Warri Delineation: Ahmed Saibakumo Writes Gov. Sheriff over Rita Lori Ogbebor Campaign of Calumny Against ljaw People
12 Mabinton Street
3rd Road, Akenfa–Epie II Yenagoa, Bayelsa State,
Nigeria.
12th July, 2024.
His Excellency,
Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, Executive Governor, Delta State,
Government House, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria.
His Excellency Sir,
CHIEF RITA LORI –OGBEBOR:-
“IJAWS ARE ASKING FOR ILLEGAL WARDS IN WARRI”
A RIGHT OF REPLY
BY: SAIBAKUMO, AHMED ENIYEKETON
“CHANGE IS THE LAW OF LIFE, AND THOSE WHO LOOK ONLY TO THE PAST OR THE PRESENT ARE CERTAIN TO MISS THE FUTURE”-ZIK OF AFRICA.
His Excellency Sir, I am addressing this rejoinder to you with respect to your managerial culpability as the Chief Security Officer of Delta State. May I crave your indulgence in order to respond to the utterances of Chief Rita Lori–Ogbebor in a national live television broadcast (Arise News programme – a London based world News channel with studios in New York, London, Johannesburg, Abuja and Lagos). It was anchored by Messrs Mike Dope and Auwal on Wednesday 3rd July, 2024. It was an engagement by Chief Rita Lori–Ogbebor to address a litigation filed by some leaders and stakeholders of Warri with a view to enforce the stoppage of impending Local Government Council elections in the three Local Government Areas of Warri in Delta State; at the Federal High Court, Asaba. The reasons for the legal application was about non– implementation of the delineation of wards in the three Local Government Councils:- Warri South, Warri South- West and Warri North in compliance with a verdict of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
I could have avoided our mother’s outbursts in that Television encounter as a result of her age and enduring years of activism in the Niger Delta which earn her maximum esteem. She is reputed to have led the agitations for 50% of the 13% derivation fund accruing to the oil producing states to be ploughed back directly for the development of the oil exploration impacted communities. That her struggle led to the creation of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC). However, the response became imperative to set the records straight so as to disabuse the minds of prospective generations as a means of deactivating the ticking time bomb in that essential area of the Niger Delta. The call to reply became almost inevitable as the gory past beckons on us to disillusion our youths to prevent possible internecine bloodshed which, the last time in the 1990s orchestrated untold humanitarian catastrophe.
WARRI CRISIS: AN OVERVIEW:
The sources of Warri crisis could be stratified into remote and recent. The Warri crisis is metaphoric of the Bermuda Triangle where three distinct ethnic groups, - Ijaws, Itsekiris and the Urhobos are intertwined in the fight for control and command of the oil – city of Warri. It has been a tussle between the forces of expansionism and irredentism over economic and political fortunes dated back to the colonial era.
REMOTE CAUSE:
It all started with the creation of divisions where the different ethnic groups were merged to produce the Warri division for administrative convenience. The Itsekiris, being advantageous in education, used that vantage position and influence to exert pressure on the colonial authorities to annex the human, social and land resources of the other tribes (as you may be aware, as early as 1600, a reigning Olu sent his son, Dom Domingos to Columbia in Portugal for further education. Dom Domingos returned as a graduate in 1611, breaking history as the first graduate in sub-saharan Africa. Dom Domingos took over from his father as the Olu of the Itsekiris in 1625 as Olu Atuwatse I). That administrative fussion of ethnic groups engendered protests over marginalization, economic exploitation, political oppression, land deprivation and development problems. Indeed, on 20th December 1975, leaders of the Ijaw clans of Ogbe – Ijoh, Gbaramatu and Egbema wrote “we want to make it crystally clear that we are opposed to any form of (continued) merger with the Itsekiris in the Warri Division. This is in the best interest of peace, stability and justice in the division …… any (continued) merger will only succeed on our dead bodies”. They emphasized their repudiation of subjugation, oppression and desperate agenda by the Itsekiris to claim their territories. They yelled over their maltreatment as second class citizens as they were referred to as customary tenants.
