National Daily

Atiku, IBB, bunkering and violence in the N/ Delta

By WALE ODUSOTE

ON September 13, 2008 , Saturday SUN published parts of weighty allegations by a Nigerian attorney, Sarah Nwosa, accusing the duo of Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar, and unnamed service chiefs as being complicit in the crisis rocking the Niger Delta. There was also the companion allegation that the immediate former AGF held sufficient evidence to pursue the matter but neglected to do so. I don't know what the Nigerian government will do to follow up on these allegations or whether the government will muster the prosecutorial zeal to try but I know that the Nigerian Diaspora, deeply troubled by the escalating crisis, already smells blood from Ms Nwosa's revelations. Reason: Ms Nwosa is an attorney which makes her allegations prima facie credible.

Already, a high-powered group of Nigerians in the Diaspora will gather in Washington DC this month of September to discuss Niger Delta and review the allegations and see whether they hold sufficient merit to warrant commencement of some international criminal actions against those implicated. Vast majorities have signed on to participate for any of the many reasons that every Nigerian must be troubled when a lawyer (an officer of the court) goes public with allegations implicating Nigeria's past military president and former vice president as accomplices in a crisis that is fast threatening the economy of Nigeria and that of the United States (where most of us live) and which is the number one consumer of Nigeria's light sweet crude. The monumental human tragedy is another factor.
Day by day, the Niger Delta crisis continues to escalate and many of us in the Diaspora (including those familiar with counter-intelligenc e) have long suspected that the crisis persists for many more reasons than just sheer militancy, resource control or minority nationalism. The growing evidence that the Nigerian armed forces (and intelligence) have been ineffectual in tackling the militancy and kidnappings is pointer enough that some powerful forces may be behind the young guys actually perpetrating the violence. Add that to the cynicism which greeted the Federal government's plans to hold a summit and even the recent bold step to create a special ministry for the Niger Delta.

I believe that when the segment of the Nigerian Diaspora interested in this issue finally convenes to review these allegations further, one of the many actions that will be considered will include persuading the United States to launch an extra-territorial investigation into whether Atiku and IBB are actually involved in some way in bunkering oil and procuring violence to do so. The United States government has national interest in the matter for two reasons: One, there are many Nigerians (including native Niger Deltans) that possess United States citizenship. And a crime committed by anyone against their families living in the aboriginal Niger Delta is, by extension, a crime of substantial impacts on a United States citizen.

Under the long-arm statute in force in the United States , a case could be made for taking Atiku and Babangida into custody if there is probable cause they worked from behind to procure violence or gave aid and comfort to those that continue to commit mayhem. Two, the United States has substantial investments in the Niger Delta; thus any crime of violence against its investments (or corporate citizens) is also, by extension, a crime of economic impacts in the United States . Nigeria should not be too concerned about any US investigations infringing on her sovereignty because the Niger Delta problems have become international, just like the issues relating to al Qaeda. Besides, oil is a commodity that fundamentally affects the economy of many nations outside of Nigeria . The United States depends on Nigeria for up to 20% of her daily consumption. Thus bunkering oil or procuring violence to do so naturally disrupts the normal supplies that help assure world peace and stability. That means that it will not be too surprising for the United States and the international community to be interested in investigating the allegations against Atiku and IBB, more especially because IBB has led Nigeria in the past and Atiku was vice president and even aspired to be president in 2007 (and is still in court fighting to be president).

As I write this piece, another group of Nigerian Diaspora comprised mostly of natives of Niger Delta has resolved to present a signature-laden petition to President Yar'Adua to weigh-in on these allegations and get to the root of them all. At the same time, a plan is afoot to contact attorney Nwosa for more information and she will most probably be invited to Washington to present her evidence to the international community. Secondary to these are plans to make formal presentations to the US State Department, the US Congress, the Nigerian National Assembly, and the United Nations and OPEC to seize the moment and investigate Ms. Nwosa's allegations more fully. The ultimate intention, as stated by an eminent Nigerian jurist in the US , is to procure criminal warrants against Atiku and IBB if the allegations are found to hold any water.

It trite that international (or US-issued criminal warrants) are executable against the two men should they venture outside the shores of Nigeria . Under current US long arm statutes and other international treaties, foreign officials and private citizens can be arrested and prosecuted in the US for crimes they committed in their native countries against US corporations and citizens or for crimes they committed in their native countries but which had substantial impacts in the US. This is an exception to any notion of carried-over sovereign/diplomati c immunity which IBB or Atiku might assert in their capacities as former president and vice president respectively; and this is besides the clear precedent established in the case against Abdulsalam Abubakar in the United States or by the myriad extra-territorial criminal actions against General Pinochet of Chile.

The point is that from now onwards, Nigerians in Diaspora have become more alive to their unique civic duty to see to it that any eminent Nigerian hiding under the guise of his public influence (in Nigeria) to be embroiled in any conduct capable of exacerbating the Niger Delta crisis will surely be brought to book. If Nigerian authorities are unwilling to do so, the Nigerian Diaspora is determined to find a way to make such persons subject to the blind and ram-rod justice of the international community.
• Odusote wrote from USA