|
|
|
|
| The destruction of Odi Town in the Niger
Delta took place
in the four days of November 20-24, 1999. At the date of
writing this,
December 30, 2000, it is now more than a year that this
major tragedy befell
the Niger Delta and, indeed, Nigeria. Its first
anniversary passed by quietly.
One should assume that the word Odi has been banned from
mention before
the presence of the President in Aso Rock in splendid
Abuja. In his foreign
trips, President Olusegun Obasanjo is occasionally
reminded about it. What
happened in Odi would be a greater tragedy if it is
forgotten. If the Federal
Government of Nigeria that manufactured this tragedy
wishes to rule it
out of memory, it then becomes the responsibility of
those who value the
humanity of the men and women who were destroyed at Odi
that their death
will not be forgotten.
Unforutnately, in the first anniversary of the invasion and destruction of Odi, only Ijaw groups said anything whose record is available to this documentation. I have included a general reflection by Human Rights Watch that contains statements about Odi, in the wider context of the Niger Delta, as a form of memorial to Odi's destruction. Peter Ekeh
|
|
By Ijaw National Alliance of the Americas (INAA) November 20, 2000 |
|
By Ijaw National Congress (USA) November 20, 2000 |
|
|
|
|