ATEKE TOM AND NIGER DELTA CRISIS

ATEKE TOM AND HIS ACTIVITIES IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION.
In the wake of violence in Okrika Local Government Area, the Rivers State Government declared a dusk to dawn curfew in the area. One of sons of Okrika Ateke Tom has declared war on Rivers State and other parts of Niger Delta following the destruction of his house and property by soldiers from the Joint Task Force. He has vowed that Rivers state will know no peace except the state government rebuild his house and refunded about six million that he alleged soldiers looted from his house. For the five months that the administration of governor Celestine Omehia declared a curfew in Port Harcourt and its environs, on a daily basis hundreds of residents violated the curfew until Governor Chubike Amaechi lifted it on December 30,2007.
Despite government lifting of curfew, residents of Port Harcourt are currently observing a self-imposed curfew. These days before 9 pm Port Harcourt is like a ghost city as residents scrambled to the safety of their homes. The fear is that one may fall victim to stray bullet during a gun battle between security agents and militants and in event of death, you may be tagged a militant. And maybe throughout your lifetime you never apply to join The Boys Scout, let alone a militant group. The insecurity in the state capital is underlined by the police, at the Mile One Divisional Police Headquarters by 7 pm every evening no vehicle is allow to pass in front, besides and behind the stations. All the roads surrounding the station are cordoned from vehicular traffic. And this sends a message to the residents that all is not well. If the police stations are under siege where do we seek refuge? As one was writing this article, Thursday morning few metres from my office along Ikwerre Road by Chisco Motors, a man carrying a brown enveloped was shot by two young men on a motor bike. When the contents of the envelop spilled out and it was not money the assailants sped off. A police patrol van that was just driving past refused to response to the distress call from people around the area.
But since Ateke carried out attacks on two police stations in Port Harcourt and the Hotel Presidential, residents of the Garden City are wary of where they go and when they go. Ateke also claimed responsibility for the fire incident at the NNPC Jetty at Ogoloma, where more than 40 persons were reportedly burnt and property worth millions destroyed. Just last week a ship, MV Golden Lucy that was discharging petrol at Port Harcourt Area One port was rocked by an explosion. The Nigerian Port Authority claimed the explosion was a normal maritime accident,a militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, which has declared support for Ateke’s new war on the state and public property claimed responsibility. Angered by the claim by the General Manager of Eastern Ports, Mr. Sotonye Etomi, the explosion was an accident, MEND decided to teach him a lesson by attacking his convoy. And during the attack a Police Inspector, Paulinus Amachi was killed. The timing of the attack was note worthy as it was carried out when Etomi, an Ijaw and a son of the soil was not in the convoy.
LEADER of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, does not agreed with Ateke on most issues, in fact he has even alleged years back that some people in the Rivers state government wanted to use Ateke to killed him but on the current actions of Ateke, Asari said these activities came following provocations by the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi. Asari averred that Ameachi has no power to declare Ateke wanted. According to Asari, Ateke is trying to create a state of emergency in the state. Asari said he had spoken to Ateke that his attack on the state was unacceptable to the people, and Ateke promised him that the situation will not repeat itself. Asari declared that if Ateke attacks the Ijaw people, he would be brought to book by the Ijaws. This is a testimony that Ateke is an Ijaw warrior or general. And among the Ijaws there is an unwritten agreement that no harm should come to any of them that is involve in the current violence in the Niger Delta. Also any of them that killed a fellow Ijaw man must be sanction.
Chris Ekiyor, a medical doctor and President of the Ijaw Youth Council [IYC] observed that the attack on Ateke is part of the implementation of a security document on how the military intend to wipe out Ijaw communities. Ekiyor said the Ijaws are taken aback by the attack on the ancient palace of Gbaraun and Okochri after the president have promised that such attacks would never occur. The IYC leader said he was able to get Ateke to release six Russians that were taken hostages at the Aluminium Smelter Plant, Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State. According to Ekiyor, Ateke has embraced peace as he even nominated someone to represent his group to the Presidential Peace Committee on Niger Delta. He aso said that Ateke participated in all the peace process to unite all the fighting group in Okrika. Ekiyor, who said he will not discuss peace with Ateke until government shows its readiness for peace asked government to give Ateke amnesty and the wanted man will come out and contribute to the peace process in the Niger Delta. “Ateke has been with them all these years but they have not been able to get him,” Ekiyor taunted the Rivers State Government.
