"At around 10am the soldiers arrived in 15
gunboats. There were about 100 of them. They
started pouring petrol on houses. I could not count
the number of firebombs used; there were too many.
They fired with big guns, but no teargas was used.
Two- to three-year-olds and the old ones stayed in
their houses, and 12-year-old Lucky was shot dead."
–
Chief L.D.I. Orumiegha-Bari, Chairman of the Council of Chiefs, Odioma
Chevron Nigeria – Death and Devastation by Gunboat
At least 17 people were reported to have been killed and two women raped when
members of the Joint Task Force raided the Ijaw community of Odioma in gunboats
and other vessels. Odioma is on the coast of Bayelsa State in the centre of the
Niger Delta region. The attack on 19 February 2005 was ostensibly to arrest members
of an armed vigilante group suspected of killing four local councillors and eight
others earlier that month. The suspects were not captured but, over a period of
a few days, 80 per cent of homes were razed, most of them near the waterfront.
Two of those killed, Balasanyun Omieh, a woman said to be 105 years old, and two-year-old
Inikio Omieye, burned to death. Three people were reportedly shot dead. Many inhabitants
fled the violence and did not return. Those whose homes were destroyed have not
been able to return.
Two months after an attack by the security forces, video footage of the largely deserted town of Odioma © AI.
The Joint Task Force commander has confirmed that at least three civilians were
killed in the raid. Yet he was unable to tell Amnesty International what weapons
his forces had deployed or to account for ammunition used in the operation, although
he provided a list of arms reportedly found in Odioma. A Judicial Commission of
Inquiry appointed by the State Governor to investigate the incidents submitted
a report in June 2005 that has not been made public. No action is known to have
been taken to determine the number or identity of those killed; to order the exhumation
of graves; to investigate the responsibility of the security forces for deaths,
injuries or the destruction of homes; or to bring to justice those suspected of
human rights violations. Odioma’s victims have been denied justice and redress.
Two months after the attack, there were few visible signs of the humanitarian
assistance promised by Bayelsa State in the largely deserted town.
© Jacob Silberberg/PANOS Heavily armed soldiers ride a patrol boat in the
Niger Delta region.
The roots of the violence lay in a dispute between communities for control of
land planned for oil exploration by Shell Nigeria since 1998. Shell Nigeria had
identified the landowners as the Obioku and Nembe-Bassambiri communities. However,
the company withdrew from the area in January 2005, reportedly after youths from
Odioma demanded a halt to operations and it became aware that ownership was disputed.
Members of the vigilante group in Odioma suspected of killing the 12 community
representatives were reported to have been recruited by a subcontractor of Shell
Nigeria to be responsible for security in the area, despite their alleged record
of criminality. The subsequent raid fitted a pattern of collective punishment
by the security forces on whole communities. Shell is not known to have expressed
concern about the attack on the people of Odioma or their continuing destitution,
or to have taken any steps to prevent such action by the security forces in the
future.
