Delta State
Community Reveals What Led To Okuama-Ewu/Okoloba Land Fight
The Okuama-Ewu community of Delta State has accused an Ijaw leader of being behind the land disputes between them and the Okoloba community.
The community in a supporting affidavit to the N151 billion suit the people filed against the Federal Government, Attorney-General of the Federation, and Armed Forces of the Federation, Chief of Defence Staff, Nigerian Police and Commissioner of Police, Delta State at the Federal High Court in Warri, said the land-grabbing tendencies of an Ijaw leader resulted in inter-community skirmishes between the two communities.
The affidavit, deposed by the Secretary-General of the Okuama-Ewu community, Bernard Esegba, said the activities of the Ijaw leader resulted in the abduction and death of some members of the Okuama community sometime on or about January 27, 2024.
The community added that it had earlier written a petition against the said leader, detailing how his activities are affecting people in their community.
According to the community, “The land-grabbing tendencies of an Ijaw leader resulted in inter-community skirmishes between our communities, which resulted in the abduction and death of some members of Okuama community some time on or about January 27, 2024.
“Not to take laws into our hands, we wrote a petition dated February 2, 2024, to the governor of Delta State. The petition was submitted to the Governor’s Office on February 2, 2024. A copy of the petition is attached and marked as Exhibit ‘A.’
“In the said petition, we narrated the various attacks on our people by militant gangs recruited by the Ijaw leader, including the abduction and killing of some of our people and the desecration of our ancestral river by setting up a shrine at our ancestral river, known as Urhie Ewu (Ewu River).
“We also ensured that the copies of our petition were delivered to the 7 to 10 respondents hereof, Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of the Otu-Jeremi police headquarters, Director of State Security Services, SSS, Commander of the 3rd respondents’ Joint Task Force, JTF, Asaba, Delta State, and Senior Special Adviser to the Governor of Delta State on Political Matters.”
Naija News recalls the seventeen military personnel who in March, lost their lives in Delta State were said to have been on a peace mission to the area regarding the land disputes when they were ambushed and killed by some youths.
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