Odi Massacre: Obasanjo Should Be Dragged Before ICC – CPC

ODI COMMUNITY AFTER THE ATTACK
ODI COMMUNITY AFTER THE ATTACK

Following a ruling by Justice Lambo Akanbi of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt last week Tuesday that the attack on the people of Odi was genocidal, reckless, brutish and a gross violation of the rights of the victims to life and ownership of property and subsequently ordered the Federal Government to pay N37.6 bn as compensation, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on Monday called for the trial of former President Olusegun Obasanjo under whose regime the invasion took place.Spokesman for the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, said, sequel to the court description of the 1999 attack on Odi by Nigerian soldiers as genocide, Obasanjo should be arrested and tried before the International Criminal Court.

“It is equally our belief that, with the establishment of the intent and content of the invasion as genocidal, the course of Justice is best served if the head of the government at the material time, that is, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is formally arraigned before the International Criminal Court for the crime of genocide” Fashakin said.

“The wider implication of the arraignment shall be the institution of constitutional order and decency among the ruling elite so that the inalienable rights of the people to personal liberty and justice shall remain sacrosanct.”

It would be recalled that on November 20, 1999, then President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the deployment of soldiers in Odi community, Bayelsa state to flush out secessionist militants who had killed seven policemen and unleashed mayhem on the community.

 

 

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