Nigerian army out of control

We need the saving power of Jesus Christ to deliver Nigeria from the power of the devil causing us to shed human blood in our nation. May the Lord God come to rescue us now before it will be too late for us as a nation.

Did the Mr. President get the consent of the National Assembly before declaring war in the Niger Delta? I hope all those in support of the President's action will stand by the President when the chips are down? It is better to do things properly especially when it affects Nigerians. Annihilating the Niger Delta is not the best option in my candid opinion.

I am from the Niger Delta. I abhore the action of those who engage in purely criminal activities and their backers in the name of agitation. Their method is senseless! Some of the security personnel they kill and main, and many of those they kidnap, including children are from the Niger Delta whose cause they claim to fight. As far as I know, all our governors are supportive of the military clampdown. There cannot be progress in the midst of anarchy. The Federal Authorities must live up to their responsibilities and do that which is right, that is, protect the lawabiding citizens and foreigners from these thieving criminals and their sponsors.

Two wrongs they saycannot make a right The militants(freedom fighters)are conderm because they choose wrong approach to express their greviences, How about they govt approach?

Our so call president who believes in the rule of law so tell the Nigerian people if he sort the approval on the national assembly before embarking on the illegal killing of the Niger Delta people. As much as the Freedom fighters are taking the wrong approach after years of neglect both from the federal government and their state governors, the President's decision to engage on an illegal slaughter of unarmed civilians including women and children is against international laws which Nigeria is a signatory to. The federal government should try by building schools, roads, houses hospital for the people as a way of appeasing them for all the ills that has been done to the people over the years. Enough of the killings.

The loss of live in any form is not acceptable and regretful, however, the government swore to uphold the security and integrity of the nation and it had a responsibility to uphold this with its leverage - sole responsibility for the use of force. When this leverage is being challenged and ignored, then the government is failing in its responsibility to live up to its oats of office. There is no right thinking nation where tha attrocities being carried out by MEND can be tolerated. There are democractic means of expressing differences and this must be used at all time, when any group took up arms in expression of agitation it has crossed the forbiden line and must be put in check with the apparatus of government including the use of force which had been long due, further delay do not only boost the ego of the agitator but also enhance cracks through which exogenous inflence with no love for the nation can penetrate. Like previous internal disturbances that treathen the unity of this nation, the president as the commander in chief is not bound by the constitution to seek the approval of the national assembly to fulfil it obligation which it did in this manner with other complementary approaches. It is high time the people of the delta states openly condem and stop condoling the activities of the MEND. Each of the critics should focus their attention standing against the elements that is dis-integrting this nation and not condeming the messagers of unity. MEND should stop its operation and listen to the voice of its elders.

Mr Ogunye seems to be speaking not as a Nigerian but as a Niger Deltan. Let us know that there can be no development in that region as long as those criminals exist there. Let the government deal with the criminality and thereafter concentrate on the development challenge.

We delude ourselves often when we react to catchy headlines such as " Army out of control " i suppose when the militants in the Niger Delta took it upon themselves to carry out an armed struggle, then whatever they get in return is entirely their business. I disagree that the Army is out of control, for too long the militants in the Niger Delta became a law unto themselves and unfortunately, they turned a very reasonable agitation by the likes of Isaac Boro and Ken Saro wiwa into something else. I suppose for the likes of Jiti Ogunye, the Goverment should fold its arms when citizens who are defenceless are being kidnapped and notorious people like Dokubo-Asari are ditching out threats to blow up oil installations. What the Army is about is simply ensuring law and order in an area of Nigeria that has no iota of order and has been ruled by bandits. Even some Governors were said to be sponsoring these criminals and have them on their pay roll. For these militants to have the effontery to arrange to procure arms from corrupt soldiers from kaduna, killing and maiming, destroying oil installations, demanding ransom and living as if they are not under the laws of nigeria then they should be made to bear the brunt of their nefariuos activities.

Continue the onslaught until this criminality is brought under total control. If you call it off now the kidnappings will come back,destruction on oil pipelines will resume full scale.Finish the job and restore order to this region and then discuss where we go from here.

Please lets put the record right. I am only interested in the personality that turn these boys into blood demond.Who gave them money and back-up there actios of kidnapping.Please Nigerian, let look for the remote cause and not the action of Militants nor Amry.

I am surprised to see such a horrible thing take place in such a blessed country Nigeria. why the killing of innocent citizens? what are christians doing in that great country? The enemy comes to still, destroy and to kill, resist him, he will flee. Let there be peace, there must be an alternative, instead of war, we are above that, let us be an example to other African nations. Enough of war in Africa. God bless Nigeria.

