Olafemi and the Orgaminana Massacre

Authored by: Dr. Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, Abuja Nigeria. http://odili.net/news/source/2008/mar/30/20.html

Posted by: Dr. Joseph Ozigis Akomodi, New York USA.

AS expected, there have been lots of finger-pointing and denials between the people of Ogaminana in Kogi State and the Nigeria Police since last month when a senseless orgy of killings and burning left over 50 people dead, hundreds injured, 5,000 rendered homeless and more than 20 vehicles, 65 houses and 150 stores burnt. The true sequence of events and the roles played by each group in the horrific killings of defenseless people in Ogaminana remain contentious. But here is what has been established so far:

On February 22, this year, six trucks loaded with iron ore concentrates were on their way to Port Harcourt from Itakpe Iron Ore Mining Company in Kogi State when youths from nearby Ogaminana intercepted and detained them. The youths, who were peacefully protesting against the systematic looting of the Itakpe iron ore deposits by Global Infrastructures Limited, the Indian firm to which it was concessioned in controversial circumstances by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, were said to have deflated the tyres and smashed the windscreens of the trucks.

Two days later, on February 24, a unit of the Police Mobile Force was dispatched to Ogaminana "to prevent further damage to the (detained) vehicles and products", according to Kogi State Police Commissioner Ibe Aghanya. It was in the process of carrying out this assignment that the police clashed with the protesting youths, leaving an Inspector, a Sergeant and a Corporal seriously wounded and Corporal Raphael George abducted. A search and rescue police team sent on February 26, according to police official report, found Corporal George's mutilated body along Kabba Road after another bloody clash that the police said claimed the lives of two of the intrepid youths.

Police Commissioner Aghanya cleverly left out in his report the fact that after retrieving the body of their fallen colleague the police descended on Ogaminana at 8.30 pm on February 26, killing and brutalizing mostly elderly men, women and children in a reprisal attack that has sent shock and outrage throughout the country. Aghanya also did not admit that it was the summary execution of one Haruna Sule - shot several times by the police - that provoked the youths into attacking his men.

Of course, Aghanya's selective account of the mayhem his men visited on Ogaminana is designed to demonize the community and to make the police look innocent. Already, the gullible Clarence Olafemi, the acting governor of Kogi State, is so convinced of the collective guilt of the Ogaminana people that he has been raining curses on them for the death of Corporal George.

Olafemi did not care to conduct an independent investigation into the killings before rushing to condemn the entire people of Ogaminana and the Kogi Central Senatorial District for their penchant for violence and other anti-social behaviour. He has not even cared to visit the community to see things for himself before apportioning blame. It will be surprising if Olafemi knows where to locate Ogaminana on the map of the state he claims to be governing.

This is the real tragedy of the April 2007 elections. The charade threw up all sorts of characters at the helm of our affairs, including those ill-equipped to run a hunters guild that have suddenly found themselves in charge of complex entities like states.

This Day correspondent Wole Ayodele has provided a graphic detail of the atrocities committed by the police in Ogaminana on February 26 which the acting governor, the chief security officer in the state, claimed not to know. In the March 10 edition of the newspaper, Ayodele wrote that the police "unleashed a reign of terror of an unimaginable proportion on the hapless and innocent residents of the community, killing, maiming and engaging in wanton destruction destruction of property...."

In a manner reminiscent of Odi (in Bayelsa State) and Zaki Biam (in Benue State) reprisal attacks by the army following the killing of their colleagues by the two communities during the Obasanjo administration, it was reported in the newspapers that the police ran amok killing anybody in sight including women, elderly men and children. They did not spare even domestic animals. Gated houses had their fences pulled down before being broken into. Petrol station attendants were ordered at gun point to fill up containers that were later used to douse houses and shops before being set on fire. Vehicles passing through the area, the report added, were stopped and passengers were ordered to disembark "and any Ebira man or woman found in the vehicles was allegedly shot instantaneously".

Who authorized the attack? Did the leadership of the Kogi State Police Command inform Olafemi about the plan to wipe Ogaminana out of the state? How much did Olafemi know and when did he know it? How come that Olafemi and Police Commissioner Aghanya are only concerned about the death of Corporal George? What about the 50 or so innocent souls killed by the police? Is each of those killed by the police less important than the one killed by the youths of Ogaminana? Has Olafemi ever queried Aghanya about the killings - assuming he did not know about the attack? Is it possible for the police to embark on such a murderous raid without the permission of the chief security of the state?

At a memorial ceremony for Corporal George in Lokoja recently, Olafemi spoke like a man who has just finished a drum of pito (a local drink made of fermented guinea corn). "May they never see favour in their lives again", he said of the killers of Corporal George while announcing some monetary compensation to his survivors. He went on to describe the killing of the police man as satanic and that "the incident has to be condemned in its entirety". What about the 50 victims of police killings in Ogaminana? Olafemi made no mention of them beyond categorically ruling out payment of any compensation to them. Barely hiding his disdain or contempt for the people of the Central Senatorial Zone, Olafemi said "nobody had briefed him about the magnitude of the damage". Yet, he was quick to blame the traditional ruler of the area for the crisis.

The Ogaminana massacre has already been raised on the floor of the Kogi State House of Assembly by Hon. Momoh Jimoh Anda and it was unanimously condemned by members. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have set up separate investigative committees to look into the killings - thanks to the efforts of Senator Salihu Ohize and Hon. Abdulkareem Salihu. Yet, acting governor Olafemi said he had not been briefed about its magnitude. Is he running Kogi from outer space? With such an incompetent and highly partisan fellow running the government - not matter how briefly - any wonder therefore that Kogi is in such a mess. Again, the state government has failed the people from which it derives mandate. The callous disregard for the plight of the people of the area by both Olafemi and the previous government of Idris Ibrahim continue to confirm lingering suspicions that the state government prefers to treat the area as a lawless fiefdom because it is the base of opposition Action Congress (AC).

This is one massacre that cannot be swept under the carpet. Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigations by the National Assembly, the families of those killed as well as those who lost their houses, vehicles and shops must sue the Nigeria Police to court and demand compensations. The Nigeria police will have to pay for this. It cannot be swept away like Odi and Zaki Biam. People must be held accountable, including the youths who killed Corporal George. Aghanya should be sent on compulsory leave pending the completion of the various probes. We will never have a country we can all be proud of if our supposed protectors kill us with such impunity.

The Nigerian police force has long been notorious for abusing the very people it is supposed to protect. Its style of operation, crime fighting approach and general orientation are outdated, crude, immoral and anti-people. The force behaves with absolute disdain for the rights and dignity of the people whose taxes sustain it. Members of Hitler's murderous special squad would appear far more civilized and humane than some of the men and women in our police force. The question being asked by reasonable Nigerians was why the police did not fish out the killers of Corporal George instead of waging a senseless war against a whole community. Was Corporal George killed by the entire Ogaminana community? Why visit the sins of a few youths on a community? Can the loss of 50 lives in Ogaminana bring back Corporal George?

A Onukaba, a journalist and playwright, lives in Abuja.