Niger Delta Independence Movement:
53 Brettenham Road, London. N18 2ES Patron: Aliyi Ekineh; Coordinator Godfrey Arumoh. We are wholly Christian communities Our object is total independence from Nigeria, created by the colonial system in 1914; then granted Independence in 1960. And then arbitrarily and arrogantly proclaimed Islamic nation by the powerful Islamic North in 1986. We comprise the coastal states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers , Delta, Edo, and Rivers. We are fighting a cause not an enemy ; and we expect the support of our immemorial neighbours the Igbos and the Yorubas . And we do not seek any job or position or money . We seek only FREEDOM to rule ourselves and develop our territories and promote and practise our own cherished Christian religions. .
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A PETITION TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
DEAR SIR
A Petition praying the United Nations Organisation, that it should not Appear to take side, and give support to the Islamic Establishment in Nigeria which is requesting it to get involved in the matter of the Niger Delta by appointing IBRAHIM GAMBARI, to take part in any matter concerning our people of the Niger Delta. The reason is that IBRAHIM GAMBARI HAS BEEN AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE NORTHERN NIGERIA ISLAMIC ESTABLISHMENT which has been killing, exploiting and oppressing our people in the NigerDelta. And we see him as our adversary.
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1. WE the NIGER DELTA INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT and representing our people suffering death, domination, oppression and exploitation from the Islamic Northern Nigerian establishment, respectively submit this petition to you requesting you not to take side with our oppressors, the Islamic Northern Nigeria of which Ibrahim Gambari has always been an active member. The powerful Northern Nigeria Islamic Establishment rules Nigeria like its own colony as herein narrated. In this petition we will try, and very briefly narrate the nature of Nigeriathat makes it different from countries in Europe, Asia, The Middle East and America. These are the differences that make it impossible for Nigeriato become a loving nation by all the communities that comprise it., particularly the communities in the Niger Delta, formerly known as The Slave Coast. To help us to explain our struggle to you , kindly permit us to give a very brief narrative of the creation of Nigeriahere under.
2 .We understand that you have appointed Ibrahim Gambari of the United Nations to become the head of an Inquiry concerning the situation in the Niger Delta where it is publicly known that the people are fighting for independence or freedom from Nigeria; and that the Islamic Northern Nigeria has been dominating, exploiting and repressing the people during the past twenty five years. And Ibrahim Gambari has been an active member of the Islamic Establishment. Our people understand your interest in the matter as motivated by desire to give support to the oppressive Islamic Establishment that rules Nigeria. Ibrahim Gambari has been an active member of that Establishment against our people. And he was also a close associate of the Military regime that was led by Sani Abacha who killed several of our people in 1995. In consequence of that killing , the Commonwealth suspended Nigeria.; a country created by the colonial system by forcibly merging our people together with several other disparate tribes numbering more than three hundred. It is not a loving nation to us in the Niger Delta.
3. Unlike your own country Korea, which is unfortunately separated on account of ideological principles, Nigeria’s problems are multiple. They include, racial or tribal, cultural, historical and mainly religious differences .These very serious differences are the contributory factors to the never ending bloody conflicts.. In 1914 the British colonial power forcibly merged all of us numbering more than 300 tribes and warring religious groups. In this condition, they gave us independence in 1960.
4. Of the creation of Nigeria by Great Britain , a British scholar Margery Perham an Oxford don wrote : “ The tribal divisions in Africaare so great that they cannot be overlooked. The unity of the tribes (into colonies or countries ) is something built above them by foreigners. These drew lines on a map and called the areas with the great collection of independent tribes which happened to be inside those lines by a convenient new name like Nigeria. They then set up a single twentieth century foreign government over all these tribes. “ ~ O.U.P 1941.Unfortunately the Niger Delta was within these evil lines . After the slave trade European Christian Missionaries had flocked into the area and converted them to Christianity. Also inside these evil lines were Africans on the fringes of the Sahara Desert who had been ruled under feudalism by Arabs who ruled, converted them to the highly motivated religion of Islam, even before the beginning of the slave trade. In between these two groups were several other tribes. By 1900, all of the tribes within the evil lines had been conquered and were administered separately into two groups , but under the same British Colonial Power. In 1914 the two groups, that on the coastal communities and those on the fringes of the Sahara, were arbitrarily merged together and given the name Nigeriain 1914. The merging together was called Amalgamation. It begins the short history of these unfortunate African communities. From that time to this day, the dichotomy continues ;and becoming larger and larger., up to this day. The coastal area is called Southern Nigeriaand the Saharaarea called Northern Nigeriawith the Islamic Nigeria being the larger . The North was 225,650 square miles and the South 76,700 Squire miles.
