As AKULGA Sues For Peace …

The following is an excerpt from a keynote address presented by Pst. Christopher Briggs, mni, JP (Permanent Secretary Emeritus) at the Akuku-Toru Peace and Security Conference held at the Multi-Purpose Hall, Abonnema, on Saturday, August 3, 2019.
Topic: Strategic Response To Sustainable Peace and Security in Akuku-Toru LGA.
PROTOCOLS: PREAMBLE:
I am extremely grateful to the organizers of this conference, particularly His Royal Majesty, King Barr. Disrael Gbobo Bob-Manuel, the chairman of the AKULGA Council of Traditional Rulers and Amanyanabo of Abonnema for inviting me to present the keynote address at this first-ever Akuku-Toru Peace And Security Conference.
As providence would have it, a similar privilege was extended to me as homilist at the special church service held at the St. Paul’s Nyemoni Lutheran Church Cathedral, Abonnema on the 6th of March this year, to mark the end of the mourning period declared by His Majesty following the sad and most unfortunate events of 23rd February and 2nd March 2019. His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State personally led a delegation of the State Executive Council and high ranking political leaders in the State to commiserate with the Akulga community at this special church service. In my reckoning, the goals and aspirations of the Akuku- Toru Local Government Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs which organised the special church service were, among others:
(a) to commiserate with all the bereaved families in remembrance of the numerous young men and women, including soldiers, whose precious lives were needlessly wasted in their prime;
(b) to rekindle our faith and confidence in the Almighty God who preserved Abonnema in particular, in spite of the gravity of the violence and criminalities that transpired during the days and weeks after the mayhem, and
(c) to reassure and appeal to all those (indigenes and non-indigenes) who vacated Abonnema in their numbers, out of fear of reprisals and further escalation of the crisis to return and continue to live their normal lives.
In pursuit of the same goal of restoring sustainable peace and security in the local government area, His Royal Majesty in-Council, with the full support of the Local Government and the good people of AKULGA, undertook a very successful PEACE RALLY on the 13th of July 2019 to publicly renounce all forms of violence, criminality and lawlessness.
This one-day Peace and Security Conference therefore is another laudable dimension initiated by the organisers, led by His Royal Majesty to provide a more robust interactive platform for all stakeholders in the local government to share our thoughts and experiences as a people with a view to finding lasting solution to the growing culture of violence, criminality and security.
My role today as Keynote Speaker (without claiming any superior knowledge whatsoever on the subject matter) is simply to set the tone of discussions at this conference by stimlulating our thoughts with some details of what we may already know too well, and provoke objective, sincere and mutually beneficial interactions. At the end, it is my hope that we shall collectively appreciate the urgent need for an articulated response that requires the buy-in and active involvement of all AKULGANS.
This paper, therefore, shall attempt to identify the likely immediate and remote causes of incessant conflicts and insecurity, violence and criminality in the local government area. Secondly and most essentially, we shall take reasonable time to highlight and discuss within the limits of available time, practical ways and means of dealing with this scourge, to guarantee sustainable peace and security of lives and properties in the local government.
Background:
We are here today not because there have never been unsettling, even life-threatening situations and conflicts in our history that challenged the peace and security of lives and even our continued existence as one indivisible people. We are Nigerians, Niger Deltans for that matter and Kalabaris to be exact. We are no strangers to conflicts. Conflicts have been with us from our very foundation as a people. Wars have been fought; internal rifts between families, compounds, chieftaincy or war-canoe houses as well as inter and intra community feuds have been common place with us. Nevertheless, our ancestors and founding fathers of blessed memory, to their credit, had the godly wisdom of managing conflicts with measured restraint no matter how provocative, without compromising the lives and destinies of their people.
When the need justified it, they utilized established judicial channels to seek redress, not brutal force and violence. Some were chronic litigants, using readily available traditional arbitration options or engaging the best in the legal profession for full-blown litigations even to the Supreme Courts of their days, over matters that may seem very trivial. That was the hallmark of their civility and respect for the dignity of lives without compromising the peace and security of the community.
They were ever mindful of the abominable implications and consequences of shedding the blood of a fellow Kalabari son or daughter on the soil of Nyemoni or any part of Kalabari kingdom. Remember, “Furo tubo ombie kiri la laa” and they never forgot the maxim: “ama bebe buru, ngaribo buru pakiri”. They knew that their strength was in their unity. They lived by these rules to regulate and guarantee peaceful co-existence.
