Environmental Rights Action Reports Eyewitness accounts from the Gbaramatu bombings that began in Oporzoa in mid-May

Environmental Rights Action issued a report on May 23, 2009 that detailed testimonies from villagers directly effected by the military bombings and razing of villages.

EyeWitness Account from Someone Who Escaped Village Under Attack in Nigeria

Sylvester Idowu of the Tribune Newspaper- 18.05.2009

Rosiji Olarenwaju, who hails from Ogun State, is the spokesman of the seven youth corps members that escaped from Camp 5 at Okporoza in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State. He recounted their experience and how they escaped from the ‘war’ area. Excerpts by Sylvester Idowu:

WHATwas your experience like in the area?
It was around 12.00 noon on May 15, 2009. I was at the library at Oporoza, I happened to be one of the corpers posted there. I heard the sound of helicopter but because helicopters do come there sometimes, I was not too surprised until I started hearing Gbaum! Gbaum!! Gbaum!!!. I thought it was pipelines that were blowing up and so I opened the door and immediately I saw the whole community running helter-skelter.

I saw two jet fighters; they came down almost landing on the ground, though people say the jet fighters were many but I could only see two. They were shooting and aiming at one white house (guest house) opposite the palace and the palace. On that day, it happened to be the day the king of the kingdom was celebrating the collection of his staff of office to be the king of the Gbaramatu kingdom, so, people were many that day, from both the community and outside the community.

As the shooting was going, people ran into the bush as they were now aiming their machine guns at the king’s palace and the white guest house.

As the events were unfolding, some people were still running into the king’s palace to see refuge and so this time the jet fighters just rose a little and started aerial bombardment of both the palace and the white house. After bombarding both places, they faced the library where I was and by then I almost pie on my pant as I was expecting death but got out from there miraculously.

What then happened?
After I escaped from the library, I was looking for my room and expecting people to come to help me because of my uniforms but nobody was helping as they ran into the bush for their dear lives.

So how did you escape?
It was one of our students called Solomon Ebebire that called us on phone and took us to a village call Azama, a village close to Oporoza. We had to go through a pathway in the creek full of mud as we can’t go through the river, which was the normal route. The pathway was full of mud, and the students asked us if we could go through it and we said yes so long we are save there. I now call my corps members. We are about six in numbers, though we are more, the others were lucky not to witness this traumatic experience because they went to claim their allowances from the city.

It was six of us that witnesed this mishap. At Azama, they entertained us and we met some of our students who gave us water to wash the mud from our clothes and body. At around 4.00 p.m that same day, they called us again and said “uncle, we just received some massages now that the jet fighters are coming to blow up this palace by 6.00 p.m today, they are coming to blow up the whole of Gbaramatu kingdom” and so we have to find our way into the bush.

After about two hours, we saw the jet fighters again coming into Azama and blowing up everywhere just like what happened in Oporoza. In the night, we came out from the bush and found the village deserted but around 12.00 p.m, some of the villagers came to us and told us we have to live immediately as they just got information that they were coming back to the village by 6.00 a.m and later again by 4.00 a.m and so we have to leave the village that night.

Apart from the students did you receive any help elsewhere?
Apart from some of our students, most of the people were not willing to help us but we managed to find our way out of Azama amidst heavy shelling and found a jetty with some other people and some boats from other villages who came for rescue. We begged but they refused to help us until one woman with a canoe told us to enter her canoe and took us to another village called Opuede but before we got there, at Opuedebubor, the canoe got broken and we have to be rescued again by some good Samaritans on a speed boat.