THE leader of a security task force accused of terrorising and brutalising Nigeria’s troubled Ogoni people has told an astonished human rights hearing he was proud of what he did.
Colonel Paul Okuntimo told a packed conference hall the task force sent in 1993 by the late military ruler Sani Abacha to suppress unrest in the Ogoni region of Nigeria’s southern oil-producing region had stopped a descent into widespread bloodshed.
Okuntimo was sent into the region in 1993 by Abacha after Ogoni leaders, charging exploitation by oil companies operating on their land, demanded an end to oil production and autonomy for their people.
Violence flared in the region and in 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of the main opposition Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), and eight supporters were executed after being convicted of murder by a military tribunal.
For years, Okuntimo has been accused by human rights groups, including MOSOP, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, of ordering and carrying out a series of human rights abuses.
Booed and hissed by a hostile crowd of more than 3_000, he gave a remarkable defence of his actions for almost four hours.
“If God did not send me Ogoniland, there would be no Ogonis today,” he told the panel, when asked to explain the brutality he admitted had been used by his task force to end an uprising in the region in 1994 and 1995.
“I am their redeemer … I am the embodiment of truth,” he said. “You people should be grateful to me that you are living … you should worship me,” he said, turning to the crowd.
Asked to explain a video of a news conference in which he said he knew of more than 200 ways of killing people and the Ogonis had only suffered three or four, he said the statement was part of “psychological warfare.”
In a statement, MOSOP President Ledum Mitee condemned Okuntimo’s testimony as an insult to the Ogoni people and called for his arrest.
“The testimony of Okuntimo places a direct challenge before … the panel. We will submit that Okuntimo’s testimony is a fabric of lies from beginning to end. If soldiers with the attitude of Colonel Okuntimo are allowed to walk free, then this panel will come to nothing,” he said. – AFP