5. Of the Amalgamation Professor Michael Crowder, a Cambridge don wrote “When Lord Lugard, the colonial Administrator who amalgamated Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria in 1914, merged the two groups, it must have seemed to him that he was merging together under the same administration TWO incompatible communities of peoples “ But the amalgamation continued. And the two groups had no meeting places all through the colonial period. that ended in 1960. The Islamic North rejected education as being too Christian orientated . So educated Southerners taking advantage of Christian education in a great way, assisted colonial administrators all through the colonial period. And they produced very highly literate professionals . And the Legislative Council for the colony did not include representatives from the Islamic North at all. The huge North was ruled under what was called Indirect Rule by British colonial Officers, assisted by Southerners. As the two groups lived separately, new townships were built for Southerners living in the North. There were no meeting places for the two groups at all. But the separation was not as rigidly enforced as apartheid in South Africa .
6. After the Second World War, the Cold War began. This affected us in Nigeria. By 1947 freedom fighting had started in Ghana, and extended to other parts of colonial Africa. The colonial powers assumed that between Islam and Christianity in Africa , African Christians were more attracted to Communism; but Islam was a bulwark against Communism. This was the understanding by the Imperial powers; “ After the mistake in Ghana. “ where Nkrumah, an admirers of the Soviet Union , snatched power from the colonial Government. In Nigeria there were no freedom fighting. “ Independencecame “ On a platter of gold “ said Azikiwe, one of the leaders of Southern Nigeria. . The colonial power handed over governmental power to the Northern Moslem Group after hurriedly creating a political party for them. It was called Northern Peoples Congress ; N.P.C. It did not admit Southerners. The Islamic political leader to whom the Colonial power handed over government was a village school teacher, Tafawa Balewa. . None among the rest of them in government, had any post elementary school education. The colonial government did this, notwithstanding that Moslem Northerners comprised less than two percent in the public services of the whole country. The action of the colonial power in this respect aggravated the dichotomy. Then followed the never ending bloody conflicts including religious strife, gruesome genocide, bloody military coups, umpteen executions, brutal repression and other upheavals leading to a civil war in 1967.
7. Before that, earlier in January 1966, a group of Southern Officers had staged coups which succeeded from January 15th to July 27th the same year,1966. It was a short period of six months. Thereafter the North took over, and a civil war followed from 1967 to 1970. The success of the Islamic North in the civil war quickened their ascendancy over all the other tribes. Since then they have resumed their exclusive rule of the country , however appointing their one and only Southern collaborator, as their only agent to have ruled the country. He is Mullah Olusegun Obasanjo. So, but for the short period of January 15th 1966, to the 27th of July 1966, only the Northerners and their one and only Southern agent , have ruled the country up to this day.
8. From that time to this day , they have changed the political structure of the country to their absolute interest. In particular, they have re-created the country from a federation of three regions or states in 1960, to an arrangement of 36 states. This arrangement they still call federation. But unlike the federations of the United States or Germany, in Nigeria
the central authority controls the rest of the country like a unitary regime. In particular, the central government exclusively controls the revenue and the resources and other revenue generating resources of the states.
9. The Islamic North has no natural resources . And they cannot generate human resources from their poor education. So they direct their effort to the South, particularly the Niger Delta .They see the Niger Delta as the weakest part of the South ; and fortunately for them , it is also the most useful part of the country. Of the six sea ports in Nigeria, only one , that in Lagos always being dredged, is outside the Niger Delta. Also, just before independence, petroleum was discovered in the Niger Delta. The Colonial power did not on that account refuse to leave Nigeria, but the Islamic North now think that they inherit the resources of the Niger Delta. They alone have controlled it. The Niger Delta is the point at which the 2000 miles River Niger was discovered by British explorers, in the nineteenth century, to enter the Atlantic through its own delta . The area comprises a maze of rivers, creeks, lakes , islands , mangrove forests and other features . There are more than 300 islands and several rivers and lakes both salt and fresh. Until the beginning of the colonial period, it was impossible to travel in the area. Later in the twentieth century when maps of the area became available, travels became possible. The consequence is that for several centuries, the islands were isolated from one another. That accounts for the several different languages in the area. There are more than twenty languages. This make unity among the peoples difficult; and our adversaries such as the Islamic Northerners take advantage of this. They easily exploit us and they rake away all the proceeds of our resources to themselves. Albeit, it was only since the past fifteen years that our people have become aware of this situation. The Islam North now do every thing to subdue us to silence. They even create judases and quislings among us.
10. From the end of the civil war in 1970, when the Islamic North acquired its ascendancy over all the other tribes, they set to control the country more effectively. It is they who have created all the states from cancelling the three states at independence to four states then to eight , and to twelve until they got to the present thirty six states. They and they alone also created the numerous local governments. They organised dubious population count they called census . Under the pretext of privacy for their religion their women could not be seen. The men give their number and they are said to be counted. Any traveller in Nigeria will be astonished that according to census, Sokoto has a larger population than Lagos.
11.. In 1995 their Military President Sani Abacha, a close associate of Ibrahim Gambari, got money from some oil companies for the purpose of subduing our people. In just one single effort, Abacha’s regime wiped out the whole leadership of one community, Ogoni. of the Niger Delta. Those killed included University professors, accountants, Trade Union leaders, doctors and several others. The Christian Council based in Geneva sent representatives to see the evil deeds of the Islamic people on us on that occasion. The Commonwealth suspended Nigeria. Then under their other head of state, General Abubakar, troops set fire on our people at Jesse. They burned thousands of our people to death. Helplessly, there were very little that could be done. The government does not provide hospitals , clinics and other amenities for our people. Instead, they stationed wild soldiers who rape and kill people with impunity. The concern of the Islamic North is only to rob us of our resources. This they do shamelessly.
