Odi, Zaki-Biam And Now, Okuama -By Adekunle Adekoya

Initially, it sounded unbelievable, just as it was when Odi happened, and later, Zaki-Biam. When the news hit the airwaves that 17 soldiers, including a lieutenat-colonel, two majors, one captain and other ranks were ambushed and killed in the riverine community of Okuama in Delta State, one could only feel benumbed with one question popping up in one’s mind at regular intervals: Don’t we ever learn from experience? That question applies to both the institution that the victims came from — the military — and the inhabitants of Okuama.

For the purpose of those readers who were still too young when Odi and Zaki-Biam happened, let me refresh our memories.

In November 1999, twelve officers and men of the Nigeria police were murdered by a gang near Odi, in the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State; seven on November 4 and the remainder in the following days. The narrative generally believed is that the community refused to indicate the locations where the remains of the slain policemen were buried for government to retrieve and give them proper burials.

This is what was said to have angered President Olusegun Obasanjo, barely six months in office to order the military to take action. However, it was claimed that the army was ambushed close to the village, leading to direct armed confrontation between the soldiers and militant youths defending the village. Eventually, Odi came under severe attack; all buildings in the town, except a bank, the Anglican church and the health centre, were burned to the ground.

Though the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan eventually paid N15 billion compensation to the community, Odi is yet to fully recover from the unfortunate incident.

Barely two years later, on 10 October 2001, 19 soldiers were ambushed and captured in the town of Vaase by a group suspected to be Tiv militias. Two days later, the soldiers’ bodies were discovered near a primary school in the nearby town of Zaki-Biam. On 22 October 2001, the 19 soldiers said to have been killed, near Zaki Biam were given a state funeral in Abuja. At the funeral, President Olusegun Obasanjo said orders had been given out to the military to fish out those responsible.

The killers had posed with the victims in photographs that were widely circulated, especially in the social media before killing them. At the end of the day, Zaki Biam and many other villages in the area suffered massive destruction. Tse Adoor, home village of former Army Chief, General Victor Malu, was also invaded and his family house was levelled. Like Odi, Zaki-Biam is yet to fully recover.

And now, Okuama. From the foregoing, those who attacked soldiers and killed them as well as the military seem not have learnt any useful lessons. General Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts Movement gave the motto of the organisation as “Be Prepared.” For me it is elementary that at all times, and in all places, a soldier should be prepared. Were those that went to Okuama on what turned out to be a journey of no return prepared? Is the Nigerian Armed Forces prepared at all times?

It befuddles the mind that a lieutenant-colonel, two majors, one captain and 12 other ranks could be so brutally ambushed and killed by a gang of militants. Many of us may not know, but it costs a hell of a lot of money to train a soldier. It even costs more to train officers. To lose a lieutenant-colonel, two majors and one captain just like that is a lot. It is awful. In Nigerian parlance, these are “red-neck officers.”

Remember that General Yakubu Gowon was a lieutenant-colonel when he became Head of State. The late Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu was also a lieutenant-colonel when he was appointed governor of the Eastern Region. These were people who trained in some of the world’s finest officer schools, at Aldershot and Sandhurst in England. Imagine the foreign exchange value of the cost of their training in today’s terms. What a waste! May The Almighty God grant repose of their souls and give their families the fortitude to bear the pains of their forceful demise.

For the community of Okuama, it is now crystal clear that the villagers could not have been prepared for the mayhem unleashed on the community in the aftermath of the soldiers’ killings. I must ask: What brand of weeds did the members of that militant gang smoke to make them ambush and kill soldiers? Home-grown or imported? Odi happened in 1999, Zaki-Biam happened in 2001.

It is not so far back in memory that they couldn’t have an elder to tell them of the repercussions even if they were toddlers back then. Afterall, Odi is not so far from Okuama; surely they must have heard of what befell that community. They could individually have had reasons to visit Odi and see evidence of the calamity visited on the village.

This is by no means justifying reprisal attacks by the military. No. What I am driving at is that people must weigh actions before taking them, afterall that famous law remains valid: Action and reaction are equal and opposite. My Yoruba people have a saying that applies here: “Akoda oro, ko dabi adagbehin.”

When you draw the fist blood, it may be in trickles, but a retaliatory strike will draw a flow. In all, those in charge of our affairs must ensure that this kind of thing never happens again, while seeing to it that reprisal attacks by the military does not take place as only innocents will suffer. That is already happening as a humanitarian crisis is underway in the creeks around Okuama as people can no longer move around easily.