I'm thinking Niger Delta

He might be the next Obama, and I’m supposing the above child is a Male (source: click here).But who cares now that he is being bathed in a canoe in the eyes of the whole world while his mother and many others are fleeing from frying pan into the fire. The fault they committed is they are residents of Niger Delta (ND) areas where the Nigerian army is presently looking for ND Militants.

I wonder what the Military boys have been doing all these years until the situation has become extra-critical, where kidnap for ransom has become a ND pass-time. And do the army even know who they are looking for?

“They brought some food which cannot even take care of one village in our community. Nobody has eaten since mornings,” said Clark. “It is about 11 0′Clock, all the children, nobody has eaten. We have not seen anything. I was in Opkoroza when the thing happened. I was one of the chiefs in the village. I have never seen a place where the federal government will bring a bombing plane to a community and begin to drop bombs on top of the people. I have never heard it any where in Nigeria before.”

And why are we all agitated?

Is it not these same Nigerian Military boys who behave like animals in a simple Lagos traffic jam? that are now looking for Militants? these same Military boys who willfully attack innocent civilians and who openly rubbish the Nigerian Military Uniform? – all for the sake of being in the Military. Or maybe its the Militants looking for the Military – that could be another story. I could suppose that even the Militants might be better behaved than the Military. I can just imagine the zeal / zest possessing the Military multitude who have never seen war and maybe would be using their weapons for the first time in years: ‘thank God for the Peace so far’ – trigger happy Military officers who don’t know the difference between Civilian and Criminal. And in their trigger-happy mode, they won’t know either, when a militant drops his weapon and decides to pass off as a civilian. Later in the evening, the rifle of the Militant is found by the roadside and our military spokesperson goes on air saying that 1-Militant was found dead.

But why are we all agitated?

Its because of the knowledge that there were no plans made for the multitude of would-be displaced civilians before the attack commenced. The Military would rather kill the innocent and the guilty especially when they can’t figure out who is who. We are in Nigeria and the reality isn’t far-fetched. I can just try to imagine the definition of cross-fire, if our boys even know the word. Or I might be wrong, but up till now, no Military spokesperson has briefed the general public in any of the above / related areas.

The kidnap for ransom profession of the ND boys are totally condemnable, and they must be made to answer for as many cases there are, but are there not better ways to quell their activities. No one knows the ND creeks more than the ND boys themselves, and for the army to follow them into their abode, hoping to root them out right there in the caves, is this not a stupid act? It is in my own opinion.

Talking intelligence gathering:

I wonder how much intelligence the Nigerian Military has gathered over the years for them to conclude that the time was ripe for rooting out the ND boys. Or perhaps, they just listened to the call of Mr. President instructing them to do ‘something’, and what else can the Military do, except dropping bombs on the heads of innocent civilians.

I love watching U.S films, especially war-related / intelligence gathering movie themes, where a top criminal/terrorist is digged out of his enclave. I’m forced to ask if the Nigerian Military has undercover agents who have infiltrated the rank and file of the ND Militants ‘over the years’ – with creditable information to support a creditable attack. Or I might just be speaking yans here: Nigerian Military is not U.S Military, wrong, I mean, Nigerian Military is not a U.S Military Movie.

Oga is in Abuja:

And while a village might be getting bombed as of this writing, I’m also wondering if the ND militant boys are the actual problem we are facing, or if their sponsors / financial backers who live in posh Estates around the country are the people that need to be attacked instead. Are these boys really fighting for a cause or they are just errant youth who have no goal in life and who are sponsored to continue fermenting trouble? do they need someone to have a dialogue with or do they need to face a firing squad? We might not be able to ‘just forgive them’, because, Yes, they know what they are doing – they are of age.

Like someone opined sometime ago, the reality is:

Oga regularly drops a sack of gaari, a sack of rice and a sack of beans in front of ND’s mothers house, with a brown envelope containing some money, and a letter saying that her son was in good hands. Mama smiles but deep within is full of fear. Meanwhile, ND gets a phone-call from Oga, saying that he sent someone to visit his mother and mama was doing all right, that she sends her greetings, etc. ND is up in the creeks, holding his rifle and watching his own side of the camp. After the phone-call, Oga calls his own son Junior who is a secondary school student somewhere in London, asks him about his studies, his exams and his junior sister. Junior is happy to hear dads voice, and asks daddy about his business, for which daddy has a ready made testimony. Junior also asks daddy when next he was coming for a visit. Long story cut short: ND is just 1-year older than Junior.

I am of the opinion that these kinds of Ogas are the ones that need to be attacked, not ND.