Moderator, pls move this to front page. Am very much angry abt d Odi invasion each time I remember how my father's house was burnt down.
And yet one group of ppl want to benefit alone? God punish them.


The sum of N15 billion, being part payment of
N37.618 billion, intended as compensation to
Odi community by the Federal Government for
the infamous 1999 invasion by the Nigerian
soldiers has pitched the members of the
community against each other.
A mob of angry youths from the community on
Saturday attacked the deputy traditional head
of the community, Chief Ebitimi Karuiru, and
other leaders over alleged discrepancies in the
sharing of the N15 billion compensation
money paid so far.
The compensation money was paid last month
by the Federal Government in compliance with
a 2013 court ruling, which had ordered that
N37.6 billion be paid as compensation for the
invasion and destruction of the community by
the military under the administration of
Olusegun Obasanjo.
The controversy trailing the payment of the
initial N15 billion was worsened by the fact
that 40 per cent of the sum was reportedly
deducted from the source by the consortium of
lawyers engaged by the community.
The angry youths, according to the report, had
descended on the homes of some prominent
elders of the community over the
disappearance of over N600 million from the
total sum remaining.
Chief Karouiru was attacked at his Odi
residence with machetes and his car set
ablaze, as the rampaging youths went naked
into the streets of the town, calling for the
heads of those identified as the beneficiaries of
the missing N600 million, including chiefs and
notable government officials from the
community.
An eyewitness account reported that the
youths swarmed to the community burial site
to invoke curses on those accused of diverting
the funds meant for the affected families of the
community.
A squadron of armed mobile policemen has
since been deployed to Odi to maintain law
and order.
A community source identified the signatories
to the account to consist of the chief of the Odi
Community, Chief Sine Akpere, Professor
Kobina Imananagha, Commander Koku
Imananagha (rtd) and Koloigidi Aniso.
Meanwhile, the state government, through the
office of the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral
John Jonah, has held a meeting with the
community leaders and demanded for the list
of the illegal beneficiaries of the missing
money.
The deputy governor spoke through the
Special Adviser to the Governor on Security
Matters, Col. Bernard Kenebai, the
Commissioner on ICT, Komonibo.
“The issue of the sharing of the money has
become a poisoned chalice to the
community,” he said. If not for the intervention
of the state, the Odi community would have
burned again. At the meeting convened by the
state government, it was agreed that
representatives of the women and the youths
should be included for wider representation.
“It was also agreed that the signatories made
up of category A, Chief Akpere and
Prof.Imananagha and Category B, Commander
Imananagha and Amiso should be changed
and the N9billion be domiciled in a special
account pending the resolution of the issues.”
A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had last
year ordered the Federal Government to pay
N37.6 billion compensation to the people of
Odi community over the military invasion
during the Obasanjo administration.
The presiding judge in the N100 billion suit
filed by the community, Justice Lambi Akanbi,
had also ordered that the compensation
should be paid within three weeks.
In the suit, they had prayed the court to award
them the amount as damages for the
destruction of lives and property in Odi. The
community had also asked for N17.618billion
as general damages and N20billion for special
damages. They in addition had demanded
public apology and the re-building of Odi
community by the FG.
The judge, however, granted two of their
prayers and rejected the other two. He
accused the Federal Government of being
economical with the truth by pleading in their
counter affidavits that no inhabitant of the
community was killed apart from some armed
militant youths who engaged the military in
gun battle; and that no property was
destroyed by the soldiers.
Relying on various statements by the
government, National Assembly, and
inscriptions left on the soils of Odi by the
Soldiers, as well as video clips on the invasion
which was watched in the open court at the
January 17, 2013 session, the judge had
described their claims and counter affidavits
“as worthless”.

Source: www.thisdaylive.com/articles/n15bn-tears-odi-apart/197319/

This is serious