All those who support the evil of nigerian state to kill the peaple from whose land they get their dailly bread from should continiue as the north is only carrying out their [we own nigeria alone agenda] as clearly domostrated by their position.

In my considered opinion, we are indeed a failed state.We have a constitution and deployment of troops can only be done through the appoval of the National Assembly.Due process was not followed.Nigeria by these acts strongly lack the morale rectitude to send troops out on peace keeping missions if they can carry out genocide in its own country.It is a shame.We should all remember that lives of children, women, elderly and law abiding male's were taken and are still being killed up till this moment.

Its all well and good saying the militants deserve what they get from the JTF. What amazes me about most Nigerians is that they always fail to look at the root causes of a problem. Violence begets violence and when unjustified violence against innocent people continues as it is against the people of the Niger Delta, well.....only God knows what will happen next. You cannot keep on preaching peace when you use violence and keep raping the land of its natural resources. What MEND is doing is no where near the continued rape of the resources of the Niger Delta by the present and previous Nigerian goverments. It will be interesting to see how Nigeria fares in the next couple of decades, as most of their Western world customers are making huge strides in alternative energy research that our so called "oil" will begin to decrease in demand. The Niger Delta problem can be solved or at least managed properly if the Federal Goverment, State Goverment, LGs,local leaders and foreign oil companies make a concerted effort to repair the damage they caused. Until then I see NO PEACE INSIGHT!!!

i am very surprised that yo are criticizing the military, when a group of people decide to turn themseles into terrorists for whatsoever reason, they deserve whatever consequence that comes to them, the militants have destroyed foreign investmets in te niger delta, tey have also taught our youths in other parts of the country the lucrativeness of the kidnapping business(i lost a dea friend and devout church member to them in benin city). I suggest te government should take a cue from the Pakistani government ad crush them out totally and crush them out totally, the way they are crushing out the talibans. Surely, some innocents will suffer, but thats the price we hveo pay to achieve a stabilized country, i say the JTF is in order on this one

It is demeaning and sycophancy claims such as various which had led to protracted resolve of the Delta conflict. The norm is to dialogue to derive a resolve but where a minority belligerent group proclaimed war on the national machinery, it further demeaning for the law apparatuses to sit back and watch socio-political degeracy. What do we expect the military to do. Nigerians tend to reason out of their senses by being over-sentimental and positing ignorance where there should rational sensibility. What is there not to consider - death and kidnappings, national revenue shrinkage or the fact that militants had created fear and 'no-go' areas in a free country? Yes, we have had successive failed governance but we need to start stemming the flow of anarchy and apathy at some ponit, even if it were to deter or teach a lesson in patriotism. After all, it is not as if governmental systems are not making efforts to redress the balance. We need a therapy in redecision and compliance.

Enivie Inegbedion is like a rat in the white house kitchen of this stupid government; A rat don't know what to do but to destroy in the name of destroying the owners property, just for survival the rat says, at least I must eat something it says again! Enivie, must be sitting on a sofa in the corner of his room with a well connected internet service making this comment, I suspect. How I wish you can take a day to visit the land of mystery and loneliness called Niger Delta, a place so rich but where people eat what they can find and sleep where they find. The youth in the Delta might have been pushed to the wall before diving into the stream of illegality. Nobody cares about their survival and well being. the only thing they have been able to enjoy from the ten years of democracy is military invasion. My brother, the government of yesterday started it and the government of the day continue it and the people are tired of living like slaves, so they discovered solace in kidnapping and other crime, ofcourse which pay them better, but the victims otherwise. Why do we like calling unfed dogs thief when it goes for the master's dinner? Enivie Inegbedion , let the sleeping dogs lie!

Yes, the Niger Delta provides a lot of revenue for the country and the area has been deprived over the years. How are the anarhists styled militants alleviating the situation? Is it by kidnapping people or blowing up oil refining facilities? It is time the Federal Government got to the root of the matter, and I wish they didn't have to resort to the military. I strongly believe that people in that general area should be relocated and adequately compensated so that normalcy can return to the country's income generation machinery. The so called militants have seceded from Nigeria by taking up arms against its military forces and must be dealt with accordingly. I am naturally dissapointed by Prof Tam David West who should be at the forefront of promoting peace within the militant groups rather than making uneducated statements about what the government should be doing. Afterall, he had his chance to contribute as a minister.

Omoboy,or what is your name?Is that an alias or your pet name.I will suggest you stick to the discussion.Make your opinion and let it be.Stop name calling.It is people like you who will break the law and when the military is brought to use for on you you start crying "..unconstitutionality" what has happened to freedom of expression.I will advise you read through your comment and see if you have made any useful contribution rather than attack someone who has made his deposition.Please moderators,comments like this directed at other commentators should not be posted.

