Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Dr. Esekumemu V. Clark
been resolved with a law passed by the House of Assembly relocating
the headquarters from Ogidegben to Ogbe-Ijoh.
True, the security forces have committed all sorts of crimes,
including raping of women in the Niger Delta (see, e.g. The Guardian,
November 12, 1999, pp 24 - 25, Lagos). Such attitudes by the
security forces led to a revenged attack against them by the youths,
including the recent killing of 12 policemen. Consequently, it caused
President Obasanjo to use the army against the Egbesu youths at Odi
that left many civilians killed as well as wanton destruction of the
town. Meanwhile, literature is abundant on how some African leaders
and dominant groups have used the security forces against their
political opponents and other ethnic groups, to enable them to stay in
power and as such perpetuate the existing status quo 1[7] . As regards
Nigeria’s political terror institutionalised by the military leadership
against ethnic minority groups, Richard Joseph notes
Ogoni militants perceived the Nigerian state as reflecting a tight circle
of causation: oil wealth financed a federal structure, controlled in
turn by specific communities, whose representatives were able to
determine public policy and allocate national resources to maintain
their material advantages and political sway. 2[8]
The Kaiama Declaration
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