In a daylight order as a means to execute the agenda, which was overlordship and jurisdiction; Laws of the Western Region 1959, Cap 19 excluded the three Ijaw clans (the three major producers of the oil fuel, the black gold) from the Warri Division. The plan was further enforced under the government of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria 1976 Law Cap 37. Pathetically, at a juncture, the four Ijaw clans of Warri, vz:- Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Egbema and Isaba were transferred from Warri South to Warri North Local Government Council with headquarters at Koko (an Itsekiri enclave). That happened precisely in 1991. It would take most of the Warri Ijaws over five hours to access Koko with high-powered speed engine boat. We can still recall the nefariousness of a prominent Itsekiri leader, Chief Dore Numa of old memory. According to intelligence reports, Chief Dore Numa was not only a paramount chief but also President of the Privy Warri Court of Appeal. In most times he was the surrogate complainant, defendant and the judge. These are part of the winning judgments the Itsekiris are parading today. At an unbelievable extent, for instance Chief Dore Numa seized the lease agreement of the Ogula (Ogulagha) people in present day Burutu Local Government Area signed with the Royal Niger Company. A report of that incident was presented to Her Majesty’s commissioner in the Niger oil River Protectorate, Major McDonalds during his visit to Forcados in 1898. This is just a tip of the iceberg.
THE RECENT CAUSE:
The most recent bloody crisis in Warri was the relocation of headquarters of the newly created Warri South-West Local Government Area from Ogbe-Ijoh (an Ijaw community) to Ogidigben (an Itsekiri settlement). In October, 1996 the Federal Government of Nigeria under General Sani Abacha created the Warri South–West Local Government Area with Ogbe-Ijoh as its headquarters. The Ijaws across Niger Delta jubilated, that the yoke of bondage by a part of the Western Ijaws have been broken for once.The rational being that the Ijaws from 1975 had been crying against their inability to cohabit with the Itsekiris in one division. They have been petitioning for a separate administrative council. On March 17th 1997, the same Federal Government of Nigeria bowed to the pressure of the Itsekiris and rescinded its own pronouncement through the Governor of Delta State, Col John David Dung; that the headquarters of Warri South-West Local Government Council has been relocated to Ogidigben. The Ijaws licked their wounds, yet devised peaceful means to channel their grievances to the Federal Government as a way of seeking redress.
On 25th March 1997, Itsekiri youths in the thick of night launched a preplanned and dastardly attack on the Ijaws, destroyed property occasioning loss of lives. Among the victims were Chief Edwin Clark (a frontline Ijaw leader) who was not at home but lost his cook. The home of Chief E.K Clark at No 6 Mission Road was razed down. Other casualties included the property of Chief Wellington Okrika of Gbaramatu Kingdom. No doubt, the Ijaws were pushed to the wall. The peace alternative was abused by the Itsekiris and violence abruptly reared its ugly head. Hundreds of lives claimed and property worth billions of naira were consumed by the reactive eruption in all settlements of the Warri area and its metropolis. The Federal Government in 2005 reverted itself and restored Ogbe-Ijoh as the headquarters of Warri South–West Local Government Area. A fragile peace was reinstated.
CAMPAIGN OF CALUMNY AND PROPAGANDA:
Propaganda remains the mother of confusion. And confusion is the fabricator of havoc, crisis, and tragedies. The values of truth are so absolute and exclusive that, to suppress one truth, it must be escorted by sequences of lies. Chief Rita Lori–Ogbebor amazed us that July 3, 2024 press interview. I quote “In this country soldiers and officers were killed. I cannot sleep on my bed”. I am yet to comprehend how the killing of soldiers and officers have to do with ordinary ward delination challenge. She involuntarily revealed her real intentions when she blurted out by saying, “Niger Delta is a way to start a crisis and turn the country overside,….. Federal Government is weaponising the Ijaws. The Niger Delta is not the Niger Delta of everybody but Niger Delta of Ijaws”. She was also heard referring that she had written to the Chief of Defence staff, Inspector General of Police, National Security Adviser etc. Chief Rita Lori – Ogbebor also threatened thus: “….the last one they beat us to stupor. The youths (Itsekiri) will now learn to fight for themselves”.
