Let God of justice arise in Niger Delta

As you read this, thousands of innocent persons, especially women, children and the aged have been massacred in Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta State in the Nigeria's oil belt. About 20,000 persons are displaced and trapped in the creeks, mangrove swamps and bushes of Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State in Nigeria.

The onslaught by the Joint Task Force on the orders of the Federal Government started on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 and has progressed from house to house to burning of persons and property in Okerenkoko and Oporoza communities. Other communities affected are Kokodiagbene, Kurutie and Kunukunuma, all Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu clan of Delta State.

This action by the federal government and its JTF is cruel, appalling, barbaric, inhuman and sinful. Gbaramatu may be the starting point, but if we all remain silent the whole region will be engulfed in the inferno. Deploying four helicopter gun ships, 24 gunboats and over 7,000 military men to communities in peace time and in the name of hunting out criminals is a declaration of war on peaceful communities of innocent and harmless citizens. The militants live in the camps not in the communities.

Why has the federal government decided to give the children of the Niger Delta stone instead of bread? ìWhy should the Gentiles say, so where is their Godî - Psalm 115:2; and Psalm 82:3 says, ìdefend the poor and the fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.î We therefore urge Niger Deltans to call upon God to deliver them from the hand of the wicked. The endless war and killing of Christians in some parts of Nigeria is gradually being brought down to our domain. We must not allow this to continue.

We want to use this medium to call on the Christian community to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis to find a lasting solution to the nagging incidents of genocide that have recurred over the years in several communities such as the sacking of Umuechem in 1990 in Rivers State; invasion of Ogoni communities in the early 1990s and the subsequent killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995; the sacking of Iko community in Akwa Ibom State in 1997; the razing down of Odi, Opia and Ikenyan communities in 1999 in Bayelsa State; Odioma community in Bayelsa State, 2005; Agge community in Bayelsa State, 2008, and now Gbaramatu clan in Delta State, 2009.

It is time the churches at the national and international levels took decisive steps toward the resolution of the crisis to forestall further loss of lives and properties.
We are anguished, pained and shocked beyond description that a government that has vowed and pledged a total commitment to the rule of law could suddenly become so lawless to attack and destroy unarmed, oppressed, afflicted citizens of Gbaramatu kingdom, especially vulnerable populations, including women, children, the aged, and physically challenged among others. The Federal Government has rolled out ammunition and all its armoury against harmless women and children, bombing and killing them in their thousands, rendering them homeless and leaving them at the mercy of the rampaging genocidal Nigerian military.

As a matter of urgency, men of God and the churches in the Niger Delta region need to rise in support of the people to protect their common heritage by faith.

• Emem Okon, Annkio Briggs & Hilda Dokubo ,
Gender Coalition Against Genocide (GAG).

The Sun News On-line