THE administration of Dr Peter Odili in Rivers State was yesterday blamed for the calamity that befell Okuruama community in Okrika local government area.
Testifying before the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Port Harcourt, Chief Bereni Ben Okuru said the former governor; the then Secretary to the Government, Chief Abiye Sekibo; and a former Commissioner of Police in the state whose name he could not recall were behind the mayhem visited on the town.
Besides properties that were destroyed, he said no fewer than 48 persons were massacred by Ateke Tom and his boys that were recruited for the exercise.
Okuru said since the incident, he had been leaving outside his community. According to him, the town was sacked because they hosted refugees from Okrika when the area was also invaded by rampaging cultists.
�Men, women and children of Okrika ran to Okuruama for safety. Within that period, we received emissaries from Ateke to send away the refuges or be ready to face attack. We took this lightly because each time there is a crisis in Okrika, Okuruama being the place of the kingmaker, they always run to us,� he said.
Continuing, he said Abiye Sekibo who was then secretary of the state government told some elders and chiefs from Okuruama at a meeting in his office on May 6, 2002, that the attack and destruction of their community was deliberate.
�I hope you people have learnt from the example that has been set with your community that government is next to God and can do and undo,� he quoted Sekibo to have said.
Hesaid nearly all buildings, both residential, churches and others were levelled during the invasion of the town.