Nigerian Army troops recover arms, dismantles refining sites, and seizes stolen oil in Niger Delta

By: Michael Mike

Troops of the Nigerian Army’s 6 Division, in collaboration with other security agencies, have intensified anti-oil theft and illegal refining operations across the Niger Delta.
In a statement Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations 6 Division Lieut. Col. Danjuma Jonah Danjuma said between November 11 and 17, 2024, the forces recorded significant successes, including the deactivation of 46 illegal refining sites, the seizure of 47 boats used for transporting stolen oil, and the recovery of over 95,000 litres of stolen petroleum products. Twenty-eight suspected oil thieves were also apprehended.
He said in Rivers State, troops acted on intelligence regarding vandalism along the Oando pipeline in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA). Armed vandals exchanged fire with the troops but fled after being overwhelmed. Soldiers recovered an AK-47 rifle, a loaded magazine, and additional ammunition.
Danjuma said in Obiafu-Ndoni, a major bust intercepted wooden boat carrying 28,320 litres of stolen crude oil. Seven suspects were arrested. Operations in Buguma, Asari Toru LGA, dismantled illegal refining sites, confiscating 9,500 litres of stolen products.
He said further efforts in Degema LGA, including Tuma and Krakrama areas, led to the destruction of numerous wooden and fibre boats and the recovery of 10,500 litres of stolen Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). In Bille, a wooden boat with 2,500 litres of stolen products was intercepted, while in Obiafu Oil Field and along the Imo River stretch, troops dismantled illegal refining sites, destroying 16 boats and recovering over 19,000 litres of stolen petroleum products.
In Bayelsa, operations in Ekeremor and Nembe LGAs resulted in the deactivation of illegal refining sites and the recovery of over 12,500 litres of stolen oil. Danjuma said A significant seizure included 600 vandalized Shell Petroleum Development Company pipes.
In Delta troops intercepted a Sienna bus carrying stolen condensates near Oyede in Isoko South LGA. The driver abandoned the vehicle upon sighting troops. A pipeline breach in Afiesere, Ughelli North LGA, was also reported and secured.

In Akwa Ibom, several vehicles carrying 2,160 litres of stolen AGO were intercepted in Ikot Abasi LGA, leading to the arrest of five suspects.
Major General Jamal Abdussalam, General Officer Commanding 6 Division, reaffirmed the Army’s commitment to safeguarding critical infrastructure and dismantling criminal networks. He assured the public that operations would persist to bolster oil output and secure national assets.

Nigerian Army troops recover arms, dismantles refining sites, and seizes stolen oil in Niger Delta

STRUGGLE FOR PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD AS THE DEFINING LIMINAL MOMENT OF OUR TIME

By: Yusuf Maitama Tuggar

A liminal moment is a time of realization that the way things are is no longer sustainable, yet the way thing will become is yet to happen. In other words, a liminal moment is a period of transition. The quest of Palestinians for statehood and the right to exist is going through a transition period in which the world is awakening to the fact that Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the institutionalised system of segregation used to administer the territories is neither tenable nor sustainable. Although the violence and carnage being meted out to the Palestinians appears at first glance to strengthen the hands of the Israeli government and provides opportunity for settlers to expand territorial ambitions, a closer examination reveals it to be a pyrrhic victory. The resolve of the innocent civilians on the receiving end is only getting stronger, determined to avert another Nakba, the term referring to the exodus that followed the 1948 partitioning that created the state of Israel. Many Palestinians lost their homes in the event, never to return again. Families still clutch on to the keys of their houses as mementos of a mistake passed down from one generation to another, that must never be repeated again. The struggle for Palestinian statehood is the liminal moment of our time.

When it comes to standing up against injustice and racial discrimination, Nigeria has maintained an admirable consistency. We deployed resources and energy over three decades towards the liberation of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Apartheid South Africa. Nigeria follows the dictum of International Relations guru Hans Morgenthau of making ethical foreign policy behaviour an integral part of its state objective. President Bola Tinubu continued this tradition when he spoke out equably for an end to the violence in Palestine and Lebanon during the Arab-OIC Extraordinary Summit in Riyadh on 11th of November 2024, calling for the actual implementation of the two-state solution that has been the subject of several UN Resolutions, dating back to Resolutions 242 and 338 of 1967. President Tinubu’s intervention was considered by other countries in attendance as providing the missing mechanism when he suggested the creation of a secretariat to monitor implementation of the Summit’s resolutions and provide regular reports to the leadership, until peace is achieved. This was unanimously adopted as a late addition to the draft resolution and hailed as a departure from previous ones that lacked implementation mechanisms.

