₦airaland Forum

Stingman:
But you guys were running your mouth...on things that doesn't concern you. Now you have invited the lizards after harvesting woods with insects...Una see una lives...?

God bless ypu bruh.. these yoruba people need to be brain fixed.. then any political situation in the south south and south east.. you see them talking thrash.. smh

the Fulani plan is working... SS, SW, SE knocking their heads together. by the time you guys finish fighting yourselves, the Fulani will walk in & turn the empty lands to grazing reserves, install emirs in PH, Ikeja & Enugu. if you think its impossible, go & read history about the rise of Islam in West Africa. do we think one region in the south can stand against the North? Those who carried out attacks in Lagos & Ogun are criminals & not militants.

bakynes:
All these SS and SE people think OPC wont defeat Niger delta Militants because of sophisticated weapons the militants carry. OPC do not rely on guns they have charms as well. I do know the militants use charms too but no tribe can really match the Yorubas in Charm and Voodo in Nigeria except the Hausa-Fulanis. I have seen an OPC vigilante in my area walking invinsible with only shoes moving abt.
So do not discard their threat. Its better we all encourage peace.

Loooolllllll. When a family member pitches his tent with the oppressor, he expressly becomes a target too. Always remember this.

modelmike7:
...... Lol! Now , this is funny!! Akika!!!

See this guy you think say i dey lie you cant match Yorubas when it comes to voodo. No be person wey Militants see them go shoot. Them no even need go face the militants before they kill them.

So OPC has also joined the league of chest beaters and ultimatum givers?

Aigbofa:
What is more dangerous than hoodlums invading communities while they are sleeping, killing and maiming innocent folks.
I know if OPC should retaliate, all the morons shouting "Yorubas are cowards " will quickly change to Yorubas are wicked.
They will petition the UN, call on the Pope and the Amnesty international, they will wail and cry, they will conveniently forget they started the whole madness.

Retaliate first nah let us see. I never knew yorubas could aslo give ultimatums. If it were Igbos that issued this ultimatum now you guys would have been calling us names by now.

You have no shame.

Lalasticlala, so OPC too dey give ultimatum nii?

If i were one of those militants i will start packing my bag and baggages back to d niger delta with my ransomed loot.because their is nothing worse than fighting in another man,s territory when you dont even know your enemy among the people u are surrounded with who laff and smile with you only to cause your demise.The protection of guns is not enough.ever tot of food poisining,water poisining,killer girlfriend,juju e.t.c. A word is enough for the wise

OPC my azz! Why 14days ultimatum...what happened to 24hrs or 48hrs? Since when did yooruba started giving ultimatums? Cowards and loud mouths don't give ultimatums, they beg! My advise to OPC and the yoorubas is to start begging now. Disregard this advice to your peril

osinbanjoisaliar:
http://dailypost.ng/2016/07/20/14-days-stop-attacks-yoruba-land-opc-warns-niger-delta-militants/

III. KILLINGS AND ABUSES BY THE OPC



The OPC has been responsible for numerous acts of violence and its members have killed or injured hundreds of people. While many of their most serious attacks were directed against Hausa, or people suspected to be northerners, their victims have also included Igbo, Ijaw and people from other ethnic groups. There have even been cases where they have attacked Yoruba, both civilians and policemen. Most of their victims have been men.

Numerous eye-witness testimonies gathered by Human Rights Watch confirmed that contrary to their leaders' denials, the OPC have used a variety of weapons, including fire-arms, machetes, cutlasses, knives and daggers, which they are often seen carrying openly. There have also been several cases where they have poured acid on their victims. Frequently they set fire to the corpses of those they had killed, sometimes after mutilating them. It has been difficult to confirm the sources of the weapons used by the OPC. Small arms proliferate in Nigeria and it is easy to purchase guns and other weapons. In addition, the OPC have sometimes seized weapons belonging to the police or to suspected criminals that they have apprehended during their vigilante activities.

In the cases documented below, the victims and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch confirmed that the perpetrators were specifically OPC members, as opposed to other Yoruba. They had been able to identify them in a variety of ways. In some cases, the OPC explicitly identified or announced themselves as OPC. In other cases, witnesses identified them by the clothes they wore: although there is no full OPC uniform, their members typically wear a red or white cloth tied around their head, and wear charms and fetishes. Some wear T-shirts or head-bands with the words "OPC" printed on them. In some cases, they arrived in large convoys of vehicles bearing OPC banners or flags. In a few cases, the victims or witnesses recognized local individuals known to be OPC members.

