Obasanjo should visit Odi’

A National coordinator of the Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum, Mr. Kime Engozu, has urged President Olusegun Obasanjo to visit the town of Odi which was destroyed in a military invasion ordered by him in November 1999.

The former President endorsed the military invasion of Odi following the attack and killing of some security operatives by militants in the then restive Niger Delta region.

The Ijaw Youth Leader said President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment that the military onslaught on the community, which led to the killing of over 2,000 people and the burning down of the community did not solve the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta, was a fact that could not be contradicted.

Engozu insisted that the military’s mission to Odi resulted only in the killing of the aged, the young and the helpless as the youths involved in the unfortunate incident had fled the community before the commencement of the military action.

“I will advise that Obasanjo shouldn’t just apologise to the people of Odi. The former President should visit Odi and beg the people of Odi; he should make peace with them because the cry of the people of Odi is still on him.

Punch  Nigeria