Peace Efforts by Delta Government Fail as Okoloba Declares Okuama Indigenes “Settlers”

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

Fresh Crisis is brewing in Delta State as the Okolaba Federated Community in the Bomadi Local Government Area has opposed moves by the state government to resettle the displaced Okuama indigenes of the Ughelli South Local Government Area in their devastated ancestral homes.
The Urhobo-dominated Okuama Community and its neighbouring Ijaw-owned Okoloba Community have engaged in lingering boundary disputes leading to the killing of 17 military officers and soldiers on March 24, this year.

The army, in response to the murder of its personnel, laid siege to the Okuama Community forcing the indigenes to flee for their lives.
Following the pullout by the military, the state government announced plans to rehabilitate the community and set up an Internally Displaced Persons camp at Ewu Kingdom for the residents to settle down first.
Though the indigenous farmers in the community first resisted their relocation to the IDP camp, the assurance to rebuild their town by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori calmed the frayed nerves.

However, the Okolaba Community has opposed the plan by the state government to resettle the Okuama residents in their ancestral home.
The Okolaba Community, in a statement issued by chairman of the Okoloba Federated Community, Mr. Clement Koki, yesterday described the Okuama indigenes as strangers in the community noting that “they have no basis claiming any land in the first instance because they never owned one.”
The community asked the Okuama residents to vacate the land which it alleged they “craftily and aggressively grabbed.”

In the statement made available to journalists in Warri, the Okoloba Community insisted that “Any hurried and haphazard approach to the dispute by the government will be like pouring water on top of the rock, which will not stand the test of time.”
The community claimed it maintained ancestral boundary directly with the Akugbene people, adding that, “Okuama farmers are from faraway upland Ewu-Urhobo kingdom and are strangers to Akugbene who gave them portions of land to farm and fish.

The statement further stated: “So, they do not have any basis claiming any land in the first instance, because they never owned one, and they should vacate all that land which they have craftily and aggressively grabbed, as we shall not allow even a foot of our God-given land to be occupied by them for whatsoever reasons.
“We will do everything legitimately possible, acting within the ambit of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to achieve just that, without taking laws into our hands.

“We are also very willing and ready to support the security agencies, the state and federal governments to effectively resolve the long-standing impasse but we add that the root cause of the dispute must be explored exhaustively because that is the only sure bet to a lasting peace.”
While maintaining that the Okoloba people are peace-loving, law-abiding, hospitable, benevolent and sociable, the community cautioned the Delta State government against any hurried arrangement to resettle the Okuama people.

It added that: “The Okoloba Federated Community is the undisputable proprietary owner of all that fishing lakes (Afou Donou, Agu Bolou (Meinturubobor Donou), Oge Donou, Agbakoropei Donou, Okirimeli Donou, Benmo Donou, etc): all that farmlands, economic trees, territorial waters falling within the ancestral boundaries so stated here above and that proprietary ownership and control has been peacefully established and maintained by Okoloba from time immemorial by collecting annual rents/royalties from strangers/settlers from various places (especially the Okuama Ewu-Urhobo) who come to farm on those lands and/or fish in those lakes in line with customary practice.”

The federated community alleged that the Okuama were allocated the portion they currently claimed by the Akugbene community adding:  “However, as soon as they secured the land given to them by their benefactors for fishing and farming, the Okuama strangers embarked on a wild and reckless pursuit of land-grabbing and territorial expansion.

“This land-grabbing disposition of the Okuama started by encroaching on the land of their benefactors (Akugbene), straying beyond the portions given to them and that set them on a warpath with the Akugbene who accommodated them when they needed shelter, resulting in series of altercations culminating in lawsuits that led to the 1945 judgment in favour of Akugbene.

“The 1945 judgment unequivocally affirmed their (Okuama) strangers/settlers’ status in consonance with the ‘intelligence report’ of the commission of inquiry set up to look into the root cause of the Akugbene/Okuama imbroglio.

“Not satisfied, they crossed our boundary line with Akugbene into Okoloba land which had also resulted in a series of intermittent conflicts between us, right from the days of our forefathers, the same Okuama people who accepted their stranger/settler status and were paying certain minimum rents to Okoloba for farming and fishing on our lands and fishing lakes for which we have evidence.

“The crux of the intermittent conflicts between Okoloba and Okuama had been due to the resistance by Okoloba people towards the crafty and aggressive land-grabbing and territorial expansionist moves of the Okuama people, which came to the fore no sooner than they set foot on the land given to them by the Akugbene people specifically for fishing and farming.”