Never in the history of Abonnema, which today is the headquarters of AKULGA have we witnessed, in design and magnitude, the mindless carnage, the use of sophisticated military hardware, the wanton killings and destruction of hard earned properties of fellow indigenes. In the words of His Majesty, King Disrael Bob-Manuel “it was unbelievable that in peace time the people could suffer more than they did during the civil war”, noting further that even his palace was not spared. Most surprisingly, the key actors on both sides of the divide were sons and daughters of the land. Even blood brothers pulled the trigger against one another. Some were former school or class mates, former allies and political associates; in some cases, in-laws.
Can we pause to ask: How did we get here? What brought us this low? What was at stake to justify such display of brutality in our motherland? Whose interests were being protected and at what cost?
Immediate cause(s) of violence and criminality in AKULGA.
The events of 23rd February and 2nd March 2019 may have passed with time but the ugly memories will out-live everyone here. Sadly, it is not only going to be an indelible part of our history, it shall remain a stigma that shall negatively impact Akulga and particularly Abonnema until we make concerted efforts to re-write the damnable narrative and reclaim our lost identity and glory. This peace building conference is a laudable effort in the right direction and should be sustained.
AKULGA, and particularly Abonnema, once reckoned as a land of internationally celebrated intellectuals and academics, jurists, legal luminaries, astute managers and administrators of men and resources, oil magnates, diplomats of high repute, decorated military top brass, distinguished clergymen and women etc. is now rated as the most volatile and politically corrupt community following the 2019 elections. We have been reduced to a land of violence, awash with blood thirsty, trigger-happy, vulnerable and visionless people.
Today, the major concern and challenge facing residents of Abonnema goes beyond the struggles of returning home to rebuild whatever is left of their shattered lives and dreams. It is the morbid fear of a possible future re-occurrence knowing the antecedents and the modus operandi of the key actors and their unrepentant sponsors. It is not “IF” but “WHEN”.
This concern is genuine for many reasons and must not be wished away too quickly. Akuku- Toru, like other flash points in the country, particularly the Niger Delta, is now noted globally to have a history of election violence. In a country were major elections are held every four years, with the Local Government elections sandwiched in between, this is a matter for serious concern. We all can recall the eleetions of 2015 and 2019. They were nothing short of brutal and undemocratic “show of strength” against perceived enemies, with the bare-faced support of armed security personnel. Most disturbing is the fact that the violence associated with the 2019 elections was escalated to make the 2015 edition a child’s play. It is therefore logical for the people to be apprehensive of what the future holds come 2023 which is just by the corner.
Mr. Chairman Sir, the world is waiting for the reports and follow-up actions of the various investigative panels set up by both the Federal and State Governments on the 2019 crisis in Abonnema. The questionable and high handed role of the military must not be swept under the carpet. If nothing concrete or tangible is done to appropriately deal with the sad incidents of February and March 2019, then we are only laying the foundation of the worst.
From the above narrative, we can all agree that the primary and immediate cause of the conflict, violence and insecurity and threat to the peace of the local government were ELECTIONS and misguided POLITICAL activities.
Setting The Tone: Dealing With Insecurity In AKULGA
Bearing in mind that SECURITY embodies every mechanism put in place to avoid, prevent, reduce or resolve violent conflicts as well as threats that originate from external and internal structural, socio-political and economic factors, there is need to rightly identify and situate the prevailing conditions within our local communities in Akuku – Toru that lead to insecurity.
To be Cont’d.

In this presentation, INSECURITY shall be considered to be any breach of the peace that contributes to incessant or recurring conflicts which, more often than not, results in violence, wanton destruction of lives and properties and other forms of criminality.
In setting the tone for meaningful discussions in this conference, please permit me to draw needful attention to some 18 salient points of concern:
No AKULGA son was among the contestants during the Presidential election. The two main contending candidates were from Northern Nigeria and were of Fulani extraction; bound by tribe, religion and language. No violence of any form was reported in their home towns or home States.
We in AKUKU-TORU (and Abonnema in particular) were not at war with any declared aggressors or sworn enemies.
Few days to the presidential elections, Abonnema was reported to have been virtually invaded and occupied by strangers, mostly youths who were neither indigenes nor known residents of the community. These strangers were transported into Abonnema mainly by road, meaning they had to pass through the only inlet/outlet to the community which is the Abonnema bridge, with a mounted 24-hour military check point. Also within walking distance was the Abonnema Divisional Police headquarters with the closest proximity to the only entry point into the town.
The vehicles that conveyed these “troops” could not have been too few not to be noticed. They passed through several check points from the East-West Expressway, through the Emuoha/Ogbakirijunctions and the several 24 hours militaIy and Police check points to Tema junction and the Harry’s Town military base. No one suspected, queried, intercepted or prevented these questionable movements? .