Niger Delta: Death versus development

[DuctapeFatwa]

IT is no longer a secret that Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea are strategically important to the US. Sylvester Odion-Akhaine said the obvious when he opined in the Daily Independent of Tuesday. July 29, 2003 in a piece that shared the same editorial pages with this author’s that "securing the oil wells of West Africa has a military imperative, hence the agreement with Sao Tome and Principe, the new Kuwait of Africa." ...

Right now we are co-habiting the Niger Delta with the Marines and US Naval patrol boats of different sizes. The argument that America is here to protect her interests is a tomfoolery, expectedly hollow and baseless, which only rubbishes our sense of nationhood. If we are no longer a sovereign state somebody should tell us, so that we know what to properly do rather than invite an animus against renewed slavery....

And whosoever thinks the Niger Deltan can be tickled pink by this Bush and Obasanjo ‘tango’ does not know the situation on ground. It is a pity Obasanjo is acting an offensive script that is obviously not home packaged. But can intimidation put off the sense of neglect and exploitation smouldering within the average Niger Delta youth? Is it not a sad irony to milk a people and still conceive to extirpate them?...

Before and after Ken Saro Wiwa and Odi massacre human life, human blood keep sinking under perhaps to fill the void caused by oil exploration. Will one borehole here today and classroom block there tomorrow solve a huge problem? Somebody somewhere should be human, show mercy, get set to develop the area and point the exit to the Yankees.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/viewpoints/vp104092003.html