Where were all these people when those miscrants held the whole nation to ransome kidnapping innocent citizens and destroying properties? Go on with the fight until all the criminals are chased away or destroyed, esle, they will create more problems for the country. They have no right to take the law into their hands. Since they have vowed not to surrender, the bombing should go on.

Its utterly a SHAME that sucessive Nigerian Governments have allowed such a volatile situation be sweeped under the carpet these many decades and now expect a 'quick fix'lighten operation of sorts to make the problem vanish.Even worse, now genuine advocacy has has been hijacked by miscreants, con-men and self indulgent cosmetic politicians/self styled pocket chiefs with exploitation as thier mindset.Criminality in what ever format must not be tolerated in any polity. The Governments response must be balanced; remember this is a delicate politcal, sociological and enviromental situation; note, no concrete redress can be implemented in an enviroment of anarchy and criminality, insincere remitance of taxes by multinational petroleum conglamorates. We all have to return to the drawing board with sincerity and political will 'else we all, Nigerians, will be the loser with catographic consequences.

I fully supports the action of the Nigerian Army. Those criminal militants must be brougth under control. Every section of this country has some complains about being marginalised in some cases. For example although the hydropower in Nigeria is produced in Shiroro for decades, the community is yet to be connected to the grid and every now often their farmlands are flooded from spills from the dam. Should every one take to arm, we will not have a country. The course of history may be long but it will eventually curve towards justice. People with genune agitation must channel it through the rigth channel and then be patience.

What we are witnessing now is the beginning of the end only fools and our looting politicians wont see.

Niger Delta has established Terrorist organizations and should be treated as such. They fought hard to facilitate their current fate as they embraced ONE NIGERIA over 40 Years ago. They got what they fought for, and as such, they should be satisfied with the outcome. They are Terrorists. Treat them as such.

The so called "Niger Delta" is a vast collection of minority Ethnic tribes who lack in reality a common cause for decicive actions to be carried out on their behalf by the Nigeria State. Yes the level of Corruption and un-Accountability have created a super-rich Elites from the area who have sold their birth-right in the name of petrol-dollars. They've created an Industry of Militants and High-jackers who blow-up pipe-lines and kidnap at will to promote their Resource Control Agenda with no foresight to realise that the Cancer will consume them all. As you are all profoundly aware, you lie within two major Ethnic Identitities (S.W & S.E) hence God forbid the break-up of the entity called Nigeria would not provide the succour of a Nation called "Niger Delta". Mark my word, this two major Ethnic Identities, in the name of stability and yes Economic potential will systematically carve out the Region and quite right too.

the apaitheid system in South africa came to an end, so the Niger delta problem will end by the grace of God, bcos injustice cannot thrive forever.oil is not the only resource the country has, so let the country develop other sources of wealth generation since they have been talking about rebranding the country. No evil done by man to another man will go unpunish. those soilders and militants will all answer to God some day, those innocent souls killed will also be avenged by God. The people from the Delta should pray fervently to God to resolve this crises quickly and this will definetely lead to disintegration of Nigeria bcos the creator abhors injustice and wickedness. President Yaradua will die soon bcos he has shed innocent blood like Gen abacha, then Goodluck will take over whether the North likes it or not, then Nigeria will see some semblance of peace and development. May God bless the People of Niger Delta and Nigerians who love peace and hate evil

My fear is that a chain of reactions of events may have been initiated by this onslaught-the end of which no one can determine.God help Nigeria!

The root cause of the Niger Delta problems is injustice. The governments of Obasanjo & Yar'adua have initiated several developmental efforts including the creation of a full pledge ministry and have sank in trillions of Naira to actualise these initiatives. However due to extreme corrupt tendencies/divide and rule attitude of the Niger Delta leaders, there is little to show. The government could do more by exposing these leaders that betrayed the trust of their people and ensuring that appropriate sanctions, including capital punishment in meted to them. The national lawmakers should seriously consider introducing capital punishment for economic crimes to our national laws, otherwise all Nigerians should prepare their coffins as our leaders will not stop looting until we are all dead.

Those that fight for the masses do not emmass wealth for themselves.For instance in the middle east brothers go as far as suicide bombing.But in Nigeria you see people building mansions in Warri and Portahrcourt and yet they claim they are fighting for the masses.Infact like they say in warri if yo do anyhow you will see anyhow.Kudos to the galant soldiers defnding the Nigerian state.

