NIGERIA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is consisted of part, full or summaries of articles from diverses sources (newspapers, newsletters, etc...).
La section suivante est constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles provenant d'origines diverses (journaux,bulletins, etc..).

03 / 31 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "U.S. monitors fear poor preparations may mar poll"

With just about two weeks to go before the first in a series of elections in Nigeria, "crucial aspects of the electoral process are unresolved" and poor preparations may mar the polls, election monitors of the U.S-based Carter Centre and National Democratic Institute (NDI) said on Friday.

In a joint pre-election assessment report, the groups expressed concern that the voters' register was not yet ready and that there was no "well-publicised national security plan" to deal with a growing wave of political violence.

Elections to Nigeria's federal parliament are to be held 12 April followed on 19 April by presidential polls and elections to the post of state governor. Should a second round be required to determine the country's president, it is to be held on 26 April, followed on 3 May by elections to state legislatures.

Friday's report also expressed concern that the process chosen by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for accrediting Nigerian civil society groups as election observers was cumbersome and likely to undermine their effective participation.

Equally troubling, it said, was the "absence of public scrutiny of campaign finance" and the lack of a "mechanism for investigating reports of abuses" despite the well-known "corrosive influence of money" in Nigerian politics.

Both organisations said they were "deeply concerned that deficiencies and other flaws related to the organisation and conduct of the upcoming elections, if not addressed and corrected, could irreparably harm public faith in the country's democratic process".

The Carter Centre and the NDI said they formed the opinions after a one-week trip to Nigeria between 16-21 March by a joint team which met with Nigerian political party leaders, INEC, civil society groups, the private sector, media and the international community.

"The team and many Nigerians with whom it met fear a repeat of the serious flaws that were evident in the 1998-99 election process," the report said.

Both organisations monitored the 1999 elections that brought President Olusegun Obasanjo to office and ended more than 15 years of military rule. They had expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the vote, citing many malpractices.

IRIN

The article: "Seven killed as police clash with separatists"

At least seven members of a group campaigning for an independent Biafra were killed on Saturday in southeast Nigeria during a confrontation with the police, police and witnesses said.

More than 5,000 members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) were travelling in a convoy of about 130 cars and buses to a rally when they were confronted by heavily armed police at Umololo village in Imo State. "There was an argument and then a fight and the police shot dead seven people," Ray Onyeukwu, who said he witnessed the incident, told IRIN.

The chief of police in Imo State, Ben Eghomone, confirmed the death of the seven and told reporters they had attempted to disarm the police. "Will the police stand and wait to be disarmed?" he said.

But MASSOB said in a statement on Monday the police had opened fire unprovoked on their convoy of vehicles, killing 50 members. The group's leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, and 300 other members were subsequently arrested and taken into custody, the statement said.

Uwazuruike founded MASSOB in 1999 with the aim of reviving the 1967 secession of southeastern Nigeria - dominated by the Ibo ethnic group - as Biafra, which resulted in the three years of civil war. More than one million people died in the war, mostly from starvation.

Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who as a colonel in the Nigerian army declared Biafra, is running for the presidency on April 19 as the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance party. After Biafra's defeat in 1970, Ojukwu fled into exile in Ivory Coast, but returned in 1981 after he was granted a state pardon.

While Ibo nationalism and complaints of unfair treatment by successive regimes since the end of the civil war feature prominently in his campaign, Ojukwu has distanced himself from Uwazuruike's movement, which has frequent run-ins with the authorities.

The Article: "Rights group slams threat against Ogoni activist"

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned a recent invasion by armed men of the home of the leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), a minority rights group in the Niger Delta, southeastern Nigeria.

In a statement on Friday, the international human rights watchdog said the invasion of the home of MOSOP President Ledum Mitee by eight heavily armed men was evidence of the urgent need to protect critics of the government ahead of general elections in April.

The men broke into Mitee's residence in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt on the night of 22 March and demanded the MOSOP leader, who was abroad at the time. They left after searching the house for him, taking only a mobile phone and harming no one.

