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The Odi massacre was an attack carried out by the Nigerian military on the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa state. Prior to the massacre, in the days beginning with November 4, 1999, seven members of the Nigerian police were murdered near Odi. Pursuing those responsible, the military invaded, exchanged fire, and then proceeded to indiscriminately attack the civilian population and the town's buildings. Every building in the town except the bank, the Anglican church and the health center was burned to the ground. Many civilians (variously estimated from dozens to hundreds) were killed. The attacks came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection. That the massacre by the newly democratic government of President Olusegun Obasanjo was intended to send a message of continued military firmness in the region is substantiated by abundant graffiti left in the devastated city attacking the Ijaw as a people and taunting them for their efforts to control the oil in their homeland.
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