Ateke is always quick to declare his innocence and insisted that he is a man of peace that spent more than N100 million naira to restore peace in his native Okrika. Ateke raised an alarm that the invasion and burning of his home in Okrika, Rivers State by members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) was a fresh step by the authorities towards eliminating him. He told newsmen in Port Harcourt that his hands were clean, and denied involvement in such activities such as kidnapping and illegal bunkering. He also accused the government of going against the spirit of the peace deal he signed that led to the amnesty that was granted him. “The government is not justified in coming after me, going by the role I played in the return of peace in the state. The government is going against the spirit of the peace deal I signed with them that led to the amnesty granted me. The JTF is attacking my property for the sole purpose of terminating my life."
On last year raid by JTF, Ateke said two fighter "helicopters belonging to the JTF carried out bombing of" one of his camps along the Bonny axis. "But I was not in the camp and they cannot get me”.” This is provocation of the highest form and calls to question the sincerity of the JTF in its duties if innocent civilians could be bombed without any reason. Although no one was wounded, it was, however, targeted at me and the people who are living their normal lives without offending the security of the state or anyone. The Federal Government is yet to rebuild my houses which were burnt by the JTF and pay all the money looted by the soldiers and property that were removed also. I have given an ultimatum of seven days and I stand by it. I cannot be intimidated by the continuous attacks on me and my boys by agents of the Federal Government but I have a right to fight back."
In 2004 Ateke was declared wanted and a ransom placed on his head by the Rivers State Police Command; in 2006 the military declared him wanted and announced a prize of five million naira for whoever can give information leading to his arrest. Right now Ateke is declared wanted and another ransom placed on his head. Ateke may end up being the Rivers man who has been declared wanted most.
December last year, JTF has raided Ateke camp in the Evil forest, Okochri in Okrika. JTF leader and Commander of 2nd Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt, Brigadier Sarkin-Yaki Bello, alleged that Ateke was involved in oil theft. Justifying the raid. Bello said and his group of militants perpetuated attacks on the Bonny River; debunked Ateke’s claims that the invasion of his base was against the spirit of the peace agreement he reached with the government.
Bello said"Over the months, intelligence reports had indicated to us a lot of things that had been going on in that place. In order to ascertain these things, we sent in an information patrol, which went in and came back to confirm that a lot of militants had infested Okochiri and that Ateke was a cult hero in that place. That was what informed the operation we carried out.” Bello, said his men would not relent in apprehending Ateke and said that all the task force required was the right information, stressing: “One day we will get him. We will like to get him alive so he can face justice. I have a chain of command I take order from,” and declared that Ateke had not been granted amnesty by anyone.”
After the invasionby JTF, Ateke issued a seven day deadline for the state government to rebuild his house destroyed by the soldiers and refund about six million naira he claimed soldiers looted from his house.
A statement attributed to one of his aides Damiso said: “Ateke Tom wishes to make it clear to the world that the killing of the soldiers in Okrika, the burning of their patrol vans and the local government council as well as the ships was carried out by him. My action is predicated on the general lack of confidence in the presidential peace, brokered between the Nigerian State and the Izon people. This is also evident in the arrest of Henry Okah in Angola and the recent attack on me and other places by the forces of the same government.Certainly, this is not a government that wants peace. We will continue to fight till our rights are respected as a people. Enough of this double-standard and double-speak in a frail and crisis-prone region.”
Ateke Tom, leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Group, means several things to several people. To Chubike Amaechi, governor of Rivers State and members of the Joint Task Force [JTF] and security chiefs: Ateke is a wanted person, a kidnapper, a murderer, illegal bunkerer and a criminal. To members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND]; Ateke is a comrade-in- arms and part of the Niger Delta struggle. To the Ijaw nation, Ateke is a “warrior,” one of the Ijaw respected generals, a patriot and a fighter for the Ijaw cause. To the boys Ateke is the “Godfather”. Depending on what angle you look at Ateke he may be a saint or a demon. To some people in Okrika the fragile peace in the town is attributed to his efforts to reconcile the warring parties in Okrika. To some youths Ateke is a philanthropist who cares for the welfare of orphans and widows as ell as offer schorlarship to indigent students of Okrika.