His Excellency Sir, be also reminded. On 21st September, 2022 this same octogenarian while in a press session with Arise News Television (NewsDay Programme) to address the challenges of crude oil theft, pipeline protection, veered off and made quite uncomplimentary statements. Chief Rita Lori – Ogbebor avered thus “ I am the Igba of Warri, I am the number one among the palace service chiefs, I am the oldest. The Federal Government has abandoned its responsibility to take care of human and properties. I have nothing against Tompolo as an individual. Federal Government give money to an individual to pacify others, so the youths (pacified) will be sensitized as a result of the contract. Therefore, Federal Government has given them the authority to carry gun. Tompolo is not an hooligan but gentle. And because he is yet to be unveiled, people now see him as gun-totting criminal who is hibernating in the creeks. You must unveil Tompolo. Bring him out so that he can now work not in the shadow of anybody. Let him have an office. He has the authority like Inspector General of Police, Navy etc and better armed than the Armed forces. So is that the man you are hiding inside the bush? Don’t (Federal Government) throw money on anybody. The country is not safe”.
The above press blow-ups by Chief Rita Lori – Ogbebor attest to the fact that “ Man is not a noble savage, he is an ignoble savage as said by Stanley Kubrick (1928 – 1999), an American film maker. I am so sad over her broadcast gushes that I have to reply her. Her press statements stuffed with malice, envy, avarice deliberately effused; are intended to make bloods boil over. We should take it at the back of our minds that our actions today can decide our fate in the future. Take it or leave it; when the oppressed absorbs the wicked ideologies of the oppressor, he becomes more ferocious and deadly in attacking the oppressor. Fear is banished and no wall of jail or solitude of the grave matter to the oppressed any longer. The choice of words were vexacious enough to trigger human disaster to say the least. They were basically a human incendiary bullet. How can a responsible Federal Government instigate civil war by weaponising her own citizens? When this octogenarian mentioned that “the youth (Itsekiris) will learn to fight for themselves”. Did she weigh the density of that utterance? Would she allow her children and grand children to be roasted by the conflagration she is fueling? Was she professing an innuendo that the Itsekiris over the years have mobilized enough weaponries and ammunitions for a revenge now? Was she not lifting the red flag? These questions are extremely inescapable against the backdrop that the pipeline surveillance contract was previously awarded to a renowned Itsekiri leader yet mum was the word across the Niger Delta. No Ijaw man raised eyebrow! The pipeline surveillance contract in itself, was the brainchild of HOSTCOM, an association of oil & gas bearing communities of the Niger Delta. It was proposed as a cure to damages occasioned in the oil/gas architecture in Nigeria. Tantita Security Services, a corporate private firm bidded for the contract and secured it through due process and the senate legitimately. Must Tompolo be denied of his personal peace or right to self–preservation? Are all Nigerians in the cities? How come, a single Nigerian has more armoury than the Nigerian military? What a morally wrong plan of action to trigger Federal Government against an individual? Are these the traits of peace lovers and who would want the world to believe,” the court is our refuge and or we are non–violent?
The Itsekiris will never surprise us in the Niger Delta for one thing. They will never change, as etymologists projected, they provoke crisis and later cry blue murder or play the victim. To them, the credit goes to the man who first shouted to convince the world, not the injured party. When the Midwestern Region was to be created out of Western Region, they screamed to the world that they have their ancestral umbilical cord with the Yorubas and cannot be separated. We would reminisce the incident at the sitting of Willink Minorities Commission at Warri between 19th to 23rd December 1957 before Sir Henry Willink. Chief Arthur Prest (The Olorusun of Warri), a political advisor to the Olu of Warri and Vice President of Action Group (AG) Party bemoaned how he was expelled from the party for his support in favour of Chief Anthony Enahoro’s agitation for Midwest Region. The Itsekiris resolved to be with the Yorubas in Ondo province in Western Region. Later when Delta State was to be created they howled that Benin is their historical root and cannot be divorced. They went further to reject Warri as the capital of Delta State, citing Warri as their homeland. Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, an Itsekiri son became the governor of Delta State for good eight years, did the heavens fall? The Ijaws across the Western flank synergized in team work with him throughout his tenures. Logically, were the Itsekiris truth and peace lovers and acclaimed non – violent, then they cannot be so oppressive and incite the public to hate their neighbors.
OWNERSHIP AND OVERLORDSHIP: THE WATERSHED:
His Excellency Sir, in the second televised interview of Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor on 21st September, 2022; as a matter of fact, she asserted, “We own the land (Warri), we allowed everybody to stay for peace to reign but they want to rule Warri”. There is no better characterization to elucidate the above declaration than the expressions of a feudal overlord. She has already asserted Olu’s status as an emperor, throwing the sensibilities of other ethnic groups and their homelands to the wind with impunity.