Political violence and killings have increased in Nigeria in the run up to the country's first polls since President Olusegun Obasanjo's election in 1999 ended more than 15 years of military rule.

“Threats and intimidation against political activists are another worrying sign of the level of political violence in the country,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. “This comes on top of political assassinations and fighting between supporters of different political factions, which have led to scores of deaths across Nigeria in the last few months.”

HRW said Mitee and another MOSOP leader had earlier received threatening phone calls about their politics. Signs that MOSOP officials were being watched by state security agents included the arrest and questioning on 23 March of MOSOP programme officer Legborsi Saro Pyagbara by police at Lagos airport, the group said.

Pyagbara was on his way to Geneva to attend a session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The security officials, who wanted to know why MOSOP was sending him out of Nigeria at that time and what it expected to achieve, released him after four hours, HRW said.

MOSOP, was founded in 1990 to campaign for the rights of the Ogoni ethnic minority of the oil-producing Niger Delta. Under late writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa, the group campaigned against oil giant Royal/Dutch Shell for alleged environmental degradation in Ogoniland, resulting in the company's withdrawal from the area in 1993.

Under late Nigerian military ruler Gen Sani Abacha, Saro-Wiwa, Mitee and eight other Ogoni activists were charged before a military tribunal for the murder of four rivals. Although the trial was viewed as flawed and condemned internationally, eight of the activists were sentenced to death and hanged in November 1995. Only Mitee was acquitted.

HRW said MOSOP under Mitee had been critical of the ruling People's Democratic Party and the government over the use of violence against political opponents. Actions that may have angered his opponents, it said, included interviews by the MOSOP leader and the fact that, at meetings MOSOP organised with politicians in Ogoniland, he had urged Ogonis not to vote for candidates who supported violence.

03 / 28 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Obasanjo orders immediate arrest of militants"

President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday ordered the immediate arrest of ethnic militants who unleashed two weeks of violence in Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta that caused scores of deaths and halted oil operations.

Obasanjo told a delegation of women from the Itsekiri community in his office that he had directed all the security agencies to take immediate steps to restore order in the area and apprehend "the culprits". The women had asked for urgent government intervention to end the crisis.

At least 100 people, including 10 soldiers were killed in the violence, which first broke out between the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities. Troops sent to quell the violence were later drawn into deadly confrontations with Ijaw fighters.

Oil transnationals ChevronTexaco, Royal/Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf were forced to close their operations in the affected area, cutting back Nigeria's two-million-barrel daily oil output by 40 percent - about 800,000 barrels.

"A situation where innocent citizens, soldiers and naval personnel carrying out their legitimate duties are killed is not one in which I will fold my arms and do nothing," Obasanjo said. He added that the militants must be punished for crimes against fellow citizens and national resources.

The president's statement has further raised fears that the military authorities might carry out reprisal attacks against the Ijaw communities where the soldiers were killed. Similar warnings by Obasanjo had preceded the invasion of Odi in the Niger Delta in 1999 and Zaki Biam in central Nigeria in 2001, where hundreds of people were killed by troops after local militias had killed soldiers.

Earlier this month the United States cut military aid to Nigeria, citing the killings in central Nigeria as the reason for the action.

The latest conflict in the Niger Delta is linked to a violent dispute which broke out in the Delta town of Warri in February between the Urhobo and the Itsekiri communities over the delineation of electoral wards ahead of April-May general elections. The Ijaws sided with the Urhobo, alleging that the allocation of wards was in favour of the Itsekiri.

03 / 27 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Ijaw militants say halting fighting"

Ijaw militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta, who have engaged troops and rival Itsekiris in two weeks of fighting in which up to 100 people died, said on Wednesday they had stopped fighting after the Delta State governor James Ibori promised to meet their demands.

Ijaw communities in the western Niger Delta had alleged that distribution of electoral wards ahead of April general elections were lopsided in a way that would disenfranchise their communities in favour of their Itsekiri neighbours.

Fighting between the rival communities had sucked in the army after clashes between troops and Ijaw militants resulted in the death of several soldiers. An escalation in the fighting forced oil transnationals operating in the area to shut down their operations and 40 percent (over 800,000 barrels per day) of Nigeria's daily oil output of about two million barrels.