Cletus Preye-John, I am very happy to have your observation on my comment and I must demand a big apology from the person of Igbinedion. The issue is that I was totally against his opinion of the issue and in the track of criticising took it so personal. I will like to say that the criminality of the Niger Delta youth is so unaccepted, not even by their own people, I mean the ones with good concience. But, the fact still remain that our government is hundred percent guilty of the illegality that is going on in the area.

It is unfortunate that we allow the situation in Niger Delta to detiorate to this level.I feel so sad when my co-workers call my attention to what is happening in my dear homeland"Nigeria".The situation in Niger Delta is bad enough,and it requires swift government response to put it under control,We all know that there is no responsible government in any part of the world will tolerate anarchy.However,my anger is that government is going after the criminals alone,how about their finiancial supporters and the arm dealers that supply weapons to these underworld people.For government to put absolute stop to the criminality in the region,here are my suggestions :I think all those involve in the unlawful acts should be prosecuted,there should be infrastructural development in the region and mass job creation so that the criminality will no longer be attractive to people and there should be a geniue conference on ways to mitigate the effect of oil exploration and exploitation on the econmic activities of the region. Furthermore,I think Nigeria state should hold all government officials that refuse to bring about development to the region accountable for their stewardship. I think if these suggestions are included in the resolution of this crisis,We may be looking forward to seeing enduring peace in the region and Nigeria at large.

nation against nation,country against country is the fulfilment of the sriptural prophesies in nigeria as in someother part of the world.believe it or not,the time is short and it will be over.nigerian soldier killing nigerian citizen or the other way round is not a good development.government seek for another alternative to resolving this problem and not by blood batting,christians intensify ur prayer,GOD will help.

God will judge our leaders for stealing nigeria money.i know God will not allow Obasanjo to go free at all it is writen that the sin of the fathers shall be visited upon the children.general Gbadamosi ibrahim babagida and Obasanjo will not go unpunished for turning nigeria to their priv ate property

I think the Federal goverment should see reasons with our brothers in Delta State. A lot of people have died, some injured, some displaced and above all some are going about hungry. Please let us save the people of this plight. It is not wrong for one to ask for his right, even though MEND's approach may be chaotic; the govt should still ponder on dialogues that will better the lives of the people. As the saying goes 'we cannot be in water a soap foams will still impede our sight'. The govt should strike a balance between the welfare of the people and the money, money, money issues. Please Mr President, lawmakers, JTF and all the 'must be as I have said' in Nigeria, ask the soldiers to desist from their operation. The issue on ground can never be solved by warring. The JTF is taking laws into her hand. We need peace in the Niger Delta. Nevertheless, to my people the Niger Delta, I implore us to drop our weapons and embrace peace. 'if you are not affected directly, of course you will be affected indirectly' . Please let's stop the vandalization of oil pipelines and the kidnapping activities. Long live Niger Delta.

Lets call a spade a spade.violence begets violence, the militants have for long been challenging the Nigerian state to to a war match and repeatedly the Nigerian Military had stated that it was not at war with them. Now that the Military is ready it is not for bystanders to start shouting over kill!!! The truth is that the militants are bunch of crminals with the least intrest of any person at heart save for their sefish reasons. My advise is that they should sell thier sophisticated arms to help thier people and get back to the negotiation table.

I think the Major Problem of the Niger Delta is Greediness by Some Politicians from thesame Niger Delta which are not contented with what they have, but the solution to this problem is God for it is written, that if my people who are call by my name will repent and turn their back on sin and sick my face, he will hear from heaven and wipe away their tears.

Nigeria government and all their security forces are not hornest. Let Nigeria government give Niger Delta the control of oil and collect proper tax from them. If this oil was located in Northern land or in yoruba Nigeria could not send military?. During the time Northerners was producing groundnut, yorubas was producing cocoa, Igbo was producing palm oil and Niger delta was producing nothing, Nigeria government did not send millitary to North or yoruba or Igbo. Why is it that since dicovery of oil Nigeria government change all the laws and use their millitary and foreigners to kill innocent people because of oil. Let the Niger delta take control of their oil and pay taxes to Nigeria government that is the way we practice it here in America and the same in other parts of the world.

i want to enjoin all christian in this nation especially in the niger delta region to to continue to pray for peace to reign supreme in the region because without peace there will be no meaningfull develodment