Most of the incidents in which OPC members have been responsible for killings fall into one of two categories: large-scale ethnic clashes, creating many casualties, or isolated incidents in which individual OPC members have attacked or killed other individuals, for example in the course of vigilante activities or attempts at extortion or theft. In addition, there have been situations where the OPC has intervened or been used in political disputes, such as that in Owo, Ondo State, where it has ended up attacking supporters of rival political factions.

Ethnic Clashes

There has been a pattern of killings by the OPC in the context of disputes or clashes with other ethnic groups since at least 1999. Often these clashes were sparked off by a minor argument between two individuals from different ethnic groups, which typically then escalated when the Yoruba party brought in the OPC to fight their cause, while the other ethnic group retaliated by calling youths from their own community to the rescue. The incident would then rapidly degenerate into a violent ethnic conflict within hours, or sometimes within minutes. The widespread availability of small arms and traditional weapons and the readiness of youths from all sides to use them meant that community leaders were often unable to stop the violence or restore calm, despite efforts to do so.

By the time the violence reached its peak in the second half of 2000, hundreds of people had been killed, many by the OPC, others by other groups. Some of the most serious incidents are described below. A journalist commented: "Around 2000 was the worst period of OPC violence [...] The police were incapable of controlling it. The OPC could shut down a whole street [...] Every other week there were clashes."33

These clashes had repercussions far beyond the southwestern states or the locations where they occurred. One of the immediate effects was that many Hausa-who were one of the most directly-affected groups-fled the southwest and moved back to the north; some have not returned since. A seventy-five-year-old Hausa man, whose thirty-five-year-old son was killed by the OPC in Ajegunle in October 2000 (see below), told Human Rights Watch: "My son Sahabi was killed. He was on his way home with his family. The OPC stopped them. They pushed his wife and children into the house then slaughtered him. His wife saw it happen. They cut his body into pieces with a cutlass. He had two children. The wife was traumatized. She couldn't speak for two months. She left for the north and has stayed there."34

In several instances, attacks by the OPC on Hausa or northerners in the southwest were followed by reprisal attacks on Yoruba in the north. For example, following the killings in Sagamu in July 1999, violence erupted in the northern city of Kano, widely seen as an act of retaliation by the Hausa. Similarly, riots broke out in Minna, capital of Niger State, following the violence in Ajegunle in October 2000. The same has been true in reverse: clashes in the north between Yoruba and Hausa have had repercussions in the south and appeared to strengthen the resolve of the OPC to "fight the Yoruba cause." This was notably the case with the explosion of violence between Christians and Muslims in the northern city of Kaduna, in which an estimated 2,000 people were killed in February and May 2000, and which was followed by violence in the southwest.

Sagamu

In mid July 1999, there was a major clash between Hausa and Yoruba in Sagamu, Ogun State. Scores of people were killed. The violence began following an argument over customs observed during the Oro festival, an annual Yoruba event which had not been disrupted by any disputes either before or since 1999. Yoruba and Hausa had agreed to respect a traditional night-time curfew usually observed during the festival. However, according to local residents, a fight erupted between the Yoruba and the Hausa after a Hausa woman was killed by a group of Yoruba because she had broken the curfew. The fighting escalated and the OPC intervened to support the Yoruba. Both sides were armed. At least sixty-eight Hausa were killed, including three boys between the ages of ten and fifteen; some were killed with guns, but the majority were killed with cutlasses. A number of Yoruba were also killed, including one of the Oro leaders. Some people were burnt inside their houses.35

According to another local resident, two or three days later, the OPC came back to Sagamu in five vehicles, but there was a curfew and they were stopped by the police near the central police station. Local residents reported that there was a shoot-out and that the police killed some OPC members. Some policemen were also attacked by the OPC, including Sergeant Danda Shahibu; the OPC poured petrol over him with the intention of burning him, but he survived.

The OPC, while agreeing that both Hausa and Yoruba were killed in Sagamu, offered a different version of events. They alleged that the fighting was pre-meditated by the Hausa, and that the police in Sagamu had sided with the Hausa and provided them with ammunition. A report on the violence in Sagamu, circulated by the Gani Adams faction of the OPC, states that the OPC "is seen to have been the saviours of the town, as their members, also known as the Oodua Warriors, did battle to save the town."36

A Hausa man in Sagamu told Human Rights Watch that after the violence, "the local government gave us forms to fill in for compensation, but nothing happened. Even the Seriki's [Hausa leader] house was burnt. The president, who came here on the Monday, promised there would be compensation, but there wasn't. There was an investigation but nobody was arrested. The governor of Ogun promised to rebuild the Seriki's house, but didn't."37

According to an inside source within the OPC, the violence in Sagamu marked a turning point for the Gani Adams faction of the OPC. Fasehun and those close to him apparently had not wanted to intervene, and it was Gani Adams who decided to mobilize large numbers of OPC members as reinforcements to the Yoruba in Sagamu. This decision was popular with many rank-and-file members and resulted in a surge in membership of the Gani Adams faction.

