Poetry of Pain on the Niger Delta

Poetry of Pain on the
Niger Delta

Written by: Omosun Sylvester

Vivid pictures of pain and aching, suffering and death resulting from conflicts within Nigeria have been created at least as long as the delta conflict has been upon us, if the poet of today create such pictures about pain through their write-up on the delta the message can captures the reader when it is conveyed powerfully to the affected people and it can heal and forces them to listen

In the internet most Nigerians have set up poetry and literary groups, within were the confrontation of African Conflict are presented in ennobled art and is traditionally based according to each authors tribe/ethnic background

All the writings posted are noticeably different from one another, most present endless pictures of hurting and aggression, others goes a step further and deals with the approach connected to pain from the Nigerian conflicts – wound becomes the subject of the art. In this way, it has tried to get readers to look inside themselves and in lieu with the judgment of the poet, thus, become a more sympathetic person with what is happening in and around the creek.

All through points in time there have been people who sacrificed their live on behalf of others in the Conflict prone society of Africa by the vivid pictures of pain and aching depicted in their poetry, When an African writer experiences something on behalf of others through his art, he may expose himself to danger of political/ethnic hatred if he writes of it, the truth that send hatred their way killed them. Their death in our hand because they made us see, Ken Saro Wiwa, Christopher Okigbo are some of these scapegoats, through their own lives they give other members of society the chance to experience real ache of their brothers in the creek without having to feel it. Without having to be there

The Nigerian poets can show others what a feeling of pain or real fear of death looks like in the hand of hoodlums. They can also tell how it feels to live in area like
Sudan in a single stanza from their poetry; they will tell you about the waste of land, the raping of the local wealth in using the delta as an element of art

, the intention in using the delta as an element of poetic art may be to astound the readers and ask him to examines his feelings with the Victor-perpetuator principle (shell/militant)

The use of such poetry as a creative element appeals to the readers understanding and, through their own feeling, to identify themselves with a cause:

If one considers why a poet not born in the delta handles such poetry with a passion, it is easy to think that he has been influenced by the predecessor before him,  because he is a poet and has certainly experienced all kinds of things as that poet’.

Accepting Shell in the Delta

  

Let us accept that the awareness of people is growing everyday about the direct relationship between their environment and their culture, their economy and politics, because their environment constitute their home and element of their religion, it is the source of their art and craft

If I hear that the shell/militia is the cause of unrest in the delta region and probable causes of the united state physiological war against Africa, and I say alright “I accept that” I may sound to you as if am saying I don’t care or maybe even that I like it or approve of it, in that case I wont do anything about it

But this is not the case is this article, my acceptance of shell only meant that I accept shell is the possible cause of the unrest that I was being told about, on the others hand it also meant that I did not deny it, I did not deny the news I have heard or read. If we don’t deny that reality of something we can respond to it in the best possible way we knew

“You can’t heal a wound by saying it is not there” Jeremiah 6:14

• Responding to Shell

 

If we as a people let go of our attachment (kidnapping, etc)of getting that which they wish for in lieu with our environment, we will still get it, the only difference is that we wont suffer if we don’t get it, because the odd of getting the “what” of our desire will be as good as ever

  

Our brothers were shelled in the delta and they got hurt, and then they, like most of us in the media spend most of their life tensed against the experience of the shell oil. The experience is over because it has already happened and I knew that we will not be shelled again because it is over, and the world as the onlooker will not allow it to happen again, the shell has been exposed

  

But for one reason or the other we wont allow the experience to go, we keep focusing on the time our leaders sold us off the shore of the creek, we thing of the people we love and the Ogoni eight, we think of them and we act out our anger by denying the reality of a new birth, the new development initiative, that in which the man (ken) we profess to fight for sought out with his life, it is development the ken dies trying to achieve. Nothing else

  

We have got to accept shell so we can respond to it, we have got to stop using excusing as reasons for not allowing development to take a new turn, let us be present, we are equal to every moment, and we need to be present in other to act

  

What if something else happen while we are focused in the past, what if it is another thing worse than shell, in life something always happen, we can’t be focused in the past that has nothing to do with the current negotiation principle being applied today

  

It is funny the way we are always protecting ourselves from the experience we just had in any conflicting situation, we develop a kind of militating sentient radar technology gear and when provoked we attack without reasoning

 

 

We need to get current and stop carrying out odd idea about our responsibility to accepting of shell that aren’t applicable to this present life and never will

  

If we live in the present we will be equal to facing new negotiation principle, new development initiative that Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni eight dies for

  

It is the belief of the delta indigenes that they need to be afraid of shell and therefore protect themselves that make them, stuck into this present circumstances, the belief is not based on anything sensitive nor is it protecting them from anything

  

I can see the militia saying… but protecting our domain is survival for the delta states, if we will not protect our domain, it will be shelled again

  

Is kidnapping and asking for ransom, protecting the creek, or staging you JamesBond007 act with CNN Jeff coinage propaganda a development initiative?

