I have taken out time to research into Mr Allen Onyema’s past and
what you will read here should be of interest to every Nigerian. You
will decide on the guilt or innocence of Mr Allen Onyema.
In 2007
when Yar’Adua mounted the rock, the Niger Delta was no man’s land, it
was a region devouring itself. The Niger Delta was a warring nation and
Nigeria the occupying force sponsored by neo colonial imperialist oil
companies, according to the agitators. Militants who branded themselves
freedom fighters had shut down the region, no barge, oil tanker or oil
pipeline was off limit. Kidnapping was no longer a menace it became a
nuisance, neighbours were kidnapping one another making quick easy
money. It was a miracle Nigeria was still pumping crude oil. Before the
elections in 2007, production had dipped to 680,000 barrels per day,
from 2.2 million barrels, just over 25% of its original output.
President Obsanjo a civilian President a relic of Nigeria’s military
dictatorships wanted peace but hated the word diplomacy. I had this ‘
they will see me’ attitude.
But Yar’Adua was different, he was
desperate for peace but had no road map. But he had heard of a certain
Robinson Crusoe / Rambo type man, a man who was virtually living in the
creeks, in no man’s land. This man was living in the war torn mangrove
swamps, a weird nutter who was friends with the soldiers, the militants
and the oil companies. He was making a living being the only mediator in
the creeks. The militants would only listen to him and no other. He was
the one who convinced the militants and told them Amnesty did not mean
Surrender but Development That man’s name was Allen Onyema, a lawyer. He
this crazy idea that PEACE was possible.
It is not clear when
Mr Allen Onyema started the Foundation of Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria
(FEHN). But FEHN’s tremendous growth was as result of his unusual
patriotism. Barr. Allen Ifechukwu Onyema was a lawyer who had graduated
from the law school in 1989. He had a stint at law practice for a few
years but was strangely drawn to conflict resolution, he was passionate
about Peace. He is one of the few Africans and perhaps the only Nigerian
who has been given the prestigious much coveted Martin Luther King
Award.
He facilitated Peace and Reconciliation during the
Idiaraba Ethnic violence in Lagos 2003. During the same period he
brought Peace between the warring Yorubas and Hausas over the Lagos
abattoir. In 2004 he sponsored a project called Nigeria Forever Project
in the 36 States between 2004 and 2005 to promote a broad based
Nationalism as against Ethnic Nationalism, it was a huge success.
These early forays on various peace projects prepared him for the Niger
Delta bloody imbroglio. He waded in when there was a red line between
battle hardened Nigerian soldiers and amulet wearing militants who
believed their skins had been transformed to steel by black magic.
Onyema used his own funds to sponsor youths to the Nonviolence training
and transformational programmes long before the Oil Companies, Federal
Government and International Community began to partner with him and
invest in his training programmes. The impact of success which FEHN had
with the transformation of restive youths drew the attention of Shell.
Prior to their encounter with FEHN, they had constantly experienced
shutdowns of their operations due to the violent activities of restive
youths. These endless disruptions came to an end when FEHN trained and
transformed several youths, soon other Oil Companies like Chevron, Afren
Oil etc, joined in the sponsorship of youths to the FEHN training.
Onyema’s method had stopped a complete shut down of the oil industry and
the oil companies were happy pay him for his services.
Onyema’s
methods caught the attention of not just the International Communities,
but President Yar’Adua; Onyema was the nexus of Peace and Diplomacy
the Federal Government had been looking for. Chief Timi Alaibe with the
NDDC , got Barrister Allen Onyema and his organization - The Foundation
for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), to train and transform over 600
youths of the Niger Delta.
It was the success of this program
that finally convinced the Yar’Adua to declare the Presidential Amnesty
which was granted to Niger Delta Militants. Mr Allen Onyema’s hard work
had finally paid off - he landed the biggest contract in Nigeria - FEHN
was given the sole responsibility to rehabilitate, train and transform
over 30,000 ex-militants. He oversaw the disarmament and demobilization
of over 30,000 ex-agitators and he superintended in the skilling and
reintegration of these youths into the civil society in an ongoing
reintegration programme. Thousands of militants were flown abroad for
various kinds of training in non-violent Conflict Resolution, Aviation
and Deep Sea Welding.
Here was a remark by an article at the
time, “A seemingly insurmountable task which posed impossible for
several years finally generated positive results at the intervention of
FEHN. This incredibly remarkable achievement is one of the most laudable
landmarks of FEHN for not only the Niger Delta but also the Nation in
its entirety. The acheivement of this feat helped to rebrand the face of
the Nigerian Nation before the entire world. FEHN successfully trained
the Ex-militant leaders on the Kingian Nonviolence Philosophy. This
laudable occurrence could not have come at a better time, as the Leaders
are not just embracing the Peace culture, but are already training
others. Barrister Allen Onyema, National Chairman of FEHN achieved this
feat against all odds, at a time when it seemed impossible. It was so
rewarding to see the commitment and enthusiasm which the leaders
displayed as they began to chart the noble cause. Among the Ex militant
leaders present at the training are Farah Dagogo, Boy loaf, Sele etc”.
When Jonathan took over in 2011 he appointed Kingsley Kuku as SA,
Niger Delta and Chairman of the Amnesty Programme in January 2011. He
spent billions to stop the violence and fund FEHN. The NSA budget in
2011 for the Amnesty programme was - feeding allowance (N48 billion),
operations cost (N20.796 billion), reintegration of transformed Niger
Delta ex-militants, 2010 arrears (N4.174 billion) and reintegration of
Niger Delta ex-militants (N925 million.
In 2012 Kuku’s Amnesty
Programme controlled a N60 billion budget about $350 million USD).
President Jonathan was determined to rescue the dwindling oil revenue -
he spared no cash and this time FEHN was given the sole responsibility
to rescue the nation and save Jonathan’s government from siege in the
creeks. Onyema was successful. He did a job and got well paid for it.
People who may wonder why his outfit was the only Social enterprise
contracted to oversee the entire multi billion naira programme can take
that question up with the former President, it has nothing to do with Mr
Allen Onyema. He was a man doing a job and got paid for it.
By
January 2012 Allen Onyema had made a tidy pile for himself he paid
tens of thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign support.
In
January 2013 he was invited for an Obama victory party and was honoured
with an exclusive photo-shoot with President Obama, Vice President Joe
Biden and their wives.
That same year he laid out plans to invest
his fortune and Air Peace wa s established. A symbol of his years of non
violent Peace projects in Nigeria. - Hope For Nigeria.