Ketu / Mile 12 Market38
On November 25 and 26, 1999, scores of people were killed when the OPC clashed with traders in Ketu / Mile 12 market in Lagos. The exact number of victims has not been confirmed, but is estimated to be more than one hundred. A senior police official who was at the scene said he saw an estimated two hundred bodies, but that others had already been buried in mass graves.

The fighting is thought to have been caused by jealousy on the part of Yoruba about the perceived dominance of the market by Hausa traders. There had also been disputes between particular individuals for control of key leadership positions within the market traders' committee. According to some of the traders, some Yoruba had been threatening to challenge this dominance and "claim back" the market from the Hausa. Consequently, many of the victims of the OPC attack were Hausa, or people of northern origin suspected to be Hausa; however, a number of Igbo and members of other ethnic groups were also attacked by the OPC. Some Hausa also attacked and killed Yoruba. Both groups were well-armed. Most of the violence took place in the market and on the roads surrounding it. However, witnesses reported that there were also house to house searches, in which the OPC targeted Hausas and Igbos. Market traders who witnessed the violence confirmed that large numbers of OPC members were involved (some estimated as many as 1,000) and that many of those carrying out the attacks were wearing vests with "OPC" written on them. They carried a range of weapons, including guns, machetes and daggers; some were wearing charms. Some traders believed that OPC members had been drafted in from other areas.

A woman who had been trading in the market for five years said she had never witnessed anything like it: "People were shouting: `OPC! OPC!' We started hearing gunshots. I had to find my way out of the market. [...] The expressway [the main road which runs along the market] was blocked by the OPC. This expressway was turned into a killing zone. For days a lot of dead bodies littered this road. [...] Many traders lost their lives and even some customers that were unfortunate to come to the market at that time."

A representative of the Perishable Foodstuffs Market Association told Human Rights Watch that sixty-eight Hausa traders had been killed in the food market alone; thirty of them were women. The Hausa traders sent a list of the victims they had counted to the Lagos State Governor; dated December 3, 1999, it lists sixty-eight people confirmed dead, including four blind men killed at a mosque; eleven unnamed people burnt at Ketu bus-stop; twenty-four people missing (who were never found), including nine schoolchildren; and details of buildings and property that were burnt or looted.

A Hausa trader described how the OPC were specifically targeting Hausa and Igbo in and around the market. Some northerners who were not even Hausa were among those they attacked:

On 25 November, a young man, Mohammed, was knifed in the belly. He was rushed to hospital and was lucky to survive. They [the OPC] beat a lot of our members who started chasing them out. We went to the main road. The road was blocked. They were stopping all vehicles. They would offload any Hausa or Igbo, kill them and set them on fire. I saw them stopping vehicles. They were a very big group, maybe thousands. Some had OPC uniforms. Other Yoruba also joined in. They were asking people who were passing: `What is your state [of origin]? What is your tribe?' They stopped a northerner who sells provisions. He is not a Hausa; he is from the Zabruma tribe, from Kebbi State. His name is Bako; he is about thirty or thirty-five years old. They asked him which state he was from. He said Kebbi. They said: `Kill him. He's a Hausa man. He's from their states.' They cut him in several places. He managed to run away as the OPC heard the police siren and fled. I saw him face to face. He looked like he could have been attacked with knives or bottles; they used bottles a lot. He swore he would never return to Lagos.

An Igbo trader in the yam market narrowly survived being burnt to death:

That day, at about 9 a.m., we came to the market as usual [...] People said they were seeing movements they didn't understand, in the yam depot. We asked them not to panic. Some leaders went to report the movements to the police at Ketu. [...]

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nigeria0203/nigeriaopc0203-03.htm



I don't pray for this oo..but laughed at some of our lousy blooladahs who calls OPC/yoruba cowards!

