Just-ln: ' Vacate our land now', Ogbe-ljoh youths tell Aladja
...... Frowns at Gov. Okowa unwillingness to settle dispute over the past six years
Warri_______ The youths of Ogbe-ljoh Warri kingdom under the umbrella body of Ogbe-ljoh Warri kingdom youth leaders and Stakeholders Forum, has given a marching order to Aladja Community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State to as a matter of urgency vacate the land they are currently occupying, stressing that the Aladja people are tenants to Ogbe-ljoh community and that they accommodated them because of love, peaceful coexistence in the past.
The Ogbe-ljoh youths disclosed this on Sunday 26th December, 2021 through a comprehensive letter written to the Executive Governor of Delta State, His Excellency, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, where they expressed displeasure over the state government's inconsistent and unwillingness to settle the land dispute between the two communities over the past six years in office.
In the letter jointly signed by the current Youth President of Ogbe-ljoh, Mr. James Etimadimene as well as former youth leaders of the community, including Amb. Aken Edwin who is the President of the forum, Comrade Victor Akemotubo, Secretary of the forum among other fifteen youth leaders accused governor Okowa of being biased and lacked the political will to do the right thing at the appropriate time in bringing the communal crises to end.
The youths noted that the inconsistent action of the state government shows that he is already taking side with the Aladja community in order to cause mayhem against the Ogbe-ljoh people, hence they won't tolerate such nonsense to keep calm any further and had decided to take their destiny in their hand.
In the letter, the Ogbe-ljoh youths demanded the State Government to direct Aladja people to quit their land, claiming that the disputed land belongs to them and that they will use any means to get ride of it.
They further urged the state government to be focused on the demarcation of the Local Government Boundary, and that anything beyond that is against the existing law and will not be accepted anymore.
In conclusion, the youths urged Gov. Okowa to wake up to his responsibility by taking drastic action to deal decisively with any party that breaches the Peace Accord earlier signed by both community's. They asked Gov. Okowa to do the right thing before it is too late, the statement added.
However, read below the full letter addressed to the State Government by Ogbe-ljoh youth forum:
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, Bezi 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 defaulting 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 demarcate 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 demarcate 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 demarcate 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 DEMARCATION 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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