The Ijaw militants also seized several oil facilities and threatened to blow them up if the military continued to attack their communities.

"We met with the governor and he promised to prevail on the military authorities not to carry out reprisal attacks on our villages," Bello Oboko, president of the militant Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, told IRIN. "He also promised to intervene to ensure our political demands were met."

Abel Oshevire, spokesman for governor Ibori confirmed the militants had agreed to end further violence. The governor, he added, prevailed on the belligerent groups to give the Independent National Electoral Commission time to to re-draw electoral wards in "a just and equitable" manner.

Nigerian army spokesman, Col. Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu, described the decision of the youths to lay down arms and pursue a peaceful resolution of the crisis as "a very welcome development". He said there had been no incidents since Tuesday in the conflict area and expressed hope things would remain that way.

Thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the waterways of the western Niger Delta to protect the facilities of oil transnationals ChevronTexaco, Royal/Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf, evacuated in the heat of the violence and help quell the fighting.

The conflict is linked to the violent dispute which broke out in Warri in February between the Urhobo and the Itsekiri communities over the delineation of electoral wards ahead of April-May general elections. The Ijaw community took sides with the Urhobo, alleging the sharing of wards was lopsided in favour of the Itsekiri.

Tension in the Warri area has added to apprehension that the coming elections, the first since the 1999 vote that brought President Olusegun Obasanjo to office and ended more than 15 years of military rule, may be marred by violence. Rival supporters of different political parties have clashed in different parts of Africa's most populous country while several cases of political assassinations have been recorded nationwide.

03 / 26 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Army deploys more troops to protect Delta oil installations"

Nigeria's military authorities said on Tuesday they were deploying more troops to quell two weeks of ethnic unrest in the Niger Delta that cut the country's oil output by more than 40 percent.

Witnesses said more than 1,000 navy and army troops and three frigates were seen at the waterfront of the oil town of Warri, heading towards an oil export terminal of the transnational ChevronTexaco located in the Escravos area. It is in this area that most of the fighting between militants of the Ijaw and the Itsekiri ethnic groups, and between Ijaws and the military, has occurred in the past two weeks.

"We have had to take in more troops to further secure the facilities and make sure they'll never be compromised," Nigerian army spokesman Col. Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu told IRIN.

He said the military has been able to secure all the major oil facilities in the area, including the ChevronTexaco Escravos export terminal and the Forcados export terminal operated by Royal/Dutch Shell. Onwuamaegbu said the military would next turn its attention to smaller facilities in more remote locations, where vulnerable military posts had been attacked by militants, resulting in a number of military casualties. More than 3,000 soldiers are currently deployed in the area.

About 100 people, including at least 10 soldiers, have been killed since violence broke out early this month between Ijaws and Itsekiris in connection with a dispute over the distribution of electoral wards ahead of April general elections. The violence escalated after a shootout between troops and Ijaw militants on 12 March, in which five soldiers were killed. Ijaw militants accused the military of siding with the Itsekiri and of killing more than 55 fighters and an unknown number of unarmed villagers in raids.

Militants of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities have threatened to blow up 11 oil facilities they have seized if the military raids continued. The facilities belong to Royal/Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco and TotalFinaElf.

The violence reduced output by some 800,000 barrels a day or 40 percent of Nigeria's crude oil production.

03 / 24 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Ethnic militants threaten to blow up oil facilities"

Militants from the Ijaw ethnic group in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta region threatened on Monday to blow up oil facilities they have seized if military raids continued against their villages.

Armed militants of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) said they had seized 11 oil pumping stations belonging to Royal/Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco and TotalFinaElf. They said the action was in reprisal for attacks by the military whom they accuse of siding with their Itshekiri rivals in communal clashes over the past few weeks.

Dan Ekpebide, a leader of FNDIC, said combined army and navy troops had attacked several Ijaw communities since last week, killing and injuring scores of people and forcing thousands to flee their villages. "If they continue these attacks we'll have no alternative but to blow up all these facilities under our control," he told IRIN.

