November 17, 2008


The Honorable Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
Secretariat Building, Room S-3800
New York, NY.10017

Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Greetings from Ijawnation.

I am writing in order to convey to you our deep sadness over your recent appointment of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo as your special envoy in helping to solve the humanitarian crises in Congo arising as the result of the ongoing armed conflict. .

Your Excellency, we the Ijaws, the foremost indigenous people of the Niger Delta area of present day Nigeria would like to remind your excellency and indeed the world of the atrocities committed by your special envoy against the Ijaws while he was president and maximum ruler of Nigeria.

Your Excellency, On November 19, 1999, on the pretense of arresting the alleged assailants of 12 policemen in Odi, Bayelsa State, your Special Envoy Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, ordered the Nigerian Army to embark upon ethnic cleansing with the singular purpose of teaching the Ijaws a lesson. On his direct orders, the army totally destroyed Odi, killing, maiming and raping over three thousand innocent and defenseless women, children and men. Your Envoy Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo bears full responsibility for these crimes against humanity committed during this invasion.

Allow me to share with you and the world a quote from a Nigerian Senator who visited Odi after the siege.

What I saw in Odi reminds me of a phrase in Latin: hori willet wizzle, meaning horrible sight, agonizing, embarrassing, shameful. This was what I saw. I saw a degradation of human habitation and sadness written on the faces of hapless and helpless women, faces that showed mourning." Even the Butcher of Abuja did not do this! I hope one day Obasanjo will be put on trial for this, the murder of Lady Kuti, and other heinous crimes that apparently doesn't bother the conscience of this 'born again Christian'. How any human being can support this sort of thing, especially in a 'democracy' is way beyond my imagination" ...Senator Durojaiye

Your Excellency, your Special Envoy Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo also ordered the invasion of Odiama, another Ijaw town in 2005 with similar deadly consequences for innocent and unsuspecting mothers, daughters, children and the elderly.

Allow me again to share with you a quote from Odiama after the siege.

“When the soldiers arrived at the community yesterday with their gunboats, our people thought they came for peace, and so no one raised any dust. Our chiefs gathered immediately at the palace of the Amanyanabo to await the soldiers to explain their mission, but the next thing that happened was shooting, shooting, shooting…. firing and firing. The soldiers were shooting at everyone, and started burning houses at the waterside”  – Philemon Kelly Dickson, Odioma community spokesperson

Your Excellency, you can imagine our sadness and frustration when we see your special envoy Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo parading as a peace maker before the world press. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a man with much innocent Ijaw blood in his hands should not be your envoy; rather he should be standing trial before the International Court of Justice.

Your Excellency, we urge you to take immediate appropriate action to remedy this oversight, as this appointment if allowed to stand, contradicts the basic tenets of the foundation of the United Nations. The UN cannot be and must not be a party to rehabilitating the image of a ruler accused of ordering the massacre of innocent Ijaws. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo must be brought to answer for his role in the massacre of innocent Ijaws in Odi and Odiama, Bayelsa State. Nigeria. We shall never let Gen. Obasanjo or the world forget about his atrocities in Odi.

Yours sincerely,

 

Titoe Miriki, President
Ijaw Pro-Active Leadership Council
www.unitedijaw.com

www.unitedijaw.com/unenvoy.htm