According to versions from Bini (Benin) and Itsekiri sources; Ginuwa the founder of Itsekiri kingdom was a prince of Oba Olua (the 14th Oba of Benin (1473-1480 AD). He was second child of Oba Ewuare. The kingdom founded by Prince Ginuwa was called ‘Iwere’ established about 1480 with the ancestral capital at Ode – Itsekiri in Warri South Local Government Area of present Delta State. The palace was relocated to Warri metropolis recently in 1951 in order to fulfill the expansionist agenda by Olu Erejuwa II, the 18th Olu of Itsekiri. In 1894, the Itsekiri Sultan, Chief Dore Numa (the man who never lost any case in his lifetime) assumed as the unquestioned political and administrative leader of the area known as Warri (later called Delta). The area (province) was then the abode of the Ijaws, Urhobos, Isokos, Ndokwas, Itsekiris who became one judicial, administrative and political unit. However, when the Direct Rule gave way to the Indirect Rule (Native Administration) in 1922, Lord Raglan requested from Her Majesty’s Government for Local Councils to be created in Warri. The Ijaws had four councils – Gbaramatu, Ogbe – Ijoh, Egbema and Isaba Native Authorities. The Itsekiris also got four – Ogborodo, Ode-itsekiri, Koko, Benin River. Never the less, when Prince Ginuwa anchored in Ijawland through his mystic Iroko box that drifted from Benin in three day journey, he married an Ijaw maiden from Amatu Community called Derumo (Dirimo); added to first wife Urowoli. Prince Ginuwa later committed uxoricide. He killed his Ijaw wife and foreseeing the revenge of the Ijaws of Amatu, he escaped by night to a place called Okorotomu now called Ode-Itsekiri. Prince Ginuwa later escaped to another forest called Ijala and ultimately died and buried there. After the death of Prince Ginuwa, his first son, Ijijen took over the throne. Till today, Ijala remains the ancestral burial place of most Itsekiri monarchs.
The above narratives as confirmed by authoritative Itsekiri historians is a testimony to the fact that the Ijaws had discovered the virgin land before the entry of Prince Ginuwa and his retinue from Benin. The Ijaws have occupied these territories from time immemorial before Prince Ginuwa Olua came to squat there. Pre-historic information inference that the aboriginal Ijaws received the migrant-Itsekiri stock who arrived at the mangrove swamps of Warri far back before the arrival of Prince Ginuwa Olu in his ark from Benin. The Ijaws have been known as being blunt to the truth, hospitable, compassionate, trustworthy. Hence, till today they are entangled in hostilities with neighbors as a result of their conscientious openness of the past. Far later, Ginuwa Olu descendants migrated to the present day Warri to join European traders in the beginning of the 19th century. The Orugbo (Itsekiri enclave) are mixed asylum seekers of Itsekiris who had earlier dispersed to Forcados, Burutu etc and ferried to Orugbo by the Ogulani (Ogulagha-Ijaw) people about100 years ago. As a matter of fact, the Itsekiris are aware. The name Warri originated from Ware (Wari) in Ijaw language meaning house. It was Vice Consul Gallwey Stuck who spelt it Warri. Ogbe (Ogbe-Ijoh) remains a nickname of Warri by neighbouring non-Warri Ijaws, Urrhobos and Isokos alike till this day. Vehemently, I would recall when Chief A.O. Rewane a paramount Itsekiri chief of blessed memory appeared in a lawsuit LD 784/90 in a Lagos High Court, Lagos Judicial Division based on a litigation between him and other notable Itsekiri leaders Chief Rewane declared in his pleadings as follows:- “Ogbe – Ijoh community is the cradle and form the nucleus of the town called Warri. In fact the Ogbe – Ijoh natives are the rightful owners of New Warri (Ogbe – Ijoh), Alder’s Town land in Warri. The owners of these two areas are not Jekiris (Itsekiris) neither Sobos (Urhobos).The founder is said to be Enwe, who founded Ogbe – Ijoh” May I also reminisce, the Government of the colony and the protectorate of Southern Nigeria under Sir Walter Egerton as Governor while Seton James was a commissioner for the then central province through which the land of Ogbe – Ijoh was officially obtained by lease and