NIGERIA: NIGER DELTA MILITANTS LEARN NON-VIOLENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000244

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL EPET KDEM NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: NIGER DELTA MILITANTS LEARN NON-VIOLENT
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE FROM U.S. TRAINERS

Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)


1. (C) Summary: U.S. scholar Dr. Bernard LaFayette led
training in the principles and practice of nonviolence for
600 Niger Delta militants; the training was sponsored by the
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) through Nigeria's
Foundation for Ethnic Harmony (FEHN). Sheriff Mulade,
National President of the Gbaramatu Youth Council, and Chris
Ekiyor, President of the Ijaw Youth Council, both
participants in prior trainings conducted by Dr. LaFayette,
have changed their organizations into advocates for
nonviolence, Allen Onyema Director of FEHN told Acting Consul
General. Sheriff Mulade, who recently returned from an
International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP),also
recruits participants from militant camps for the trainings.
The Vanguard newspaper reported training participants were
drawn from the camps of Government Tom Polo, Farrah Dagogo,
Soboma George, Ateke Tom, and Prince Idolo. Dr. LaFayette was
here under a martin luther King associate program sponsored
by the Foundation for Ethnic harmony (FEHN). End Summary.

Former Militant Recruits for Non-Violence Trainings
-------------- --------------


2. (C) Acting Consul General met July 4 with Gbaramatu Youth
Council (GYC) National President Sheriff Mulade (protect
throughout). Mulade, in Lagos to attend a segment of a
training in non-violence for 600 former Niger Delta militants
seeking to give up the militant life, said that the training
is funded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
and conducted by the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria
(FEHN) with U.S. trainers from the Center for Nonviolence and
Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island. He himself
was once a militant leader, he acknowledged, and after
participating in the non-violence training built on Dr.
Martin Luther King's principles in 2006, he has helped to
enroll other militants in the course. (Note: The Gbaramatu
Kingdom includes the area around the Chevron Escravos oil
facility. End Note)


3. (C) Mulade said he had encountered one problem with this
training; he had given Dokubo Asari's camp (Asari is a Niger
Delta militant released in 2007 by the then new Yar'Adua
government to show goodwill in an effort to resolve the Niger
Delta crisis) a number of slots in the training, and Asari
filled some of them with his friends, including some
girlfriends. (Note: The Sunday, July 6 Vanguard reported on
testimonials presented at the graduation ceremony of 75
youths participating in one segment of the training. The
youths were drawn from the Government Tom Polo camp, from the
Mebutu camp, from the Highest Barracks camp of Farrah Dagogo,
from the ZZ Barracks of Soboma George, from the Angola camp
of Ateke Tom, and from the Prince Idolo camp, the paper
reported. End Note)

Martin Luther King Associate Conducts Trainings
-------------- --


4. (C) Acting Consul General met July 5 with Allen Onyema,
Managing Director of the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony
(FEHN); with Joy Imoli, FEHN Public Relations Officer; with
Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr, Director of the University of
Rhode Island's Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies; and
three additional American trainers from the Rhode Island
Center. The militants want to give up violence, Onyema said.
To help them convert to non-violence, FEHN has, since 2006,
worked with Dr. LaFayette to conduct trainings in the
principles and practice of nonviolence. Both Chris Ekiyor,
the head of a powerful Ijaw group, the Ijaw Youth Council,
and Sheriff Mulade, the head of the Gbaramatu Youth Council,
formerly militant leaders steeped in violence took earlier
trainings conducted by Dr. LaFayette through FEHN; both
leaders are committed to nonviolence and have changed the

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direction of the organizations they lead, Onyema said.


5. (SBU) Training is conducted in two parts. First, groups of
Niger Delta youths undergo a week-long training in
nonviolence principles in Lagos. To help participants
maintain concentration, the youths are housed at the Eko
Resort on the Lekki Peninsula, a self-contained compound.
Following the Lagos portion of the training, the former
militants participate in a second week of training in South
Africa. This helps them to gain perspective by dealing with
individuals involved in another nonviolent struggle, Onyema
said. In the course of the training, individuals themselves
are changed into teachers, Dr. LaFayette said. In the current
training, because many participants were illiterate, the
course relied heavily on oral communication of study
materials. Youths helped others to master the material and
to study for the exams, Dr. LaFayette said.


6. (SBU) Onyema noted that the first training was sponsored
by Shell, after which Chevron sponsored a training. While
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Victor Attah sponsored 100
youths from the state for participation in the program. The
current training, for 600 youths over a period of several
weeks, is sponsored by NDDC, Onyema said. FEHN plans to set
up nonviolence training centers in each state, beginning with
the core Niger Delta states of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers. To
staff these centers, FEHN will sponsor community leaders,
lawyers and others selected to work with the centers, for
additional training directed by Dr. LaFayette in the United
States.

Youth Leader's Views of U.S. Changed by IVLP
--------------


7. (C) Mulade credited the International Visitor leadership
program (IVLP) from which he had recently returned as having
changed completely his views of the United States. Before
participating in the IVLP, Mulade said he, along with most
Niger Delta indigenes, believed that the United States "is
behind" Chevron, a U.S. company; and believed the persistent
rumors that the United States would bring in the military to
defend its interests in the oil of the Niger Delta. As a
result, he said, he saw the United States as allied with the
Government of Nigeria in oppressing the Niger Delta people.
However, the trip to the United States had opened his eyes,
he said, to the United States' desire for peace for all
peoples of the world, and he is grateful to have had the
opportunity to better understand the United States, and the
United Nations, which he also visited.


8. (C) While in the United States, Mulade met with the
Association of Attorney Mediators and with an international
mediation center that deals with student-related matters,
both located in Dallas, Texas. He hopes to involve both of
these groups in training community leaders in the Niger Delta
in conflict management techniques. He has already approached
Chevron with a proposal.


9. (C) Comment: We see training like what Dr. LaFayette is
conducting as extremely important and something that we
should continue to support to help build better grass roots
development and appreciation for non-violent means to resolve
issues in the Delta. We should also seek to have more U.S.
resources for IVLPs that help debunk many of the
misperceptions of U.S. interest in the Delta.
BLAIR