Delta Communal Crises: Ogbe-Ijoh Youth Leaders, Stakeholders Forum Writes Okowa

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Youth leaders and stakeholders of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have written His Excellency, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State to tell the people of Aladja to quit their land or they will claim it by any means necessary.


This was contained in a statement made available to The Liberator Newspapers Worldwide earlier today.

The statement reads below:

TELL ALADJA TO QUIT OUR LAND OR WE WILL CLAIM OUR TERRITORIES BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY: OGBE-IJOH YOUTH LEADERS AND STAKEHOLDERS FORUM CALL ON “GOV OKOWA”

Your Excellency Sir, we sincerely appreciate your efforts towards the land dispute between Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh even though we are not satisfied with the present steps taking to disenfranchise the Ogbe-Ijoh people.

Your Excellency Sir, you are aware that the Ogbe-Ijoh Warri kingdom has been a peaceful and reasonable Kingdom from inception. We have always maintained our free, fair and truthful friendship and relationship with neighbours.

We believe in peaceful coexistence between neighbours hence we overlook issues that are capable of causing anarchy between our kingdom and her neighbours, even to our detriment when it concerns peace and harmony about our environment.

Sir, kindly permit us to draw your attention to few documents submitted to you and the inquiry committee at the resurgent of the crisis in March 2016 and to equally summarize the acts of the past days’ in order to make it clear why you should ask the Aladja people to quit our God given land.

Your Excellency, Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom who are first occupants of the territory whose communities have several treaties with the Colonial masters peacefully yielded to the first plead of our tenants( Ogbebiotu, interpreted as Ogbesobo, Urhobos in Ogbe-Ijoh land.) to join their Urhobo division in 1952 which led to the shift of our original boundary with Ovwian Community and the establishment of the current local government boundary.

In the early 80’s they have encroached the new established boundary line which invited several warnings but their failure to adhere to the warnings leads to the communal clash between the Ogbe-Ijoh people and their customary tenants ( the Ogbesobo, presently parading themselves as Aladja community which was not their original Identity) which continued till 1996 when their son the late Major Gen Dumuje used his led troop of Soldiers to raised down our beloved Ogbe-Ijoh Community the Traditional headquarters of the revered Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom.

We lost most of our aged parents who couldn’t run as at when they invaded, we lost hundreds of children who couldn’t swim, youths and men died defenselessly, millions of properties and money were carted away by the Aladja people with the aid of the military, they burn all our houses and rendered our people homeless and hopeless.

The strength of ownership engolved the heros of the Kingdom who stood for the rebirth of our great Community.

Despite the fact that we have suffered all this pains, troubles and wickedness in the hands of our tenants we still stretched hands of friendship to them just to live in peace and harmony.

In 1999, 4years After they exibited their wickedness, the youths of Ogbe-Ijoh deliberately went to Aladja to buy football and the next day Aladja youths also visited Ogbe-Ijoh that simple act of forgiveness carried out by the Ogbe-Ijoh youths gave birth to our reunion. We had always given a hand of friendship to the Aladja people who are unfriendly friends.

In the year 2000 the Aladja people exibited their wickedness led by Chief Wiliki, Mr. Oyibo, Brutugba, Andrew Gbese, Benji Tegolo and host of others. They started with extortion, illegal collection of money from the road users, beating up road users, destruction of new buildings in Ogbe-Ijoh, blocking of the road, kidnaping of Ogbe Ijoh people, incidents too numerous to mention.

The Ogbe-Ijoh people refused to retaliate rather we serially incidented all this happenings to security agents and Government.

Several meetings were held and peace accords were signed with securities agents but the Aladja community has been defualting without any due punishment giving to them by Government, of which all genuine security agents in the state that keeps and checks records will testify of what we are saying now and this dubious acts/misbehaviors continued untill march 2016.

In March 24th 2016 the Youths of Aladja community came to Ogbe-Ijoh with cutlasses and guns in the presence of Soldiers, they cut several persons in Ogbe-Ijoh including a military man which lead to the present situation at hand.

Despite the proves of ownership of our God given territory, we still listened to the Government, respected the Government in several meetings held with the Governor of the state in 2016 till date.

The Government pleaded for calm and seek that both communities should live in harmony which the Ogbe-Ijoh people adhere to but were very blunt to make their point known that the entire land in question belongs to them but for the sake of friendship and other similar factors considered by Ogbe-Ijoh people made us shift our traditional boundaries severally before the establishment of the 1952 local government boundaries and other issues postulated above and the failure of the Aladja people to accept these obvious considerations out of desperation for what ever reason as led to our firm resolve not to shift grounds anymore.