to be in trust of the Government, which today is the seat or headquarters of Warri South Local Government Secretariat. The land included the residence of the Catholic Church, Ogbe – Ijoh Market; behind the Catholic church was the local graveyard of the Ogbe – Ijoh people within the Warri municipality from time distant past. The leases were consummated in 1906 for a period of 100years. Mr. Williams Moore, in his book “History of Itsekiris” 2nd edition, published in 1970, chapter one, page 13 – 18 stated inter-alia “Prior to the advent of the Bini Prince, Ginuwa, the territory now known as the kingdom of Itsekiri or Iwere (note, not Warri) was inhabited by three tribes namely, the Ijaws, Sobos (Urhobos) and the Mahins. The most populous among these tribes were the Sobos (Urhobos). They (Sobos) occupied the hinterland while the Ijaws occupied the coastline and the Mahins squatted on the seashore near Benin River”. Eminent and unfaltering historians and scholars across the globe such as T.R. Balten, C.R. Niven, D.P Armoury Talbot, G.T. Strides, Prof. J.S Coleman, Prof. J.F. Ade Ajayi to mention but a few were unanimous that the Ijaws have a unique language quite distinct from all others in Nigeria. And they form the aborigines who settled earliest in the Niger Delta: most ancient to earlier negroes who penetrated the West African forest. To crown it, Dr. P.A. Talbot in his book, Tribes of the Niger Delta” (London Sheldon press 1932 page 5, he wrote“… these strange people, a survival from the dim past beyond the dawn of history whose language are distinct from those of their neighbours …. Inhabit practically the whole coast some 250 miles in length stretching between Ibibio and the Yoruba. The Niger Delta is with exception of a few small tribes is occupied by these people.” Wholeheartedly, we make bold to affirm the immutable fact that, Olu Ayoromi Gbesimi (Erejuwa II) built the present palace at Ekurede within Warri metropolis in his capacity on a parcel of land he acquired from an Urhobo (Oforudu family), as recent as June 1971 after the 1966 coup when he was reinstated. I have the cause to ask, can a natural monarch who owns the Warri land as they claim purchase land in his ancestors’ land from a family of another tribe? Do aborigines buy land? The monarch is simply a tenant or leaseholder, absolutely. Let us remind ourselves again; the case between Idundum vs Okumagba: the Olu Itsekiri was declared as tenant in Warri.
The Itsekiris would blow the siren over won litigations. The Ijaws have won a lot of cases as well, such as the Gbaramatu (Ijaw) vs Ugborodo (Itsekiri) in case No 58 1923: Benikurukuru (Ijaw) vs Ugborodo (Itsekiri) in suit W/124/76 etc. The Ijaws never made deafening noise over them.
It is heretic, to say the least, the Itsekiris hoodwinked the world to believe that, the court is their refuge and they have won all legal suits from the lower to the Privy Council. Most of these claims were cases the ancestors of Ijaw were not conscious of. The Itsekiris decorated themselves as complainants and defendants bearing the Ijaw community names. As a matter of fact, Ijaw National Leader Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark in a memorandum submitted to the then Head of State and Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida, dated May 28th, 1993 titled, “The Truth About who owns Warri” described the jingled Itsekiri legal victories thus:-
“It is dishonest and mischievous of the Itsekiris to want to claim Warri by sponsoring publications on the pages of Newspapers. The so – called judgements which were fraudulently obtained by the influences of Dore Numa in collaboration with colonial masters who got land gains from Dore Numa. The so – called supreme court judgement in 1927 and which later went to the Privy Council was obtained by fraud. Chief Dore was the Defendant in that case as he had confessed in a letter dated 28th February, 1923 to the Agbassa Urhobo people through their lawyer, Mr. S.L. Bucknor “
Chief Clark furthered,
“it was obvious that the colonial powers who signed fraudulent treaties with Chief Dore Numa and other Itsekiri chiefs,always gave judgement for the Itsekiris.”
