Security
approach to peace is a belief that the moment one floods security personnel in
a volatile region, there will be peace in that region. In the process, the
security personnel use the available maximum force to supress anything
whatsoever that breaches the peace of that region. In the suppression of what
is considered abnormal, those who are actually not involved in the ‘crime’
might end up being the casualties. On the other hand, peace approach to security
is a belief that the moment peace is given at whatsoever cost; it will lead to
security of a volatile region. Those that believe in this ideology always
dialogue with the volatile group/ region and compromise certain things for
peace to reign! They look at the cause of the agitation and try to soothe or
solve it.
Nigerians
have witnessed these two approaches in securing peace in the Niger-Delta. The
first approach is always the ways of the ‘Khaki turned Agbada’ presidents while
the second approach is in tandem with Civilian presidents who lacked the
military mentality. OBJ bomb Odi Town and militarised the Niger Delta. The
militants as they are being referred to made sure that the barrels of oil
pumped daily reduced geometrically. As the soldiers were busy fighting and
seeking the militants, the militants were busy bombing the pipelines to the
point that major oil companies like Shell partially pulled out from oil
exploration in Nigeria.
The
end of OBJ brought Yaradua, a civilian, lacking the military intelligence. He tried
the second approach and came in with a peaceful dialogue called ‘Amnesty!’ In a
short while, this peaceful approach brought security back to that volatile
region and the presidency was able to explore crude for a period of eight
years. Pax Niger-Delta? Yes? But there
were pockets of violence! But not enough to ground oil exploration. They managed to deliver gas to gas plants, to generate
up to 6 thousand megawatts of electricity.
However,
another ‘khaki turned civilian’ came to power. The military mentality came over
again. The idea of conceding certain things to have peace which leads to
security is touted as being ‘weak!’ The might of federal republic comes to play
again. The compromised reached were
cancelled. They were declared ‘wanted’ by the mighty federal power. When they
flouted these orders, their place was flooded with the military personnel to
search and arrest them. They moved back to the status quo and power drops, the barrels
of crude drops and keeps on dropping still they have not seen them! Are they invincible?
Which
of these styles do you think can help manage peace in Niger-Delta?
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