…As Task Force Issues One- week Ultimatum On IDPs
SAN FRANCISCO, August 14, (THEWILL) – Warring factions in Ugborodo, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State may have put aside their bitter rivalry to agree on the militarisation of the troubled community so as to maintain the prevailing peace and ensure the resettlement of the internally displaced persons in the area.
THEWILL can report that after hours of deliberations at a meeting held at the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS Delta) in Warri on Wednesday, the Chief Thomas Ereyitomi faction, represented by Chief Efe Akpofure (SAN) and Hon. David Tonwe’s faction, represented by Lagos-based radical human right lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, struck a peace deal to allow the military Task Force move into Ugborodo and allow the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to be resettled in accordance with an earlier agreement reached at the Naval headquarters in Abuja in May.
The Tonwe faction, which few days ago thought the military strike was imminent following a surveillance exercise carried out in the area, had raised the alarm that the military were set to use brute force to bombard their communities.
But with the agreement at the meeting, it appears the two group had finally given their consent to the militarisation of Ugborodo pending when peace would eventually return the troubled area.
Under the peace agreement, the two factions agreed to back the military Task Force headed by the Commanding officer, NNS Delta, Navy Captain Musa Gemu, to return peace to Ugborodo as well as ensure that persons who were allegedly ‘banished’ from their communities are resettled unconditionally.
It could be recalled that recalcitrant youth groups allegedly loyal to Tonwe had in several occasions confronted the navy team in Aruton and Madagho perceived to be the stronghold of the youth militia who had been used to prosecute the Ugborodo crisis for years whenever the government team tried to move in, thus leaving the FG/Delta state government negotiated truce which seek the unconditional resettlement of the IDPs in tatters.
THEWILL has learnt that at the end of the one week grace, given to enable the communities sensitise their people, the Task Force would deploy its artillery to Ugborodo alongside the displaced persons and may likely crush any youth group which tries to stop the resettlement of the people.
Gemu was optimistic that the two factions in the crisis would now comply with the agreement reached at the meeting on Wednesday.
“The meeting is different because I have to involve the counsel of the two parties to the disagreement and they have interpreted the meaning of the breach of peace agreement to the parties,” Gemu said.
According to him; “They (lawyers) have told them the implications of the any further breach and all of them including their lawyers have agreed that the military should move in to maintain the peace.”
Gemu however said that the military Task Force was not going to occupy Ugborodo to escalate the crisis but to maintain peace and ensure that the people live without any fear of further attack by opposition groups.
“The militarisation of the area does not mean we would use brute force, it doesn’t mean anything. We are only going there to ensure peace so that they don’t fight between one another,” Gemu added.
Gemu had earlier warned the factions, saying : “You should sensitise your people that there shall be no resistance, they shouldn’t drive anybody back. There shall be no insults on anybody, there shall be no display of all these billboards, placards all over the place, we don’t want to see them.
“And please, very importantly; there shall be no any form of acts that shall provoke members of the military. Sensitise your men that we are returning the people in peace and in order to supervise the peace in Ugborodo community, but then, we shall not condone any act of indiscipline or any provocation from anybody.
“We have the right of self-defense when the threat arises. Sensitise your people and after one week, we shall return all the displaced persons, except if they don’t want to.”
After the meeting, Keyamo, who is a counsel to the David Tonwe faction in Ugborodo, told THEWILL: “We have agreed that there should be peace in all the communities, Ugborodo, Ogidigben and others. We also agreed that the displaced persons should be returned.
“You have no right to deprive anybody from staying anywhere in Nigeria and I will not be part to that. Again the only thing that I will disagree about is that when they return the people to one side and leave the other side is unacceptable. I can’t be part of such arrangement.”
According to the lawyer, “There were people displaced in Ugborodo and also in Ogidigben . They should both be returned . And you cannot militarise only Ugborodo; if you want to militarise Ugborodo, also militarise Ogigigben and Ajadagbo and all other places so as to maintain peace.
“They are not going to kill anybody. This is an opportunity for both sides to talk to their people. They should allow the military to come in to maintain peace.
“They are not coming to support one side over the other. They are coming to make sure everybody lives in peace and harmony; so it is an opportunity talk to their people. And we have agreed that we have one week to go and talk to our various sides.
“One week from today and after then the military will come in to maintain peace. So both sides should go and talk to their boys that when the military are coming, they are not coming to antagonise them.
“They are coming to keep the peace in these communities. This is a commitment from the leaders and elders and I’m sure it will pay off.”
Speaking in the same vein, counsel to Ereyitomi/Emami faction, Chief Akpofure, said both sides have agreed to abide by the peace agreement and allow the military to convey the people to their ancestral home and maintain peace thereafter in the various communities.
“We have agreed that the entire communities should try and maintain peace and allow those ones that are displaced to come back to their respective places. And because of the nature of peace that have been existing in that place, we have all agreed that the military should move in through the navy commander.
“Absolutely and constitutionally, nobody has the right to displace anybody and that was why I said that I’m not in support of it and I said it in clear terms that my client must not get themselves involve in any situation where anyone should be displaced from his abode. Constitutionally, you have the right to live anywhere in this country,” Akpofure said.
Akpofure also spoke about those who lost their properties and loved ones to the crisis, saying; “Those issues rear up their head before we signed the last agreement in Abuja and they were rigorously tabled then. But for the recent one, one of the factions said that they are going to try to find a way of helping those who had suffer some loss so that they can get those properties back and resettle themselves.”
According to him, “One week that have been given to them is sufficient for them to go and sensitise their people. The military are going there to keep peace and in the process of keeping peace they can’t be there as lame duck and so if for any reason there is anybody who wants to challenge the authority of the military, they would not just fold their arm and look at them. That is the position.”
While responding to journalists’ questions after the meeting, Chief Ayiri Emami, who is an arrow head in the Thomas Ereyitomi faction, said he was very much in support of the peace process, adding however that the crisis in the community had nothing to do with the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) project sited in the community.
“The problem has nothing to do with the EPZ. Since they commenced job at the EPZ site, there has never been any stoppage of work, the little delay in the commissioning, I think, has to do with the schedule of Mr. President.
“The issue of displaced persons being returned; I, Ayiri Emami, have volunteered myself to work tirelessly to ensure that those people are taken back home and as you can see, some elements were just trying to cause problem, but we deem it fit that the military have to go in there to ensure that there is law and order because some persons want to take laws into their hands”, he said.
Also speaking, Hon. David Tonwe, who led the other faction which had vehemently rebelled against the implementation of the peace agreement except certain conditions are met, said there was no need to pre-empt the plan of the Federal Government to enforce peace in the community. He however noted that peace building is a process.
“What we are saying now is that we’ve agreed that peace should return to the community, but the peace building is a process whereby we dialogue, we negotiate, we come together, we strategically engage ourselves then we’ll go and tell our people back home.
“Nobody is saying there should be no peace in the community, we have embraced peace and so there’ll be peace,” he added.
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