Revolution Against Oil and Government in Nigeria

Despite frequenting international news headlines throughout 2006, very few people in North America have taken notice of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), despite being, arguably, the most active revolutionary organization in the world. While there are many groups in Nigeria agitating against the government and the oil companies, the most feared and effective of all these groups is MEND.

MEND’s message is simple: “There can be no peace, security and stability and business-as-usual for the Nigerian state and the oil companies unless there is justice, fairness and balanced development in the Niger Delta.”
In short, they are not content with reform – they want nothing less than revolution.

Felix Tuodolor, founding president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), an organization that protects the rights of the ethnic majority Ijaw people in the Niger Delta, has said that while he regrets the hostage taking, crimes and killings in the region,

“Let me say that the government of the day has contributed a lot to the different ways being employed by Ijaw youths to pursue justice. As Ijaw youths, we listed our demands and said we were willing to dialogue and negotiate with the government. We wrote so many letters calling for this. We even confronted Mr. President in Rivers State on June 12, 1999. We told him we want to dialogue on the way forward. But he refused and walked out on us at that meeting. Our livelihood is being threatened and destroyed on a daily basis by the oil companies. What do you say we should do?”

Adding to that, one of MEND’s spokespeople, Jomo Gbomo, said, “We have the capacity to be as ruthless and as callous as attacks witnessed in Iraq. How can you explain a situation where we account for all Nigeria’s wealth and we live without electricity in shacks made of cardboard and straw? How can you explain my people drinking from salty creeks in which they bath and defecate?”

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