WARRI —THREE membersof the 14-man Ijaw delegation to the recent peace meeting between the Itsekiri and Ijaw that culminated in a peace accord, yesterday, announced their withdrawal from the peace committee.
These are Chiefs Wellington Okirika, J.G.B Ari and Mr. Clark Gbenewei. The implication of this development is that the Ijaw have dumped the peace accord.
In an open letter to the Chairman of the Ijaw of Warri/Itsekiri Peace meeting, Mr. Ovouzorie Macaulay, who is also the Delta State Commissioner for Inter-ethnic Relations, Chiefs Okirika, Ari, and Mr. Gbenewei said: “We the leaders representing Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Warri Ijaw/Itsekiri peace meeting organised at instance of the state government put on record that our participation in meeting was illegal on the ground that our mandate, which was withdrawn by the entire people of Gbaramatu, became ineffective sometimes in March this year.
“That this withdrawal of mandate was effectively made known to us but we stayed put in the said peace meeting to the end to make our Itsekiri and other Ijaw brothers believe that we were still relevant in the scheme of things in Gbaramatu Kingdom in particular and Delta State in general. We deliberately did what we did as our un-mandated participation was seemingly complementing cessation of the hostility.
“The resolution of the Warri ethnic crisis is with the Delta State Government and not with the people of the three Warri local government areas. It is a known fact that fundamental issue to be addressed for the final resolution of the unending Warri ethnic crisis in order to usher in permanent/lasting peace is the creation of separate independent administrative political arrangement for the Ijaw of Warri.
For example, local government council areas for the Ijaw of Warri to solve the problem of ‘sectorial dominance’ which the Delta State as well as the Federal Government know but are shying away form. Any other thing done without first addressing this fundamental issue causing the unending Warri ethnic crisis will be counter-productive. This we know very well, but decided to play on the Itsekiri’s intelligence by making them believe that we were still the true and authentic representatives of Gbaramatu Kingdom and indeed the Ijaw of Warri in taking decisions and making a report which we know will not be binding on the Ijaw of Warri at the end of the day as we had lost our mandate since.
“There is no way we could have conceded the issues in the areas of agreement between Ijaw and Itsekiri in the report without the Itsekiri agreeing to the creation of separate local government council areas for the Ijaw of Warri which is the fundamental issue causing the Warri ethnic crisis. We just decided to fool the Itsekiri at least for once. This deceit we played on the Itsekiri has, however, brought some kind of fragile peace for sometime now in Warri and its environs.”
They declared that the report which was written and signed by them which is now in circulation through the media, but yet to be formally handed over to Governor James Ibori, “is null and void on the ground that our signatures on the document are illegal in so far as we have no mandate of our people any more before the conclusion of the peace meeting and the writing of its report.”
Leaders of the two ethnic groups led by the Iyase of Warri Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Mabiaku (Itsekiri) and Chief Wellington Okirika (Ijaw) signed a peace accord, declaring a new dawn in the renewed effort at searching for peace in Warri.
