslem is the events manager of the Rivers State Government’s ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ promo.
Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Asari Dokubo as a person, would always be the man of the masses of the oppressed Niger Delta people particularly Rivers state. In what could rightly be described as a state of the region address, Asari in his usual matter- of -fact statement accused both the former and incumbent governors of Rivers state, Peter Odili and Sir Celestine Omehia of involvement in the shocking wave of violence and kidnap operations in the state that have attracted both national and international attention.
The fearless NDPVF leader chose to make his well-intended accusation at the Police Headquarters in Abuja where he had gone to inform the acting Inspector General of his intention to depart for Saudi Arabia. He alleged that Odili and Omehia were both direct and proxy collaborators with those who are kidnapping people and shooting on the streets of Port Harcourt.Whether the Rivers State Government likes to hear this or not, the latest ‘free-for –all Port Harcourt AK-47 and K-2 riffle street show’ arose because a cult group was said to be angered by the alleged patronage of a rival group by the political powers in the state.This allegedly made rival groups to want to prove that they were relevant as well. Although both actors have denied involvement, it was alleged that the aggrieved group is the coalition led by Soboma George while the government-patronized group is led by Ateke Tom, the ‘peace maker’ and recently born again former warlord.
Commendably, immediately Asari was released from hostage by the Abuja government abductors, he reportedly entered into a peace treaty with Ateke Tom. Both former enemies resolved to forget the past and forge an alliance in the interest of the Niger Delta struggle and the peace between the two seems to be holding.
The question now is: why has it become so difficult for the Rivers state government that has been “actively involved” in brokering peace between warring groups to reconcile Soboma and Ateke? Both men used to be very close allies in their joint military face-off against the Asari –led group until they parted ways after being covertly encouraged by government anchormen to do so.
For the records, Soboma George was the detainee that escaped from Port Harcourt Prisons and the scandal that followed led to the sack of the prison comptroller. The man (Soboma) was declared wanted by both the Police and Odili-led Government. However, he freely moved and socialized around town particular in the old Port Harcourt metropolis part of the city in broad day light to the knowledge of both Odili and the then police commissioner, Mr Sylvester Araba.
Ateke Tom was also declared wanted - dead or alive ‘preferably dead’ by both Odili and the police on the orders of the then crown king of Rivers state Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He went underground and resurfaced during the Omehia -engineered peace and reconciliation propaganda and declared a turn around from his ‘evil ways’.Their boys participated together at a training and re-orientation forum held in Calabar, Cross River State recently. The Greenlanders, the Bush Boys and members of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force were also directly engaged in the project. But that was just few weeks ago.
Interestingly, just as the governor’s initiative on peace and reconciliation was about to be adjudged as producing results, both Soboma and Ateke suddenly renewed their hostilities and overnight assumed ‘the greatest threat’ to the peace effort. The two foolish brothers should read in between the lines. This was exactly the same path that the duo of Ateke and Asari treaded which finally culminated in the adoption and detention of the latter for almost two years. It took both of them rivers of blood to realize that they were remotely manipulated and armed from the same source for selfish political gains which of course turn out to be an outing for national disgrace for the actor.
Between the people who are championing calls for a state of emergency in the State and the cultists at the Government, who qualifies more to be called “agents of destabilization?” What else does anybody expect from the helpless and endangered people of the state but to look for help outside the state at least now that Obasanjo is no longer at the helm of affairs at the Presidency before it will be too late. The people occupying the Government House from all indications have failed to help protect the masses either because of their involvement or outright lack of ideas on how to solve the problem that is fast engulfing the entire state.
Governor Omehia and his predecessor, Odili should know that Rivers people are anxiously waiting for them to publicly deny the allegation of complicity or explain their innocence in the current gun duel between Ateke and Soboma- led groups. The explanation would help the people of the state to know whether to encourage Omehia to continue to build on Odili legacies or start a fresh bloodless foundation or at best quit the stage. Omehia as the governor has a lot to do if really he wants to continue from where Odili stopped.
Since Omehia and his people are yet to appreciate that the situation in the state has reached an emergency status, there is nothing wrong in calling the entire state, ‘a state of emergency’ whether declared or undeclared. Let the interest of the entire state override the myopic interests of a few cabals occupying privileged positions.