February 11, 2014

‘We’ll Scuttle Jonathan’s Ambition’

The residents of Odi, Bayelsa State, have vowed to campaign against the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

They cited the refusal of the Federal Government to pay the community the N37.6bn compensation, as directed by a High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, as the reason for their decision.

Some of the indigenes who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday, issued the threat during the APC’s membership registration in the community.

They also said the Federal Government’s refusal to pay the compensation for the destruction of their community 13 years ago, had left them with no option but to embrace the APC.

They vowed that they (Odi people) would rally the support of other Ijaw people to scuttle Jonathan’s ambition and that of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Odi community in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was destroyed in November 1999 by the Nigerian military on the orders of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, following the killing of some policemen by hoodlums from the area.

Following the military invasion, the court ordered the Federal Government to pay N37.6bn to Odi victims.

But instead of paying the compensation, the Federal Government had appealed against the judgment, a development which had pitted the community against the government.

A prominent indigene of Odi and a member of the APC National Interim Committee, Mr. Timi Frank, who registered with scores of residents in Ward 2, said the APC represented a positive change in the country.

The APC stalwart, who had visited the Kala Okun III of Kolokuma Kingdom, King Agara Mozi and the monarch of Odi, before registering, said the community had resolved not to vote for Jonathan and the PDP in the coming polls because of the FG’s refusal to pay them their compensation.

He said the emergence of the APC was the only opportunity they (Odi people) had to express their anger against Jonathan-led Federal Government.

Frank said, “Our people are tired of the PDP because it has not done anything for them.”
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