The people of Odi in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local
Government Area of Bayelsa, on Friday protested
against the against non-payment of N37.6billion
damages
awarded it by a Federal High Court.
The Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt,
had in February 2013, ruled that the Federal
Government should pay the amount as
compensation for the November 1999 military
invasion of the community.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the
demonstrators, who carried placards with various
inscriptions, chanted songs in their dialect while
blocking the major roads.
Some women among them wore sack clothes and
rolled on bare ground on major roads in the state
capital.
Youths carried a mock coffin in remembrance of
those who died in the invasion.
Stakeholders, including Niger Delta human rights
organisations and activists, Civil Liberties
Organisation (CLO), amongst others, participated in
the protest.
A retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr Timiebi
Koripamo-Agary, said Odi had yet to recover from
the aftermath of the invasion.
“We have won all our cases and the court had
ordered that money should be paid to us.
“We are not happy with Jonathan because if the
court had given judgment, he should have
complied with it in the spirit of the rule of law.
“If they had not reported to Mr President, we want
to inform him through our protest’’, she said.
NAN reports that community leaders ensured that
the demonstration was peaceful and the busy East-
West Road cleared after 20 minutes of barricade.
Gseven Empire 