The Ogbe-Ijoh community considered the plea of the Governor and cooperate with Government in several ways for peace to reign yet the Ogbebiotu (Aladja people) who doesn’t know where they came from, has always thwarted all efforts taken to resolve the land dispute by destroying government pillars used by it’s committee to demacate the LGA boundary lines as indicated in Government instrument establishing the boundary, stopped the Government enquiry committee from working, blocking of Government road, denying Government workers passage, beating of Government personnel and Ogbe-Ijoh people, burning of houses and killing of Ogbe-Ijoh people etc. Yet the Government has not taking any drastic action against this warmongers.

The committee set up by the Government, showed it’s individual findings which is 289 hectares to be the disputed land in-between both communities which the Governor actually directed the committee to concentrate on mostly the identification of the existing local government boundary and this was also crumbled because of the disagreement from Aladja community.

Hon. Jite Brown Udu local government chairman and Hon. Taiye Duke Warri South West Local government chairman came and said governor has given them order to demacate the land.
Hon. Jite Brown (an Aladja son, a core sponsor of this crisis) forcefully gave our land to his Aladja people in a ratio of six and half poles for Aladja against three and half poles for Ogbe -Ijoh(The world is watching).

This ratio is against every negotiation, agreement and/or adjustment the Ogbe-Ijoh people has reached with government and Aladja people in all levels of commitment yet our leaders asked us to stay calm and watch what they are doing, so we obeyed them even when it’s not convenient with our kingdom but the Aladja youths keep disrupting the process, on the 20th Dec. 2021 they direct their surveyor and representatives to back out of the demarcation process and 21st Dec. 2021 they came with speed boats filled with youths to stop the work and Dec. 22, 2021 the Aladja people sporadically shot at the military personnel, surveyors, workers and our representatives while working in the environment in order to truncate the process yet no action was taken against the Aladja community. These inactions of the Aladja youths over the land demarcation is totally unacceptable and will not be condoned while sharing the other part of the land because the said portion of land referred to as disputed land or land under demarcation belongs to the people of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom.

It’s astonishing to realize that government couldn’t stand firm to defend the country’s boundary law of 1952, a document that is clearly stating boundary lines of two Local governments and states, the same document that delineate udu and Uvwie local governments, the same document that demacate Warri South from Warri North, Delta State from Edo state, the same document that separate all local governments and states in this country couldn’t be uphold in the case of Udu and Warri South West Local governments.

The Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom has over beared the inconsistent and insincere characters of the Aladja community, the Aladja community has shown their wickedness and unfriendliness, they are liers/cheats and defenders of evil.

If they can deny a national document signed by both parties that established the current boundary between the two local governments what will make one think that they won’t deny new boundaries given by the state or local government chairmen.

We feel the Delta State Government is biase and it seem to have lost the will power to say the glaring truth about this land dispute because they are probably afraid of Aladja Community and/or the political bigwigs backing them from the state and federal.

In view of the above, we realized that Government is taking our calmness and cooperation for stupidity and cowardice and the Government as decided to oppress the Ogbe-Ijoh people to favour the aggressors.

Therefore the Youth leaders of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom has resolved as follows:

  1. The State Government led by his Excellency Senator Dr. Ifeanyi A. Okowa should direct the Aladja people to quit our God giving land or we will claim our territory by any means necessary.
  2. We don’t have anymore land to share with our tenant’s henceforth we will never tolorate any form of misbehaviors from the Aladja
    Community.
  3. The State Government or its agents should solely concentrate on the DEMACATION of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY anything outside that is against the existing law and will not be accepted.

Finally and most importantly, the Delta State Government can’t be seen to be inconsistent in terms of demarcating the land. Government must be firm in ensuring that the right thing is done at the right time.

Signed.
For: Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom Youth leaders and Stakeholders Forum.

Amb. Aken E. Edwin
Ex-youth president/Chairman Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom Youth leaders and stakeholders forum.

Comr. James Etimadimene
Current Youth president.

Comr. Victor Akemotubo
Secretary of the forum/ Chairman Ijaw Youth Council Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom

Pastor James Christmas
Ex-youth president

Comr. Goddy Okosu
Ex-youth president

Comr. Ibru Okpogan
Ex-youth president

Comr. Stevenson Numah
Ex-youth president

Comr. Bibo Ogbona
Ex-youth president

Comr. Nathaniel Oromoni
Youth leader.

Comr. Aaron Ebiye
Youth leader

Comr. Seth Douperegha
Youth leader

Comr. Sedco Ikoko
Stakeholder

Comr. Smart Okosu
Youth Leader

Comr. Steven Omare
Youth leader

Mr. Kenneth Okpogan
Stakeholder

Mr. Fidelis Gbenekama
Stakeholder

Chief Frank Officer
Stakeholder

Mr. Smart Kusimi
Stakeholder

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