On the title and overlordship of the Olu (King) of Warri and not only for the Itsekiris, it was one blunder too much for Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Premier of Western Nigeria Region. Hon. Justice Philip Nnaemeka Agu jsc (rtd) who presided over the Judicial Commission of Inquiry in May 1993 crisis in Warri spoke in consequences;-
“As we have observed, the British colonial Administration resisted the pressure of the Itsekiris that the Olu be called the Olu of Warri rather than what he had been, the Olu of Itsekiri. The then British based their refusal on the principal reason, namely, lack of historical support and the unlikelihood of other ethnic groups accepting the designation”
(Commission Report 1997). May the public also be reminded that the British crowned Prince Emiko Kegbuwa (Ginuwa II) as the Olu of Itsekiri on 7th February, 1936 and it was perfected on the unchangeable evidence that before and within that period of crisis/interregnum from 1848 to 1936, the Olu or regents were domiciled in Ode – Itsekiri. All past Olus were resident in Ode – Itsekiri, died and buried there or Ijala. Also, from the archives, Chief Alfred Ogbeyiwa Rewane and Chief Obafemi Awolowo (both of the Action Group Party) political bargain deal may have landed Chief Awolowo in a ditch by his declaration of the Olu of Itsekiri as Olu of Warri in 1952. The declaration led to a loud protest in the Western Region. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, himself had no choice than to empanel a Commission of Inquiry with no resultant report till today. And of course, the Action Group (AG) swept the Itsekiri votes while the NCNC got the landslide support of the Urhobos and the Ijaws. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, then newspaper publisher/Journalist in Lagos, (not Nigerian President) commented on the crisis in Warri in his editorial of the West African Pilot of May 14th, 1940 as follows:
“His Highness Ginuwa II is the Olu of the Itsekiri
Speaking people who live on Itsekiri land. If the
matter is discussed in detail, it will be found that a definite title is necessary, in which case, the Olu of Warri seems to be the most historical like Oba of Lagos”.
The above editorial opinion reveals two things. One: the titleship of Olu of Warri was not settled as recent as 1940; over 450 years after the kingdom was founded! Two: Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was not informed on the realities of diversity and or ancestral history of Warri. Certainly, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was not conscious of the fact that Warri is a cosmopolitan of ethnic homelands with titular suzerains. Therefore, no one can blame him for his ignorance. He was practicing Journalism in far away Lagos and knew little or nothing about Warri genealogical infrastructure. In all these while, the Itsekiris have never presented a diagrammatic area of jurisdiction of their own territorial integrity till today. It could be, the whole of Nigeria is Itsekiri land. The Itsekiris have been renaming Ijaw ancestral settlements with impunity such as Escravos (Oleo – Itsekiris); Okerenkoko (Okerenghigho), Amatu (Aleo diaja). No wonder they wield the effrontery to name every significant infrastructure within Delta surroundings with Warri e.g Warri Barracks which is situated in the heart of the Urwie – Urhobos. The name was changed after protests by the Urhobos. The four Ijaw clans in the Warri three Local Government Councils, to the Itsekiris are owned by them. What really informs such a hypocritical, ridiculous, extinct and wishful thinking?
CONTROL OF OIL & GAS IN DELTA STATE:
His, Excellency Sir, Chief Rita Lori Ogbebor, as expected owned up that “We (Itsekiris) are a small people, we own the land, we produce two – third of the country’s oil, we are vital, what they (Urhobos and Ijaws) want is to rule Warri”. By basic arithmetic, two – third is approximately 66.7% of the oil in Nigeria.
The above statement is nothing but unnecessary glitz or self masturbation. It has nothing to offer but narcissism. We can now decipher why the Itsekiris have deliberately refused to publish their territorial map and boundary jurisdiction till today.
By the current oil production per state in Nigeria, four states hold the ace. Among them are Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta State. Amongst these four, the percentage barrels/day could be expressed as below;
Akwa – Ibom – 30.4%
Delta - 21.6%
Rivers - 21.4%
Bayelsa – 18.1%
The above 4 states account for a total production of 91.5% of the crude oil in Nigeria. The total crude oil production of Delta State is not commensurate with the over 65% oil cited by her. What reason therefore, such a spurious and mythical claim? We are not in a state of war where foul is fair to survive or is it a continuation of the war by another means? Why the unnecessary race? Uzere town in Isoko land is the largest oil – producing community in Delta State with 43 oil wells. Is Uzere (Isoko) also part of Itsekiri land? This is less the oil produced in Ijaw land, Urhobo land, Ndokwa land etc.
WARD CREATION:
His Excellency, the Governor of Delta State Sir, Chief Rita Lori – Ogbebor also made reference to the constitutional bar of at most ten ward for Local Government Councils apiece as the law of Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulates.
