As the entire country continues to hail the recent judgment on Odi Massacre by the administration of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. The President of Agape Birthright, a human rights/environmental rights crusader and activist of our times, Annkio Briggs said it is not enough to applaud the judgment without asking for the prosecution of the President at the time the crime was committed.
Briggs stated this in an exclusive interview with The Newswriter in Port Harcourt. She was of the opinion that obasanjo, the then president who authorized the destruction of Odi and the killing of its inhabitants for the sheer excuses that youths killed some policemen and ran into Odi, a community in Bayelsa State which she said has existed even before the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914.
Annkio said she was not surprised that Odi was invaded, considering the fact that Nigeria is notorious in waging war against its own people, citing the Nigeria/Biafran war as a case study. According to her, the issue is not the N37bn damages, but the fact that justice has been done to a people that their rights were violated. She charged other communities whose fundamental human rights have been abused to go ahead and seek redress in court.
Commenting on Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and Hyprep claiming to be fighting oil theft, the Activist said it is laughable for NNPC that partners with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and other oil companies in Nigeria to now claim to be fighting oil thieves.
Briggs accused NNPC under the auspices of Hyprep of only being interested in the N1bn earmarked by UNEP for the cleaning of Ogoniland instead of being interested in the clean-up.
She emphasized the fact that what happened in Ogoniland was just one case of the injustices done to the entire Niger Delta region. Annkio charged Hyprep/NNPC to clean up Ogoniland as stipulated in the UNEP report and make the environment habitable once again.
Asked why she thinks the court delivered such judgment on Odi after several years.
The Activist said it does not matter what and why the court made such pronouncement, but what is sure is that the judgment is right, though belated. The judgment she said has proved that something wrong had happened to Odi people.
Briggs decried the rumour that the Federal Government (FG) wants to appeal the judgment, describing such move as laughable. She queried why the government should contemplate appealing such judgment. According to her, if the FG can appeal, the Odi people can as well appeal, afterall the people requested for N100bn damages and the court only awarded N37.6bn.
On the allegation that the President is slow for refusing to send soldiers to destroy the North in the name of fighting Boko Haram. Briggs said the chances are that since the armed forces of Nigeria comprise mainly of Northerners, even if they are sent to kill their own people, they may not act accordingly.
The activist said it would have been practically impossible for Niger Delta soldiers to be ordered to go to Odi and kill their own people and you expect such order to be carried out.
On the spate of criticisms against Jonathan for not being able to complete the East/West road, which people say has now become a thorn in the flesh of Nigerians (Niger Deltans). Briggs said the Federal Government is the thorn in the flesh of the Niger Deltans and not the East/West Road.
She accused the successive governments since 1960 of not been able to reconstruct the East/West road before the Jonathan administration. Briggs also accused the Ministry of Niger Delta for its failure to complete the East/West. According to her, she had all the time advocated that the road should be constructed by the Ministry of Works as a federal road. She therefore exonerated Jonathan from blame, insisting that it is only when the people are allowed to control their resources that they can be held responsible for any failure.
She said the truth is that a section of the country who thinks it is their birthright to rule others have not allowed Jonathan to govern the country. She said it is impossible to asses the President when he is being distracted everywhere with indiscriminate bombings.
Briggs said she does not expect Jonathan to go on kwilling spree like some past leaders of this country, what people should do is to speak up against the ills in the society.
On 2015 and the chances of Jonathan being qualified to contest the forthcoming elections, Annkio said if Jonathan is not qualified who else.
According to her, it is only the people and the constitution that can decide the eligibility of anybody in the election.
She dismissed claim from some quarters that once a Yoruba man has ruled, the Ijawman, Igboman or Efikman has ruled. According to her, rotational presidency should go round the 6 geo-political zones and not North and South as being canvassed by the Northerners.
“MY submission had always being that Nigerians should keep her rulership, while we keep our resources,” Annkio declared.
Annkio Briggs warned that if by 2015 the 1999 constitution is not amended, Nigeria might be heading for a disaster. ###
Barth Ndu