President Tinubu has remained deeply concerned by the human suffering in Gaza, especially of children and women. For this reason, Nigeria worked with Red Cross officials and employed its diplomatic channels to facilitate the evacuation of sick and injured children to Egypt, UAE and Jordan. Today three-year-old Alaa Madhon, nine-month-old Salma Chagu of Khan Yunus, another three-month-old baby Alaa and baby Suhail are all alive with the help of Nigeria’s back channel diplomatic efforts. In his speech, President Tinubu reminded the world that the conflict did not begin on October 7th, contrary to media reporting that often gives the impression that the Hamas attack and kidnapping of civilians was the casus belli that justified Israeli aggression and discounting the daily aggression meted out to Palestinians living under the apartheid system in Gaza and the West Bank. He candidly challenged leaders by stating it was not enough to issue empty condemnations and although a countries in a rules-based international order had the right to self-defence, they had to take into account the proportionality of violence they applied, especially on innocent civilians. President Tinubu pointed out that an entire civilian population cannot be dismissed as collateral, in meting out revenge for October 7th. The contradiction of justifying the Israeli aggression against innocent civilians within the context of a rules based international law and order is that the whole point of international law is to rule out revenge. Justice is antithetical to revenge.

Those who attempt to give religious colouration to standing up for what is right and just betray a lack of understanding of the Palestinian quest for statehood. Some of the most prominent figures in that struggle have been Christians; academic Edward Said, PLFP founder George Habash, political activist Hanan Ashrawi are among the recognisable names. And within the state of Israel exist Arabs that are Muslim, Christian and Druze. The Republic of South Africa that instituted a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice is 82% Christian. The nationhood journey of South Africa and the struggle against apartheid make it the most morally appropriate nation to file such a case against Israel where a similar apartheid system confines over 2.2 million people in an open-air prison called Gaza. Like South African Bantustans or homelands, those living within require passes to move around, their fundamental human rights restricted. So South Africans can identify more easily with the plight of the Palestinians as non-citizens on their own land.

But Nigeria can also identify with such a system and share the pain because of our own journey to nationhood. Apartheid was simply an extreme form of indirect rule. The system designed by Lord Lugard and Jan Smuts to answer the native question was to segregate a black majority, creating Sabon Garis and Zangos that restricted movement and mingling among the owners of the land. Black people were not allowed to venture into the Government Reservation Areas (GRAs) of Ikoyi in Lagos and Nasarawa in Kano, else one would be arrested for “wandering”. Late Ibrahim Gusau (who later became a Minister in the first republic) was punished by the colonial authorities for being found in Sabon Gari, with a copy of the West African Pilot, published by anti-colonial agitator Nnamdi Azikiwe. It was therefore not surprising that after gaining independence, Nigeria’s foreign policy maintained a proclivity for standing up against discrimination and injustice. Apart from supporting liberation movements to free others from the colonial choke hold, Nigeria refused to sell oil to Apartheid South Africa and penalised businesses that dealt with racist regimes on the continent. The Balewa government lobbied for the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth and set up the National Committee Against Apartheid across the country, the Gowon government helped strengthen the United Nations Committee Against Apartheid and pushed for recognition of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde as independent states, the Murtala/Obasanjo administration created the Southern Africa Relief Fund (SAFR) or Mandela tax as it was popularly known, and the Shagari government engineered the Lancaster House Conference that paved the way for Zimbabwe’s independence. President Tinubu continues this noble tradition by standing up for the actualisation of the two-state solution.

Nigeria’s diversity gives it an advantage on the world stage in consensus building through the hard work of conversation and virtues of principled compromise. Though this may be taken for granted at home because it comes naturally to us, it remains an uncommon trait abroad much admired by others. It is a gift that we must continue to tap into in our share political project both at home and abroad.

Yusuf M Tuggar
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Federal Republic of Nigeria

How cross-border smuggling increases Terrorism within the LCRBA

By: Zagazola Makama

The outlets and network of insurgency groups, invariably thrives on paddles of uninterrupted proliferation of smuggling of resources for survival. This is but the center of gravity of a more than a decade old insurgency campaign in the Northeast.

