War on Odi: When evil manifestation comes like flooding rain The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out “stop”. When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. - (Excerpts from Bertolt Brecht’s Poem) By the time the military operation over Odi ended, 2,483 people, including women and children lay dead. Many more were injured, displaced, traumatized with an inestimable number of properties destroyed. The immediate motivation for these grave human rights atrocity was that a band of lawless youths operating from Odi area in Bayelsa state, murdered seven policemen in the face of interventions from several well-meaning persons, including the President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC). Soon after ascension of General Olusegun Obasanjos to POWER on 27 February 1999, Nigerians faced the ordeal of a tyrant as their new leader: how was he to be addressed - General, President, Chief, Uncle Sege or a simple, plain Mister President? In other places, that should not have attracted the serious comic debates. Was Mr. President adequate reference for a man who had been a Four- Star General and Head-of-State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces to boot? The debate was intense enough for the president to argue that he was also a traditional chief with so many caps and feathers attached. Many of those who participated in the debate drew stimulus from the perception that the president may find it difficult to shed his military toga, even in the milieu of democracy with events prove to be exactly so within the subsequent few weeks. A lot of clamours catalogue Obasanjo’s tyranny over fellow Nigerians particularly the instance of two communities (Odi genocide and Zaki Ibiam massacre) in the country and that makes people from various backgrounds to agree that Obasanjo should be tried for “harbouring sadistic and malevolent intent” in his dealing with these communities. A Federal High Court presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi on February 19, 2013 had ordered the Federal Government to pay N37.6 bn as compensation to the people of Odi over the foray and genocide perpetuated on them by armed soldiers ordered by the Obasanjo administration. But CPC (then opposition party) insisted that the payment of compensation as ordered by the court was inadequate adding that the ex-President should be tried for genocide. Although it was not the first time the local people of this area in Bayelsa State would see soldiers; on 19 November 1999, more than 50 military Trucks wheeled through winding paths and forests of the Niger Delta into the heart of Kolokuma/Opokuma. This time, a military expedition on the direct orders of Obasanjo (C-in-C) to invaded Odi on November 20, 1999 and raze down the community over the killing of policemen by a criminal gang operating from that area. Those of us who are old enough during the 1967-70 Biafran civil war still remember seeing much convoy of troops as unofficial sources put the number of the Odi invading reconnaissance at several companies in military term. Five days clear of the 24 November ultimatum issued by the President, Obasanjo lost his temper (as he frequently does) to invoked his emergency powers to mobilise troops into Odi. Forty-eight hours later, the entire community was completely levelled with only a Church and a bank building surviving the massive military onslaught. No living thing - man or animal - was moving - they were either dead or lucky to be in hiding in the bushes. As clarified by Dr. Doyin Okupe, Obasanjos Special Adviser on Media and Publicity in the weeks that followed the operation: The instructions given to the troops were clear, specific and unambiguous - that is, dislodge perpetrators of violence, restore law and order and apprehend suspected murderers. Reminiscent of the General Sani Abacha pacifist troops overran Ogoniland, the soldiers said to be commanded clearly overshot their brief (even by OBJ himself) and were roundly condemned over military excesses worldwide. Then Senate President (Dr. Chuba Okadigbo), who visited Odi days after the massacre, was too shocked by what he saw to make a statement. So also, Professor Isoun, a prominent son of Odi (he could only manage, we are mourning now, so I cannot say anything). Another Senator (Sulaiman Ajadi in the Okadigbo entourage) was aghast and could only murmur. I dont see the reason for hitting an ant with a sledgehammer, lamenting, even a foreign invasion would not have been more devastating”. Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate and social activist grieved the high-handedness of Obasanjo by saying at a news conference that nothing justified the murder of policemen and in the same vein, there was no justification for the ”revenge mission. Obasanjo he held “had no reason for laying a human habitation to waste... (no reason) for unleashing the animalism of the military on Odi because a crime was committed.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:50:39 +0000
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