Much is not known about Ateke until civilian came into power in 1999. Some person claimed he was a fisherman in his native Okrika. Other said he was into illegal bunkering of petroleum. Others still averred that Ateke was working for former Secretary to Rivers state Government and ex-Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Precious Sekibo. According to another militant leader and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Voulunteer Force, Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo-Asari "Ateke was a creation of the government of Rivers State for eight years, he was out to attack me then when I protested against the 2003 governorship elections in Rivers State, he is a product of government in which Amaechi was number three, there is a transfer of aggression in his case".
According to sources in Port Harcourt, Atake was the mastermind that give victory to PDP in Okrika and Ogu Bolo local government areas of Rivers State. The story is that All Peoples Party now ANPP won in these two areas during the 1999 general elections. But PDP appointed an Okrika son, Sekibo as the Secretary to the Government. And in order to ensure that these areas are delivered to PDP , the services of Ateke was engaged and that was the beginning of the rise and rise of the Godfather. According to a report from the Human Right Watch “ the former Secretary to the State Government and current Federal Transport Minister, Abiye Sekibo, provided logistical support and political protection to local youth leader Tom to help counter the influence of the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), particularly in Okrika local government area, during the 2003 state and federal elections. During this period, Tom was given free rein to carry out profitable bunkering activities in exchange for his group’s violent services during the 2003 elections.8In an interview with Human Rights Watch, a local opposition party candidate alleged that senior members of the local PDP, including Abiye Sekibo, used members of Tom’s NDV, known at the time as the “Ateke boys,” to drive opposition supporters out of Ogu/Bolo and Okrika local government areas prior to the elections.9 A local resident told Human Rights Watch how in March 2003, one month before the elections, armed members of Tom’s NDV gunmen attacked opposition party members who were putting up election posters in Amadi Ama.”

Amaechi has declared Ateke a common criminal and has vowed not to rest until Ateke is arrested and prosecuted. The governor has also declared that Ateke has not been granted amnesty. If, Ateke wants amnesty, Amaechi insisted he must surrender his arms. But Ateke is saying he will not give up his arms. Will Amaechi have the political will to go after Ateke in view of the fact that Ateke is like a little bird dancing on the road while those during are in the nearby bush.

































































































































































































































































































































































































*Over 30 policemen killed, claims Ateke Tom
THE Rivers State Government, reacting to Tuesday’s mayhem in Port Harcourt by gunmen, has declared that warlord Ateke Tom be fished out by all means and handed over to government for prosecution.
Ateke claimed responsibility for the attack in which at least 16 people including seven policemen were killed.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi on a visit to Okirika, Ateke’s base, directed the chiefs and people of the area to track him down, saying the warlord’s activities were hindering the progress of the area.
And at a state banquet in Port Harcourt, the governor said enemies of progress including those he described as cultists would never succeed in distracting government from delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.
Governor Amaechi also warned that gunmen who failed to submit their weapons of war to government would not be granted amnesty.
However, Ateke says he will not submit any weapon. He also claims his men killed over 30 policemen in Tuesday’s attack.
Governor Amaechi at the banquet in Port Harcourt lamented the New Year day’s attack, saying those bent on destabilising the state would fail.