My findings in the Nigerian constitution 1999 (rev. 2011) as shown in the second colum of part 1 of the first schedule states hence “Each Local Government Area is further subdivided into a minimum of ten and a maximum of 20 wards” I may seek further professional knowledge on this, His Excellency Sir, again Nigeria has 774 Local Government Areas. That implies Nigeria may have a ceiling of 7,740 wards only. If I may include the 6 Local Council Areas of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, in total it becomes 7,800 wards. Yet, from the confirmed records, Nigeria has 8,309 wards. I would ask, where does the remaining 1,009 wards come from?
Even in Delta State where the constitutional bar of ten wards per Local Government is bound, I am seeing 11 wards in some Local Government Areas such as Oshimili South, Sapele, Ughelli North and South, Warri South etc. In point of fact, Okpe Local Government Area has 8 wards (less than the constitutional minimum of ten wards as the Federal constitution provides). This variability in quantity of wards is applicable to different states across the Federation. His Excellency Sir, this issue can be politically resolved within the realm of your officialdom to avoid unnecessary litigations and hostility, Sir.
THE PANACEA TO DEFUSE THE WARRI MINEFIELD:
There is the undeniable truth, as appropriate in all growing cities. There is bound to be territorial extension, land reclamation and development leading to regional growth or geographical enlargement. And since the tribes that make up the oil city of Warri are well – equipped with their land boundaries no matter the admixture, this gridlock could be decongested by a political alternative if dispassionately and objectively enforced. We all ethnic nations in the Niger Delta are in same boat of squalor. We share a common destiny. Mr. Michael Peel, a Briton and former West Africa correspondent for the Financial Times in his book, “ A Swamp Full of Dollars; and Paramilitary at Nigeria Oil Frontiers” published by L.B Tauries & Co. Ltd at the UK 2009 captured in his prologue,
“My story of Nigeria is of a deep and deepening interconnectedness forged in large part by crude and the wealth and power that flow from it like no other place I have visited Nigeria brings to rich and rancous life the geopolitics of oil war that enmesh us all”. Mr. Michael Peel recalled his memories part 1, page 3 thus, “As I looked across the waterfront in Abonnema jetty, at the heart of the Niger Delta, I felt like a frontiers man standing at the edge of the known world …. The sunless sky, here the white egrets and other water birds patrolled, the exposed mangrove roots and mudbanks… I was at the barriers between urban development and the land of nature, remote village and big oil. From here, my journey continue by boat, jogging through in waterways where oil pipelines rended like submerged snakes”. The message here is about our Niger Delta as a naturally endowed and blessed territory and we should synergise to create something greater than either of you could do alone geared towards ergonomic but self-serving ends. At large, the peace of the oil city of Warri could lead to the stability of the Nigeria economy.
At this point of my long response, I posit and firmly convinced after a pensive review of the basis from facts above and recommend consequently:-
All reports, recommendations domiciled at the disposal of Delta State Government be conjured and technocraftically implemented.
An indispensable political elixir, where indigenous and distinct Local Government Areas be created for the three tribes of Warri as was the practice in the colonial era.
The above school of thought of mine is based on the irreducible truth that Warri has become homelands of multi – ethnic descent with natural rulers through expansion of the city.
Humbly, I beseech the Itsekiris to be satisfied with their peculiar needs than greed of all. They should be guided by the moral philosophy of “live and let’s live. What is morally good is what is accepted as the best for the commonwealth. When human and environment rights of a race are derogated or violated, there would be no justification against violence: to an extreme, sometimes mass massacre. We should remember that Human Right is absolute, immutable, inalienable, and so when abused, a party or both may reap the whirlwind.
We must resist temptations that could involve actions that lead a particular ethnic nation to a cul – de – sac; where no one empathises with them. Ancient Greek Philosopher, Heraclitus was apt when he professed ‘change is constant’. America was a colonial territory of the British Empire from 1607 to 1783, but after winning the World War II, the United States of America became a world power and remains so as the strongest country in the world. The Itsekiris should brace up for change in life. After all, there are graduated times for a child to sit, crawl, stand, fall, walk and run. There shall be a time, the scales would fall off from the eyes and the thick darkness would be driven away by long wave vision. No matter how dark the night, it would certainly break by the sunrise.
May our Lord, Spiritual and Temporal guide against the recurrence of the man-made scourge of the 1990s.
Saibakumo, Ahmed Eniyeketon ls a Niger Delta Activist/Director, Ijaw Research Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