The network of proliferation and smuggling are tied to established strongholds, links and machinery of motions like couriers and spies who live by means to evade detection.

Despite means to curtail the nuisance, a persistent and sustained insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin is being threatened by exacerbated form of an intricate network of smuggling and illicit activities alongside funds and a strong ideological base that aids support to provide essential supplies to terrorist groups such as Boko Haram factions.

These networks, stretching across the Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, the Sahel and greater SAHEL which have become disturbing, ugly and notorious lifeline for insurgency, enabling groups linked to global terrorist organisations to sustain their operations and pose significant threats to National Security always and to the wider regional stability.

Zagazola understands that smugglers transport food, fuel, arms, and even uniforms to insurgent camps through a carefully mapped routes. Observably to be precise in the heart of the extreme north of the Cameroons, villages like Bulgaram, Cikka, Guma, Maltam, Doron Liman, and Ramin Dorina serve as critical transit points for supplies destined for terrorist-controlled areas.

This maintains an uninterrupted supply to outlets in Marte, Gamboru Ngala, Bama, Dikwa Local Government Areas areas amongst others in Borno State as well established a hub for food supplies funneled from Cameroon’s the Darak village and also amongst others. These supplies are often moved under the cover of night, leveraging market activities in towns like Kinchendi to obscure the illicit trade.

Borno state is bordered by Chad, Niger and Cameroon. With Kukawa and Abadam local government areas of the state bordering Tchad-Abadam, Mobbar bordering Niger Republic and Gamboru, Kala Balge, Bama and Gwoza bordering Cameroon. The hinterland axis provided the route for easy movement of weapons to the terrorist cells in Nigeria as well as fuel supplies.

Equally, the waterways and island lands provide the strategic location to facilitates the group movements on flying boats to enable them reach the terrorists locations with ease. These activities have recorded increase in recent times due to the withdrawal of the MNJTF maritime operation contingent in Darak. Similarly, Fuel and arms smuggling are equally rampant, with supplies transported from Kaula village in Niger to Tumbum Jaki, a notorious insurgent stronghold.

Smugglers often use firewood sellers and livestock transported in trucks as cover, allowing insurgents to blend into local communities. In Nigeria, towns like Jakana, Minok, Banishaik, Babangida, and Gaidam in Yobe State, as well as Hadejia in Jigawa State, are key points for distributing smuggled goods, fuel and arms including motorcycles used by terrorists for mobility.

Beyond logistical support, the insurgents have established revenue-generation networks. These include taxing local smugglers and merchants in areas like Gegime, Niger Republic, and engaging in fish and livestock trading through towns like Hadejia, Jigawa State as well as the sale of livestock from the Lake Chad through MONGUNO town, going to other parts of the country. This income is funneled back into their operations, perpetuating the cycle of violence and instability.

ISWAP have also have maintained a logistical support base in Kano, where agents of Bereau de-Change and other collaborators received money on behalf of the insurgents to fund activities of the insurgents in the Lake Chad. Other networks are domiciled in Maiduguri, Borno capital.

Escape routes for terrorists and collaborators also highlight the sophistication of these networks. Using points in Niger Republic such as Gigeme, or Cameroon villages like Mokolo and Bulgaram, insurgents disguise themselves and infiltrate Nigerian towns, including Madagali, and Mubi in Adamawa State, and cities like Kano and Abuja, often starting new lives or regrouping for further attacks. In many cases, they are transported through trucks conveying livestock that is heading to other part of the country.

The scale of this smuggling underscores the urgent need for coordinated action. To dismantle these networks security agencies must enhance surveillance along identified smuggling routes in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger. Regional collaboration between Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger is essential. Joint task forces and intelligence-sharing mechanisms can help track smugglers and cut off supply chains to terrorist groups.

The growing sophistication of smuggling networks in the Lake Chad region not only fuels terrorism but also undermines national security. A comprehensive and sustained effort is required to dismantle these operations and restore stability to the region. The time to act is now, before these illicit activities further entrench themselves as a permanent fixture of insecurity in the Sahel and beyond.

Zagazola Makama is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad Region.

How cross-border smuggling increases Terrorism within the LCRBA