In the latest confrontation between troops and the militants on Saturday, five people, including two soldiers and three employees of TotalFinaElf were killed in a battle for the control of two of the company's facilities in the western Niger Delta, army spokesman Col. Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu said.

TotalFinaElf subsequently announced its withdrawal from the Upomami and Kpoko facilities.

The three oil transnationals affected by the current crisis have so far cut their output, which amounts normally to about 800,000 barrels per day (bd) - more than one-third of Nigeria's daily production of about two million bd.

FNDIC said more than 55 of its militants had been killed since an initial confrontation with troops at the village of Okerenkoko, and that an unknown number of unarmed villagers have been killed by soldiers. The military authorities said more than 10 soldiers have so far been killed, bringing known casualties to more than 65 dead.

The conflict is linked to a violent dispute which broke out in the Delta town of Warri in February between the Urhobo and the Itshekiri communities over the delineation of electoral wards ahead of April-May general elections. The Ijaw community took sides with the Urhobo, alleging that the boundaries favoured the Itshekiri.

03 / 22 / 2003 

INTER PRESS SERVICE

The article: "Ethnic clashes result in closure of crude oil production" (T. Olori)

Nigeria's petroleum industry may not benefit from the bombardment of Iraq by the United Stated-led coalition after ethnic clashes last week forced multi-national companies to shut down of operations in Warri, one of the major oil-producing cities in the Niger Delta region.

Economists say the shut-down may mean that Nigeria will not benefit from the suspension of the quota allocated to member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to make up for any shortfall arising from the Iraq war.

The announcement by OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah means member countries would be free to produce as many barrels of crude per day as their capacity could carry. Nigeria, which is the sixth largest producer of crude in the organisation and derives more than 90 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from oil, currently produces two million barrels per day of crude.

However, economists say with the current violent crisis in the Niger Delta region and the shut down of flow stations, Nigeria will not benefit financially from the suspension of the OPEC quota and the bombing of Iraqi oil wells by American soldiers which has pushed international oil prices up.

Reports from Warri say military authorities rolled out armoured tanks and deployed troops to several parts of the city to combat rampaging youths - suspected to be of Ijaw ethnic group - who were clashing with the Urhobos and Itsekiri tribes for the control of the water ways in the area.

Witnesses say a full scale war broke out between the army and the Ijaw youth with the army losing at least 10 soldiers during the skirmish.

The first contingent of 1,000 men of the combined Army and Navy had reportedly embarked on ''a shoot-on-sight'' operation at Okerekoko, an Itshekiri community, but the troops ran into an ambush on their way. A fierce battle is reported to have ensued resulting in 10 soldiers dead and several others injured. An additional 1,000 soldiers were then deployed to support the initial contingent.

Military sources told journalists in Warri that the army was disadvantaged by the fact that the Ijaw youth had superior knowledge of the area and were heavily armed and ready for battle.

The rampaging youths destroyed the village of Kporo, which is located near an oil terminal, bringing to 12 the number of Itshekiri communities destroyed since hostilities began on Wednesday last week. Police reports say at least 50 people have been killed and several injured in the renewed crisis.

One of the Ijaw youths, who refused to give his name, said they were fighting the government because of the total neglect of their area which produces oil. ''We will make this place ungovernable for the federal government and their multi-national oil companies which degrade our environment without putting much back into the area. We will not relent until the government changes it's stand and takes care of this region,'' he said.

The action of the youths and the insecurity in the area have forced both Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the American-oil giant, Chevron Texaco, - two oil producing giants in Nigeria - to shut down crude oil flow stations in the area. According to estimates Shell alone will lose 76,000 barrels of crude per day and Chevron Texaco a total of 140,000 barrels of oil a day.

Sola Omole, Chevron general manager, government and public affairs, in a statement said two contract workers from the Chevron Texaco Escravos Tank Farm were hit by stray bullets, one of them died while the other was treated and later discharged. He noted that the unrest was not directed at the company's operations or its workers.