His words: “While we appreciate the difficulties of these youths, we shall advise in very strong terms that they surrender their weapons to government while we look for a way of rehabilitating them.
Those who surrender their weapons will be granted amnesty while those who refuse to do so will face the wrath of the people and that of the Rivers State government.
“Security remains the greatest challenge threatening our state while till this time it was difficult to ensure the safety of lives and property as aliens were taken at will and kidnapping became almost a daily occurrence.
This is a place where criminals and warlords were on the prowl, foreigners were leaving our state in droves and investors divested from our state. Some of our people began to wonder if government lacked the will and political courage to deal with the situation. We shall prove them wrong.
“In the past 24 hours, armed bandits again invaded Port Harcourt in a futile attempt to reintroduce theft, intimidate government, spread panic and demoralise our people.
They failed. The resolve of government remains unshaken and our commitment to the provision of security, law and order in Rivers State will not lose focus.
“We thank our security forces, particularly the Police, for their valour. We shall stand with all security agencies in their efforts to restore sanity in our state and we shall not abandon those who may be injured or even lose their lives in the service of their country. These people must be completely eliminated from our state so that our state can grow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ateke Tom has said he will not be part of any call to return weapons as it is a ploy to arrest militants in the state. Ateke who spoke on telephone said the state government was not sincere with the peace process.
He claimed that over 30 policemen were killed in the attacks at the two police stations and Presidential Hotel.
Among the victims were two employees of the Nigerian Ports Authority, an engineer, and a traffic officer, while a computer analyst was identified by his grandmother, including a teacher with a private school and some others who were unidentified at press time.
But state Commissioner of Police, Mr Felix Ogbaudu, said all those killed were militants or cultists, because they were killed in front of the police station during the shootout and their vehicles recovered.
However, relations of the slain said the people killed were decent citizens. They said they were shocked that the police had to bury them in a hurry, and that the bodies had to be exhumed after they protested.
A Bible was found at the scene of killing and identified as that of one of the victims whose relations are insisting that his body be released to them for proper burial and his name be cleared.
Ateke Tom speaking to Vanguard on phone said yesterday he lost only three men and two of the corpses were taken away. He said one was killed accidentally by his men when they raided the Presidential Hotel.
He warned that a massive “showdown across the Niger Delta region was in the pipeline.Warri in Delta State, Yenagoa in Bayelsa and Port Harcourt,” he said would soon erupt in violence.
“If we could kill 30 policemen in two police stations and at the hotel and lose only three men, it means we are simply good. In fact, only two men died in the exchange of fire while one died mistakenly,” he said during the telephone interview.
At this point a man who described himself A.E. Pere, spokesman for NDV, took over the conversation which went thus:
Vanguard: What do you men mistakenly?
Pere: He was shot by our own men.
Vanguard: What are the names of the men you lost?
Pere: Don’t worry, they were brave men.
Vanguard: Did you recover their bodies?
Pere: Yes we did, but one was left behind.
Vanguard: So what next?
Pere: This is not an Ateke Tom’s operation alone. The directive is from Warri Central Command.
Vanguard: But it is like you are giving out vital information about your planned operation?
Pere: No, nonsense. We attack our targets any time and any day and with ease.
George Onah & Jimitota OnoyumeLagos
THE Joint Task Force, JTF, yesterday, carried out aerial bombings at targeted places suspected to be hideouts of the alleged cult leader, Ateke Tom, in Okrika, Rivers State.
Confirming the development to Sunday Vanguard on phone, the JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, said they acted on intelligence report that the places attacked were the alleged cultist's hideouts and armoury.
Ateke equally confirmed the air raid but boasted that the task force could not get him.Musa said that the JTF, in bombing the targets, was careful to ensure that no civilian resident sustained injury. But he was silent if any casualty was recorded on the side of Ateke and his group.
He said the attack was restricted to Dawes Island General area, in Okrika. According to the JTF spokesman, three camps operated by the alleged cult leader were in the island.
"What you heard of is just confirmatory air surveillance of Ateke Tom's camps located in the creeks along Dawes Island General area. The air surveillance, or where necessary strike, was targeted at three confirmed militant camps in the area. We are mindful of the collateral damages that our actions may cause.
"That is why we always exercise restraint in our operations. We are just trying what is practically imperative to tame the growing militant activities in that area, particularly their arms and ammunition depots", he said.