  

Many of us are so desperately invested in the assumption that development will not arise due to the presence of the shell in the delta, that we wont allow it to work anew even for a moment to know whether or not we may like it

  

Of course this is noted in the militia and other sponsors of it, because if shell is accepted, and they rebuild the devastation they had done in the delta, what your function will be, you all will be out of work, since you spend all your youthful age controlling the creek

  

Well I am not condoning a do-nothing approach in this article, but I an again kidnapping and so forth                     

Jujuman’s Poetry

The Press and Architect Mike Onolememen « NIGER DELTA AND CONFLICTS IN NIGERIA

The Press and Architect Mike Onolememen « NIGER DELTA AND CONFLICTS IN NIGERIA

The Press and Architect Mike Onolememen

The Press and Architect Mike Onolememen
“The State is reduced to a shadowy emblem which comes to consciousness only on occasions of unrest”  
 
When have I read in recent times of a Nigerian journalistic inputs that concerns itself with the non-political aspects of the people in the delta, when has a newsmagazine solely focus on their ways of living or their personal traits as citizen, or of these villagers; the mothers, fathers and family of a people who had constantly swallowed the bitter pills of the previous confrontations involving the military and the militants,  
 
More often than not, all I read is about the MEND (operating under the aegis of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta), and the modus operandi of the various groups, kidnappings for money as they seek development for the oil communities in their fathers land, and then the adage mode of identification by the press; fear-provoking freedom fighters, gun tooting hoodlums, money seeking illiterates etc 
 
credit must be given to the majority of these reporters who like a typical Nigerian ruler usually ignore the State in times of peace, and like flies feasting on a Sudanese refugee they medialize their attack, sourced by jumbo pay in time of war and conflict,  
 
MINISTER of State for Defence, Architect Mike Onolememen, must have been aware of this as he spoke to a select group of journalists early this month, because when someone mentioned one of the militant groups by depersonalizing them he responded with  
 
?We are not talking about aliens here; we are talking about our brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta? 
 
The Nigerian press in such an act of depersonalizing our own brothers seems to educate us with the acknowledgement that they are more concerned with the government rather than the ?nature of state? and can be assumed as becoming a political tool working not for the good of the citizen of the delta, but the oil expatriates, more so by the undue attention of personalizing the militants at the delta sub domains, 
 
?We are not talking about aliens here?? this quote by the honorable minister; Architect Mike Onolememen surely put the press in their place and welcomes the Nature of the Delta in the Context of the Nigerian sovereignty 
 
Well you may assume rightly that it is the character of the press to seek the story, but the Questionnaires can leave any patriot quit baffled, let us examine another Question as put forward to the minister of State?  
 
?The international community feels the government is not doing enough to address the Niger-Delta problems?? 
 
That is a good questions, but Note? the journalist asking the question did not say?how they; the press in Nigeria felt, or how the Nigerian nation as a whole felt about the situation, or the African brothers, no he didn?t, and that was the first question put forward to a new minister of state at his home town? they want the minister to know ?How The International Community Felt?? I laugh to think of it because I myself wonder what they felt 
 
?On one side are the villagers with their thatch houses with no water to drink and nothing like electricity, on the other side, you see a camp built by the multinationals for their workers, with electricity, water and other state-of-the-art amenities. The question that then readily comes to mind is: if the oil companies can provide these for their workers in the creeks, if they know that their workers cannot live in the kind of environment they found their villagers, why should they not extend the same facilities to the villagers?? 
 
The international community feels the government is not doing enough to address the Niger-Delta problems?who are the international communities, are they not the owners of the camps built by the multinationals for their workers, with electricity, water and other state-of-the-art amenities  
 
The honorable minister; Architect Mike Onolememen has shown that he doesn?t need the press depersonalization of the nature of the delta in favor of the government, and his exact words echoes it?I quite understand the issues involved in this crisis and I know that the youths from host communities are agitated that their places have been devastated by many years of exploration and exploitation and that nothing is being ploughed back.? 
 
Amid the height of possessions 
You hear the masses screaming 
In this continent it’s quite a paradox 
With much wealth yet so poor 
In this world its a shame 
The cradle of humanity is extremely poor. 
You can literally see poverty everywhere 
Its written all over the place and faces 
Just take a look around you and what do you see 
Disgruntled races 
You can see it in the eyes and stance of the people 
The bodies bent and weighted down by toil 
You can feel it in pregnant air we breathe 
And you can smell it all around you. 
 
It’s all over the town and villages 
The odor in every street and in every city 
I believe this is a problem that merit my review 
My pen my talent as the only rich store I have 
Amid the poorest continent in the whole wide world 
This poetry can afford three square meals

Writing the Delta

My write-up and poetry in this website attempts to comprehend the role of the Nigerian press in the construction and deconstruction of Niger Delta conflict with an aim of ratifying views that the current
Nigeria mass media hardly play any significant role in peace resolution aimed at the Nigerian federation 

By studying the main supposition of the newspapers in relationship with the government “Plan for the delta’ I hope to profile how the local press has failed in  “protagonist role” by not defining the responses of the larger citizens in the absence of a clear stance by the federal government

· Does Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe support the Militant?