''We learnt that the unrest was aimed specifically at protesting political actions connected to the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria. The protest has since degenerated into inter-ethnic feud resulting in the burning of rival communities in the Western Niger Delta,'' Omole said.

But by Thursday, Chevron Nigeria Limited announced a shut-down of production from all of its onshore and swamp locations in the Western Niger Delta as a result of the unrest.

''The shut down of the onshore locations is a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of workers and guard against environmental damage in the case of an escalation of the situation,'' said Omale.

On Thursday the crisis spread to the neighbouring Rivers State where ethnic Ogbogu youth groups seized a major flow station belonging to Elf Petroleum, alleging a breach of memorandum of understanding signed with the firm.

The Ogbogu flow station owned by Elf, a French firm, is one of the company's most extensive oil fields in Nigeria. The youth stormed the station accusing the oil multinational of deliberately undermining the interest of its' host communities despite signing a memorandum of understanding with them.

Last year Shell and Chevron faced the wrath of women in the Niger Delta region who were demanding better conditions for the exploitation of oil and degradation and pollution of their land and water due to exploration activities in the region.

The attack on Iraq Thursday pushed up prices of oil in London and New York. In London, the price of North Sea Brent crude surged to 27.06 dollars per barrel after hitting an early morning low of 25.53 dollars. In New York, the price of light, sweet crude rose to 42 cents above Wednesday's close of 30.30 after falling earlier to as low as 28 dollars a barrel.

OPEC which controls more than 40 per cent of the world's crude supply, operates the quota system as a control mechanism to ensure market stability. Thursday's announcement of the lifting of the quota was aimed at maintaining world oil supplies and prices in the event of the disruption to Iraqi crude export.

With the suspension of quota system, Nigeria could push 2.6 million barrels per day crude compared to official output of 2.018 million barrels per day for this year. This will represent additional oil output of 582,000 barrels per day and a substantial boost for the 2003 national budget.

THIS DAY (Nigeria)

The article: "Why I won't sign new corruption act - Obasanjo" (Adeyeye Joseph & Malachy Agbo)

President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed reasons why he would not sign the amended Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act, which the National Assembly forwarded to him, into law.

The President made the disclosure, yesterday, while answering questions during a presidential debate in Abuja.

On the ICPC Act, President Obasanjo said he is restrained from taking any action on the Act because he had been served with a court injunction preventing him from doing so.

"As at this point I have been served with a court injunction not to act (in any way) on the matter," he said in response to a question whether he would sign the bill into law or not.

Other public institutions served with the injunction, according to Obasanjo, include the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Obasanjo said he would have to wait till April when a court would sit on the matter before he could take any action on the law.

"I and my administration believe in the rule of law. We are restrained until sometime in April when the case would go to court. not to act in any way on the matter," he said.

While defending his administration's anti corruption programme, Obasanjo said he could walk with his head held high in any part of the world because of the high marks his administration has scored in fighting corruption.

"The first draft bill I put before the National Assembly was the draft bill to deal with corruption. That bill languished in the National Assembly for over a year. But I persisted until it was passed and it became a law. And that law had been so well implemented that those who passed the bill are so afraid of it that they have attempted to kill that law."

He wondered why Nigerians often ask, "how many big men have you put in jail," when his aim in fighting corruption is not to "put big men in jail," but to, "ensure that big men do not become corrupt."

Obasanjo disagreed that former Acting Auditor-General, Vincent Azie was sacked even as he admitted the charges of incompetence leveled against Azie by the finance minister were not unfounded.

"He was not sacked. By the constitution he could only act for 6 months and it was after the six months that he was removed," Obasanjo said.

Explaining further Obasanjo said the controversial report which Azie authored was not a proper audit report but an audit query which would have been answered anyway.

On the convocation of a national conference an idea mooted by some as the sole palliative for the nation's social and economic problems, Obasanjo stressed that having been elected by the Nigerian people, he would not surrender his mandate to an unelected body of representatives.

"I am not against the National Conference but you must have a purpose that you want to achieve," he said.

He said only the National Assembly could convene a National Conference if it is constitutionally empowered to do so.