Make una contuuunuuu

I am from the south south region ..Lets stop all these chest beating and name calling please..to be honest what the militants did in the south west region was bad..they are actually calling for trouble..i wouldn't know if these militant can be link to to the Niger Delta Avengers..but they are criminals..and nobody should support this nonsense. For christ sake, they killed people..fathers, mothers, brothers and sister were lost in thier vicious act..therefore we as Nigerians must conderm this nonsense.
I dont know why the black man will always laugh over another black mans misfurtune just becos he is not affected but will start crying out when he is enventually involve..why are we so selfish and insensitive to the plight of our fellow man...are we caused or what?..my fellow Nigerians!..where is our sense of humanity?..what happened to it..did we exchange it for our unhealthy ethnic and religious sentiment. We all are involve in this nonsense and we have to stop it..
You think war is the child game you see on T.V ?(Please ask the people from "Rwanda and Republic of Congo,Liberia and Centra Africal Republic) i am sure they will give you a chair to sit for them to tell you the real story of war..If you pray for war then whose blood will be spilled?..yours? mine? or your next door neighbour who wishes for nothing but a peaceful co-habitant with his neighbour within his own country..
We should have a re-think of what we are wishing and praying for..if war must be fought then it must be for a genuine purpose and not over any stupid ego and unecessary bravado of who is better than the other.Enough have been said already.

YorubaFynest:
Where were you when Fulanis raided Enugu state? Coward Ibo.

Where were u when the fulanis were roasted in Aba, fews days later, that even warranted a State Broadcast by the governor.

The Yorubas should not attack any Igbo interest. If not... Don't say we didn't warn you first.

yoruba and mouth! smh

i no fit laff o..these ppl dat cant even even face armless robber...a kid millitant is enoff to scare opc.i m sure they ll xtend the deadline to infinity

Yinmu! They came to the southwest to attack your people, i was expecting the reprisal to also be on southsouth land! Instead they want to attack the south south people living and doing business in the southwest? una no know road go ijaw land? Shebi them travel come meet una? Make una sef travel go meet them! Abi dem nack una nail for southwest?

Lolz at we know where your people live and do business's here elenu kobo kobo.

Bo le ka ja joor!

Lol

Justindeco:
coward yoruba can not fight

And you can fight abi? Kontinu

Yorubbers sef, una funny. Am dialing Dino meleye's number right now. Una don start noise making again.

hmm

Aigbofa:
What is more dangerous than hoodlums invading communities while they are sleeping, killing and maiming innocent folks.
I know if OPC should retaliate, all the morons shouting "Yorubas are cowards " will quickly change to Yorubas are wicked.
They will petition the UN, call on the Pope and the Amnesty international, they will wail and cry, they will conveniently forget they started the whole madness.

Yorubas are scared all day, everyday. The truth is Yoruba can never afford direct confrontation with any region in a one on one without having their northern slave masters to hide behind

osinbanjoisaliar:
Mouth action

Typical of you Nigerian fake Jews, you always invoke what you cannot finish. You people are the ones that will first wake trouble, and when it starts, all you can do is making a helpless and hapless call to the international community.
The Yorubas are more mature and more sophisticated... Live with it.

please oo. They should not turn ikorodu to a war zone ooo!!!!!. Do you know that your voice can win you an iphone6? Visit www.palmchatnow.com to download the latest v5.2.2 of Palmchat, and be eligible to participate.

Painment inc

totit:
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nigeria0203/nigeriaopc0203-03.htm



I don't pray for this oo..but laughed at some of our lousy blooladahs who calls OPC/yoruba cowards!

Make una contuuunuuu

Why give any ultimatum just attack, I thought yorubas don't give ultimatums.


When will yorubas threaten the hausas with drowning in the lagoon?

You know what they did at Mile 12 and recently they gathered, attacked a school, beat up the principal and took their money.

When will they be sent to the lagoon and why has your oba been so deaf and dumb since

It's been long I resolved never to publicly denigrate my tribe or people, no matter what. Never. Igbo people are still the only people who publicly disparage their own to sound 'objective', 'balanced', 'civilised', 'activistic', and like 'something else'. Those who habitually do this hope to carry favour from and win popularity with other tribes who, inwardly and genuinely, see them as losers. And this attitude has never helped any of the grovellers. They always come home, old, crying and full of 'lessons'.
My own pledge!

Culled from David Okoroafor FB wall.

Oksman:
Who will save my country? fulani herdsmen attacking from the sahara, ijaw militant attacking from the atlantic, what is going on?

gat u bro..fire on the mountain.God will protect those that are his.allahkiaye.

Meanwy..Vote Photoshoot for mr nairaland 2016