FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA'S
INVASION OF ODI, BAYELSA STATE, NIGER DELTA
November-December, 1999
NIGERIANS AT HOME DEBATE
AND COMMENT ON OBASANJO'S THREAT OF SANCTIONS AGAINST BAYELSA STATE
Debates and comments on President
Olusegun Obasanjo's threats against Bayelsa State were not as widespread
as would be expected in mature federations, such as Canada and the United
States. Two reasons may account for the muted response inside Nigeria to
threat of sanctions against a state of the Nigerian Federation from the
Nigerian President. First, President Obasanjo was still in his honeymoon
with the Nigerian people. There was a degree of trust that he would be
restrained. Second, the old devil of ethnocentrism allowed Nigerians to
leave the Niger Delta to its own fate. Indeed, the only protests recorded
here came from the Ijaws and the Guardian newspaper. Even so, the opinions
expressed by the Guardian and the Ijaws appear cogent and well reasoned.
They call attention to the President's indifference to threats to peace
elsewhere in Nigeria while appearing severe and rude towards a powerless
state.