Federal government has right to call up the army, as it is beyond the police. How many of our people will die before we reason. Where there is a conflict between FEELINGS & REASON, we use take the path of reason. Wealthy deltans are sponsoring this mayhem, and at the same time talking peace in the newspapers. The poor ones are drafted to fight and dying in the process by the minute. The families of the rich deltans are abroad. the groups will regret their actions, the group leaders who are looking for popularity at the expense of lives, will also come to judgement one day. I support the delta issue, not by killing the guilty, talkless of the innocent. LET EVERYONE WHO SUPORT THE DELTAN CAUSE DOWNTOOL FOR A WEEK. LET NIGERIAN LABOUR CONGRESS DECLARE STRIKE ACTIONS, LET THE NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS STRIKE.... THEN GOVERNMENT WILL CALL FOR A PUBLIC MEMORANDIUM

I think nigerians need to be conversant with rule of engagement. Action of military can only be queried when no harm befall them. The JTF in Niger Delta are Nigerians. The problem in Niger Delta also directly affects some of them. In the cause of defending themselves or reacting to an attack, the innocent people must also affected. The complaining should not be of JTF action. Niger Delta should look for a better way to achive their aim rather than using of arms. The people behind the militant, if truely love and value the live of children, women and other innocent people, should know that whether locally, nationally or internationally when the military struck innocent people must be affected.

The millitancy in the niger delta is a disgrace to nigerias democracy ,the problem its self comes from the head ,to tackle this problem ,we need accountabilty from the top.

The comment of some people made me to confirm that a lot of people in this country are naive about the issue of Niger Delta conflict. It is a conglomerate of a crime organisation made up of Public Relation Officers, Lawyers, Politicians, Foreign arm dealers, Oil thieves, Army officers, Police etc. I wont be surprised if Jiti Ogunye is one of them. The money this people made in their so called "legitimate struggle" never get to ordinary people. They made lots of money that find it way to Lagos, Abuja and PortHarcout. These communities are still fishing shanties, yet the so-called struggle fighters are incredibly rich. They turn the creeks as a farm where they go to harvest money from kidnapping, and bunkering.

It's a real shame we are still in this predicament. After the Biafran War we should by now have real positive solutions. We are all guilty, but it's quite easy for us to point fingers. We do not look at our inner selves.An average Nigeria of this our so called generation will say 'a beg if you too dey for opportunity una no go chop money'. Do we really, need troops to combat this problem, and where do the so called 'militants' get their ammunitions from. The elite of the so called niger delta region when they are with their own people they tell them one thing on the other hand when they are with their inner caucus. (politicians, business tycoo,ns) they say another. My brother and sister make we open our eyes and ears clearly a lot is happening. It seems some people are really making dollars irrespective of lives, blood lost. We all need to search our conscience.

No nation can fold is hand, watching what is going on in Niger Delta. The military option was a step in right direction as hostage taking introduce by the militants is now spreading like wild fire in other part of the country. if the militant feel cheat on thier, what are they doing with billion of foreign currency collected from hostage, they are guilty of the same offence. Pdp as political party is a partner in progress of the militants so nobody should complain as u all no the full meaning of PDP i.e PEOPLE DESTROY PEOPLE, so what mr go slow is doing is not a suprise as a president and leader of PDP. The solution though had to beleive is true fiscal solidarity federalism(i.e wealth generated in a state beign retain in the state and tax paid to the federal government), less privellege state will be supported by central federal government

actually we,ve assaulted ourselves 2day,speakin frm niger delta perspective.it is our governors,both past and present brought this shameful act 2 the niger deltans.i know quiet well that money is comin 2 the niger delta region,and this boys[militants]are not seein any development in this region, and they felt money is not pumpin 2 ur earn.u can not spend this money alone,ur childrew can work 4 theirself, even ur children,s children,so dont keep the money 4 urself.mr ogah, i begged u in the name of allah,no be militants u dey pursue,enah na innoceents u dey killed all thes while.consult if i may advise.abeg sir.

On President Yaradua's amnesty deal, I don't see anything good in this amnesty deal if development isn't involved,besides, this boys are not ready to drop their Arms, they have tasted of the power that flows from the barrel,and how easy it is to make your millions everyday, given the right weapon and guts. All those ones speaking now have no real control over the Boys anymore,Just a day after the President's amnesty talk, a group of these boys, believed to have come from Ateke's Camp attacked a Marine Police post in Oron killed about 4 and carted away 1 Gun Boat., another group attacked Soldiers deployed at Idu flow station and Idu ferry: all facilities of Agip Now we should ask ourselves, of what use is this amnesty if these Boys are still gathering Arms? Can we forgive an unrepentant man? The problem of the Niger Delta is as a result of bad leadership we all know that..but, the people should also use their Tongues to count their Teeth... You can't blame it all on the other man. What the Government should do is probe past leaders of that region as a step towards bringing lasting peace and meaningful development to the people.