Responding to the air strike in a text message to Sunday Vanguard in Port Harcourt, yesterday, Ateke said two fighter "helicopters belonging to the JTF carried out bombing of" one of his camps along the Bonny axis. "But I was not in the camp and they cannot get me".
He went on: "This is provocation of the highest form and calls to question the sincerity of the JTF in its duties if innocent civilians could be bombed without any reason. Although no one was wounded, it was, however, targeted at me and the people who are living their normal lives without offending the security of the state or anyone.
"The Federal Government is yet to rebuild my houses which were burnt by the JTF and pay all the money looted by the soldiers and property that were removed also. I have given an ultimatum of seven days and I stand by it. I cannot be intimidated by the continuous attacks on me and my boys by agents of the Federal Government but I have a right to fight back."

The military yesterday launched a massive manhunt for suspected cultist Ateke Tom in the creeks of the Niger Delta.
The search began barely 24 hours after Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi declared Tom wanted.
The troops stormed Tom’s hometown, Okochiri in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State and his "Evil Forest" hide-out.
They overran the forest and arrested some suspects, whose number could not be ascertained at press time.
Tom is said to have escaped with a few of his aides. He is believed to have fled the state. The government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Okrika. The curfew is from 6p.m. to 6a.m.
The soldiers searched passers-by and vehicles in their bid to arrest Tom.
It is believed that Tom cannot be captured without an aerial battle.
"Since he knows the creeks very well, it will be easy for him to slip away if we go after him on foot. It is an area we are not conversant with. But as soon as we are able to pinpoint where he may be hiding, we will start bombing," a military source said.
He said the Army, Navy and Air Force were involved in the search because "it is an all-out battle to get Tom".
But the National Co-ordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG) Joseph Evah said yesterday that the military cannot arrest Tom.
He cautioned against deploying fresh arms and ammunition in the Niger Delta because, in his view, they would be seized and used against the soldiers by the militants.
Evah urged the Federal Government to probe the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Rivers State for its alleged role in the fresh crisis that has erupted in the region. The military, he said, are creating the environment for the crisis.
He said: "Declaring Ateke Tom wanted is a ploy. If we are in a sane society, the task force should be declared wanted because the military is creating the environment for the crisis. The JTF wants crisis in the region so that they can keep on collecting security votes in dollars from the oil companies."
Evah, who criticised President Umaru Yar’Adua’s proposed budget for security in the region, said the proposal showed the sensitivity of the President to the agonies of people in the Niger Delta.
Besides, he accused Yar’Adua of taking key decisions on the region without carrying along the indigenes occupying key positions in his administration.
He said: "The Vice President is an Ijaw, the Chief of Defence Staff is an Ijaw and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is an Ijaw but the President would not consult with all these people before taking a decision that would affect our people."
On Wednesday, Amaechi asked Okrika elders and leaders to produce Tom or incur the government’s wrath.
The governor challenged Tom to come out of hiding and face the law, if his activities are not criminal in nature. He chided his kinsmen for covering him up, despite all his "atrocities".
Amaechi, who toured the Evil Forest, allegedly used for the initiation and training of cultists, described Tom as a "criminal".
"We have seen that actually this is an Evil Forest where they have a shrine and where they practise how to shoot, but how does the worshipping of juju, charming of people and killing of innocent souls contribute to the struggle for the Niger Delta?" the governor asked.
The governor, who noted that there were other genuine ways of presenting the Niger Delta struggle, said the only way to make peace was for Tom to renounce violence.
Amaechi asked Okrika leaders: "Why are we making innocent souls to die? Why can’t we solve our problems by bringing out all those who are involved? Ateke cannot fight government and you are here celebrating him".
"Mr Ateke cannot withstand the Federal Government but we fear that should the military be given the go-ahead, some innocent souls may die in the process,".
In their speeches, Mr Otonsike Walter Obom and Mr Gaius Jamabo attributed the Okrika crisis to the political class’ struggle for power.
Amaechi was accompanied on the visit by heads of security organizations in the state: the Brigade Commander; the Commanding Officer of the NNS Pathfinder; the Air Force Commander in Port Harcourt; the Police commissioner, and the Director of the State Security Service (SSS).
reports that top government officials shield him from arrest ahead the 2007 polls.