The GCSDN, which issued the warning in an open letter on Tuesday which was signed by its Global Coordinator, Comrade Frederick Odorige, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government under President Bola Tinubu has shown that Urhobo lives don’t matter.
A civil society organisation under the umbrella of Global Coalition for Security & Democracy in Nigeria (GCSDN) has warned the Urhobo people of Okuama community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State not to stay in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp set up by the Nigerian government at Ewu Grammar School in the state.
The GCSDN, which issued the warning in an open letter on Tuesday which was signed by its Global Coordinator, Comrade Frederick Odorige, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government under President Bola Tinubu has shown that Urhobo lives don’t matter.
Odorige in the open letter stated that within a year in President Tinubu’s administration, 45 journalists and media houses have been attacked.
According to him, President Tinubu allowed soldiers to kill the Okuama people and destroy their houses while he watched in silence.
The letter read, “Dear compatriots of Okuama Community, we write to inform you that we share in your grief, torture and death from the Nigerian army at the command and superintendence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“As we condemn the killing of 17 Nigerian soldiers in Okuama on 14 March 2024, we also express our disappointment that despite the huge annual funding for security and defence in Nigeria, it is a national disgrace that the army, police and DSS have not been able to arrest ONE of the killers of the 17 soldiers.
“In a reprisal attack, the Nigerian army decided to transfer aggression on our innocent and unarmed compatriots.
“They reportedly killed at least 100 of fellow Nigerian citizens. At least 12 Nigerians died of hunger and diseases in the forest where they fled.
“The army also reportedly destroyed at least 413 houses and made your innocent people homeless.
“This is despite the fact that General Christopher Gwabin Musa, the chief of defense staff had stated on national TV, that they know the killers of the soldiers.
“Why did they have to massacre innocent people when they claimed to know the real killers? While it was a crime to kill soldiers, it is equally a crime to kill innocent civilians and to destroy their property. Will the law take its course?
“The APC government under Tinubu has shown that Urhobo lives don`t matter. They must not be allowed to destroy your houses and turn you into refugees in your ancestral community by establishing a camp for Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, at the Ewu Grammar School.
“This has never happened before and must not be allowed to happen. The Urhobo child, man or woman, shall not be refugees in their land.
“Within a year in Bola Tinubu`s administration, 45 journalists and media houses have been attacked while he made himself the butcher of the Okuama people.
“Tinubu allowed the army to kill our people and to destroy our houses while he watched in silence.”
Odorige identified the first lady as Itsekiri, saying, “Mrs Remi Tinubu, wife of Bola Tinubu is Itsekiri. Will Tinubu allow soldiers to kill and destroy in Itsekiri land as he did in Urhoboland? Will Tinubu allow such a massacre to happen in Yorubaland?”
He urged the people of Okuama community to “be informed that we have taken this crime against humanity in Okuama, to the International Criminal Court in the Hague and we shall pursue it to its logical conclusion.
“You are not alone in your grief. Urhoboland is one of the largest oil producers in Nigeria with a network of pipelines, flow, gas stations and other facilities.
“We supply the oil but they snuffed life out of our innocent people under the guise of searching for the killers of 17 soldiers.
“At this point, we expect Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, to use sniffer dogs to search for the other corpses of our people in the forest and to find locations of hidden mass graves within Okuama.”
Odorige said that Governor Oborevwori must search for the people who are already decomposing so that the community could give them proper burials.
He said, “Whether it is the corpse of a child, woman or man, every corpse of our people deserves a befitting grave.
“We may wait in vain but we must not remain silent. They are building a camp for our people to live, but that is not our priority. If the Delta state government wishes to genuinely support the Okuama people, they should give them cash to fend for themselves in terms of accommodation and livelihood.”
According to him, “setting up committees and quoting huge budgets that will not sufficiently get to the people, must not be welcomed”.
“We wish to strongly advise the Okuama people not to live in the camps. Your lives cannot be secured by the same governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, who was previously barred by the army from entering Okuama.
“You cannot trust what the soldiers and their allies could do to you while you are asleep. They might just be gathering you for a second massacre. Remember also, that before the crisis in Okuama, the soldiers gathered you at your town hall before killing some of your people.”
Odorige recalled that on October 5, 1967, during the Nigerian civil war, the Nigerian army entered Asaba, ransacked houses and killed civilians accused of being Biafra sympathisers.
“Therefore, we strongly warn you not to assemble in one place in the name of an IDP camp at Ewu Grammar School or anywhere else,” he said. “The government must pay for your houses which they allowed the soldiers to destroy. The tents they are constructing are not your homes.”