By Ijeoma Popoola
March 14, 2024 remains a black Thursday in Delta and the entire Nigeria for the killing of 17 officers and men of the Nigerian Army in a Delta community, Okuama.
The personnel from the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army were on a peace mission, following a communal clash between Okuama and its neighbour, Okoloba.
Okuama, an Urhobo community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta, is in-between two Ijaw communities – Akugbena and Okoloba. All the three communities are known for fishing.
Okoloba and Akugbene are in Bomadi Local Government Area.
The murder of the gallant army officers and men brings to the fore the need to adequately address communal clashes in Nigeria and do more to promote order and peaceful co-existence, concerned citizens have observed.
Analysts are also of the opinion that unresolved communal conflicts are ticking time bombs.
They are worried that there are pockets of communal conflicts across the states, urging urgent attention of relevant authorities and other stakeholders to save situations.
A journalist, Mr Michael Umuagu, recalls that communal clashes between Ife and Modakeke in Osun State and Aguleri and Umuleri in Anambra State lingered and claimed many lives and property to the extent that they taught, in a hard way, a lesson that peace is the ultimate.
“Lives, resources, relationships, time and energy wasted on the two conflicts can never be recovered.
“It is enough lesson for everyone,” he urges.
He urges urgent actions to end Okuama and Okoloba clashes.
Concerned Ijaw citizens believe that the federal and Delta governments have not done enough to address the Okuama/Okoloba conflict.
The coordinator of the group, Chief Manager Seigha, who is worried that
clashes between the communities have become too many, urges the governments to do more to resolve the conflict permanently.
He describes the killing of the military personnel as regrettable, stressing that governments should go the extra mile to tackle communal clashes adequately to avoid calamities.
“We need institutions of government that will engender peace. Government has a responsibility to resolve this matter.
“Telling people to go back and resolve their conflicts and find peace will not work.
“The people came to government in the first instance because there was no peace,” he argues.
Seigha is optimistic that if government representatives visit the communities and find out for themselves the true situation, it will facilitate resolution of the conflict.
He also suggests that government can set up a truth and reconciliation committee to address the conflict.
“Government should be firm in identifying who truly owns any disputed land,” he urges.
Seigha also appeals to Delta leaders to wade into the matter.
“This is not a war between Urhobo and Ijaw, Itsekiri and Ijaw, or Urhobo and Itsekiri. We are the same people. This fight should not be allowed to fester more than what we have at hand.
“Leaders who feel that silence is golden at this time should stop it. By remaining silent, we are creating more problems in our communities,” he says.
He urges the leaders to insist on the right thing for all youths in the area irrespective of their ethnic groups.
“They should not fold their hands at this time. Elders should not support criminals,” he notes.
He wants traditional rulers, elders and other members of Okuama and neighbouring communities in Delta to give adequate cooperation in the search for the killers of the military personnel.
“We want the government to do everything possible within the law to make sure that those people are brought to book,” he says.
According to Seigha, the search for the killers should be an opportunity to mop up arms from criminals in the area.
“The military should be given an opportunity to search for and mop up arms held by criminals in the communities.
“The killing of the personnel has left innocent citizens in the area in fear. A lot of people are now in the forest, people cannot go to farms.g
“Even those at home are afraid. Our prayer is that peace should come to the communities,” he says.
For Chief Regent Youmor, former President of Ijaw Community in Lagos State, Okuama and Okoloba youths, along with all Nigerian youths, must listen to voice of reason and end all forms of violence.
Youmor says it is high time youths dropped all forms of insecurity, insurgency and other crimes and joined hands to develop their communities.
Youmor, also the Chairman of Bomadi Community in Lagos State, says clashes between Okuama and Okoloba ought not to continue.
“The youths must be called to order. They must conduct themselves responsibly.
“Enough is enough. Our youths must listen to wise counsel. These attacks must stop. We are not animals, we are not killers,” he says.
He believes that it is the responsibility of elders in the communities to properly guide their youths.
“We can’t disown them. They are our children, but we must tell them the truth and regulate their conducts,” he argues.
Youmor appeals to the military to observe due diligence while searching for the killers of its personnel.
“Let only those who committed the crime be brought to book. Let the innocent be spared,” he advises.
The Okoloba Federated Community in Delta is convinced that establishment of an army barracks in Okuama will tackle communal clashes and killings in the area.
The Chairman of Okoloba Federated Community, Mr Clement Koki, strongly believes that it will promote peace.
“With the barracks, everyone will maintain order because everyone fears soldiers,” he hopes.
According to Koki, one Mr Zipamone Pigha from Okoloba was, on March 9, kidnapped and murdered, and his lifeless body thrown into River Forcados.
He also regrets that one Mr Anthony Aboh, also from Okoloba, was kidnapped and murdered on March 11.
“We don’t want bloodbaths again. We have lost enough people, including the finest military officers that were killed,” he regrets.
Koki has sympathy for neighbouring communities who are being temporarily inconvenienced by security measures put in place by the military to forestall further crisis in the area.
He appeals to them to show understanding.
Koki claims that Okoloba Community has proprietary ownership of fishing lakes (Afou Bolu, Oge Donou, Agbakoropei Donou, Okirimeli Donou, Benmo Donou), farmlands, economic trees and territorial waters within its ancestral boundaries.
“The proprietary ownership and control have been peacefully established and maintained by Okoloba for ages through collection of annual rents/royalties from strangers/settlers from various places, who came to farm on those lands and/or fish in those lakes in line with customary practices.
According to him, Okoloba desires peaceful co-existence with its neighbours.
Analyst therefore, urge collective efforts to restore peace in Okuama and Okoloba communities as well as other communities engulfed in clashes across Nigeria.
They are convinced that peace and unity remain important for societal development.
Courtesy: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