12. For all these killings no Inquiries were set up. The Corrupt and cowardly press of the monster country did not even report much that go on in the Niger Delta. In Nigeria newspapers and a good many of their owners and editors try to please the government for favour. The most diabolical legislation that promotes corruption at its worst, in Nigeria , is the Land Use Decree. Under it, no transaction of any kind or duration in land, can be effected without the written consent of the government. The law promotes corruption to the extent that several people in Nigeria live idle lives, but become wealthy without visible means of livelihood . These are the types of unpatriotic people frequently used against their own people by the Islamic regime.
13. In May 1999, the ruling Islamic government allowed in a civilian regime. It was headed by their agent , a retired Military Officer., the same and only Mullah Obasanjo. He is the Islamic North’s only Southern favourite. ( Now several other Southerners are competing for the position ) And he, Mullah Obasanjo knew what the Islamic North wanted. He began office on the 31st of May. Hardly three months later, all the fourteen Islamic states , one after the other proclaimed Sharia and other Islamic practices. They did this with the fanfare of killing Southerners resident in their areas. More than eighteen hundred Southerners were killed during the four months of introducing Sharia. With Sharia there are also Jihad Police and others. They effected all these changes without the concern of the so called Federal Legislature. No country in the civilised world can do this without the approval of the Nations Legislature. In Nigeria it is not so. Earlier in 1986, they had arbitrarily proclaimed the country Islamic nation. This also without Legislation by the Federal Legislature. And they also belong to the Islamic Brotherhood that stretches from them through the Sahara to the Mediterranean Coast and beyond. Now, they import into Nigeria every event and incident in which Moslems elsewhere are concerned. And they go wild in their killings. . This include Iraq War and the Danish journalist report on the Holy Prophet. In this case they caught a Catholic Priest in Maiduguri , and wrapped the American flag over him . Then they set him on fire. As he burnt they chanted Jihad songs until his body was completely roasted. Then the morbid spectators urinated on the ashes of the burnt priest. There was no arrests. To all these their agent ruler of the Islamic Nigeria, Mullah Obasanjo as the President, did nothing.
14. In December 1999, even as the rest of the world was in celebration of the 2000th year of the Birth of our Lord, and therefore the New Millennium, Mullah Obasanjo as the President, sent his troops to the Niger Delta, and they bombed Odi for three days . They killed thousands and maimed several thousands more . Obasanjo then stationed more killing and raping troops in our Niger Delta.
15. Though every one in Nigeria knows the suffering of the people of the Niger Delta, unlike in the civilised countries, very few feel any sympathy for the people of the Niger Delta. All most of them want is for the Islamic North to exploit us successfully, and they benefit from there. So we have to fight the fight alone. In the struggle, some of us are tempted to resort to violence as the violence on us increases. That becomes more news worthy to the Islamic Exploiter. But we continue the struggle for freedom. There is no price too high for freedom. Sometimes the government agents arrest our people and detain them for several years without trial. At any given time, more than twenty of our young men are detained in Islamic Sharia cells. They are tortured daily. But there is never any trial. The country is so lawless that people are killed wantonly by the Secret police styled S.S.S. Many people are usually detained for as long as the government desires.. Our Nigerian government is so different from civilised governments where accused people cannot be detained, other than, as the law made by the legislature, provides. In the United Kingdom for example, the overnment had to obtain parliamentary legislation in order to increase the period when the police can detain crime suspects, before they are brought to the court. In Nigeria, no government ever does such a thing. They catch their opponents and detain them indefinitely.. And they torture detainees until they extract what they call confession from them; and they excruciate them. When one compares the behaviour of the Islamic rulers of Nigeria, to some civilised nations, the one must praise the God fearing White Apartheid Regime of South Africa. They held Nelson Mandella in prison for twenty seven years; and he came out as fit and strong as Hercules.. Go to Nigeriaand see detainees from NigerDelta people being incarcerated in Islamic Sharia cells; and you will curse Africa. It looks as if monster Nigeriaand the NigerDelta are shut to the world, which sees Zimbabwe only.
16. With the above narrative we pray that the United Nations does not lend itself to the situation in the Niger Delta struggling to secede from Nigeria . We have no desire to associate with Ibrahim Gambari. We don’t want to be part of Nigeria. Millions of our young men and women, frightened of the situation in the Niger Delta, have emigrated to Europe, America and South Africa . Albeit, they will gladly return to a free NigerDelta. OUR PEOPLE ARE NOT ROUGH. THEY ARE DEAD SCARED OF THE ISLAMIC NORTH THAT CONTROL THEIR LIVES. WE do not possess even the basic human right of control over our lands and our resources : a sort of slavish living.
ALIYI EKINEH
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