We must realize that not only the overwhelming delta population is supportive of the Militant acts but that a  vast majority of the “learned Brothers” either actively gives verbal support and/or contributes moneys to fund the militant organizations., ever since the demise of Ken Saro Wiwa,

  Using the mass media as a political front with a capacity to reach large and influential segments of the world population in the shortest possible time, the utterances of our learned brothers have provided factual

Information to show that they are against the Shell work in the Delta Region

  

People of prominence such as Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe through the mass media have affect the way that we participate in the political sphere, through becoming an important source of our knowledge by their verbalism

  

But the analysis and opinion has not in any way show that they supported the militant or am I missing something?

  Given this situation, what role can such brothers play in the delta domain to reverse this dangerous and unfortunate scenario being experienced now, what can they do with such media at their disposal in helping to resolve the lingering conflicts in the country

Is there any One Innocent on Both Sides?

We have been habituated to hearing and reading about the Shell/Delta problem in the Nigerian press and media. Usually the account will go somewhat like there is a militant assail which kills/kidnap x amount of innocent expatriates in the Niger Delta, followed by international outcries mostly against the militants as a condemnation for causing the deaths/kidnap of x amount of  innocent civilians.

 The Government, the Shell, The Militants, The Deltan’s, The press, etc, are there really any one innocent on both side?, In our media today, the concept of innocent lives in the Domain of the Delta is being unwrap in a manner different to proper thought and general principles of what the innocent should be

 “Let us have knowledge of other faiths, of other beliefs and other denominations. Let us try to understand how they came into being, and what they are all about. Let us also learn from our own history. Above all, let us not think we are always right”                                                                                                                                Colossians 3:1-17.” 

The Making of local a Militant

Assume a person living in the domain of the Delta sees/or hear that a militant group are waiting for a victim to kidnap and that he recognizes the militant group and knows the modus operandi of the group who lives in the neighborhood. He will be afraid to call the police, because if the police come and arrest the militant, they will not get the protection from the Government, and also when the militant is released, it is to be assumed that he will take revenge on the informer

 Therefore the “innocent” civilians/youth of Warri or adjourning land (one who has not supposed that violence is the key to sustainable development) learns early in the locality that he must give support to the new negotiation principle, either monetary, vocal or both, if he desires to continue to live in peace in the domain of the Delta

 This is normal because an indigene realizes quickly in such an environment that his life is not worth much by his own fellow indigenes if he opposes the militant and the civilian learn also that he has to either go along with the group or he is going to be in trouble forever in his home town

 In the domain of the creek it is foolhardy to actually stand up in the open against a militant group, it is inviting quick demise, if not a sluggish meandering end to their youthful age How Can we Stop it?

Niger Delta and the Nigerian Media

Each of us with access to the media is willing to be the first to steal a story, imagination becomes a fact, we become convinced that we did not will nor execute the imaginative art but that the deed did truly happen

In a state of chaos, we the press blame each other as always, we point out fingers, equipped with a list of the insufferable invective, yet we never seems to find a way in consultation with the people we profess to serve, we conducts all the negotiations in the pressrooms, there we do the backing and filling, the menaces we call the militia and explanations we assume lead them astray, we write our fantasy tales which slowly bring the delta domain into collision with the state or the Nigerian Government, and soon may be…very soon, we will slowly slides the country into war by our reportage. _may it never happen in the name of the God of the African soil

But the Americans predicted it; — The director of U.S. intelligence warned of instability in Nigeria amid concern as attacks continue on foreign workers in the Niger Delta oil-producing region

It is easy to detect that if there will be a war it will start from the delta, and such excuse about arms and military movement may later have other aims,

What can we do to stop it, we need more space in the papers that may be devoted to creative reasoning, were we ask ourselves what on earth distressed our brothers in the delta domain as to allow themselves to be regimented, coerced through life unsatisfied trails, unbalanced in their pursuits, why did they see the Government as the manufactory of destruction toward whatever they cannot identify within their domain revival, can we as the press do that, can we devote a page to find out, I have searched googles in the internet, not once have I seen any of such creative ethos by the Nigerian press to help our brothers and sisters in the delta

let us as the press identifies ourselves with the MEND purposes for once, let us as the press recreate the spirit of Ken Saro Wiwa through his letters from prison, projects Asari Dokubo in lieu with his militant thoughts and symbols, through us, the imaginations of men with much creativity, let nationalism becomes the dominant feeling as we project them, as we seek for reason why such individual bears much interminable drone toward the society of which he is a part. We can do it as we let its influences to mold our writing habits, our values in relation to theirs, let their ways of thinking be our ways of thinking, so that however aware we may become, we never really lose the stamp of our patriotism

let us forget what the international community thinks, theirs is mostly a physiological warfare, believe me if we can do this, we may detest most of what we sought to project, the persona of these whose delta domain we live in because the institutions of our country form a certain network which affects us essentially as it does individuals and intrigues our thoughts all the same, that beauty that seems to be a fundamental fact of our consciousness, an irreducible minimum of social feeling.

Long live Nigeria