Warri Peace Deal Collapses
Ijaw signatories back out
From Ahamefula Ogbu in Abuja and Onwuka Nzeshi in Warri
Barely two weeks after the nation applauded the peace deal between leaders of the Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic groups, the peace process in the embattled city of Warri took a turn for the worse yesterday as key Ijaw signatories to the peace accord backed out of the deal.
The Ijaw leaders said they had no mandate to endorse the peace pact as at June 23, when the deal was sealed.
In an open letter addressed to the Commissioner for Inter-Ethnic Relations and Conflict Resolution, Delta State, Mr Ovuzuorie Macaulay, three Ijaw leaders namely Chief Welling-ton Okrika, Chief Jonathan Ari and Mr Clark Gbenewei -- all signatories to the celebrated peace accord withdrew their endorsement.
The Ijaw leaders stated that: "our participation in the said meeting was illegal."
The trio in the letter said, they were duly nominated to represent Ijaw of Warri interests at the peace forum, but that power was withdrawn by the people "following our ineffective representation" sometime in March 2004.
"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 Ijaw brothers believe that we were still relevant in the scheme of things in Gbaramatu Kingdom in particular and Delta State in general.
"That we deliberately did what we did as our unmandatory participation was seemly complementing cessation of hostility. We 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 Ijaws of Warri in taking decisions and making a report which we know will not be binding on the Ijaws of Warri at the end of the day as we had lost our mandate since," the leaders stated.
The dissenting leaders stated that the resolution of the Warri crisis was entirely the responsibility of the Delta State government through the creation of separate and independent political arrangements for the Ijaw of Warri to end what they described as the problem of sectoral dominance.
They noted that the issue of political autonomy was fundamental and that both the Delta State government and the Federal Government were aware of this issue but have chosen to ignore this key to peace in Warri.
They declared that the report of the Peace Forum signed publicly by them and the Itsekiri leaders but yet to be formally presented to the Delta State government was 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 the report."
The three Ijaw leaders also said they were withdrawing from the peace meeting henceforth just as they had withdrawn their signatures from all documents pertaining to the ill-fated peace deal.
The formal withdrawal of the Ijaw delegation to the peace forum confirmed speculations that the peace accord would soon break down due to sharp disagreement among the Ijaw leadership over the controversial deal.
It also lends credence to widespread speculations that Ijaw signatories to the peace deal have been under intense pressure from their people to jettison the pact or face severe penalties. THISDAY checks revealed that one of the key officials who endorsed the peace deal on behalf of the Ijaws was subsequently whisked away by some militant youths a few hours after the deal was struck.
The kidnapped chief, THISDAY authoritatively gathered, was taken to an undisclosed island off the coast of Warri where he was detained for several days presumably at gun point until he agreed to denounce the peace deal publicly.
Early last month, leaders of the various ethnic youth organisations believed to have been field commanders of the dreaded militia groups engaged in the Warri fracticidal wars met for the first time in many years and swore to keep the peace.
At a press conference the youth leaders, under a new name, Warri Ijaw/Itshekiri Grassroots Peace Front (WIIGPF) made the declaration for peace.
The peace declaration by the militant youths later led to the signing of peace accord by the leaders of the Itshekiri and Ijaw on June 23.
The peace deals were follow-up to the intense operations by the Joint Military Task Force (Operation Restore Hope) which was set up by both the federal and state governments to rid the Niger-Delta area of militant youths whose activities hamper oil production activities.
Violence in Warri area had led to suspension of the production of 140,000 barrels per day of Nigeria's crude oil by ChevronTexaco which in monetary terms translated to a daily loss of $4.76 million revenue.
The Federal Government said the country was losing on the average $10 billion revenue yearly to the crises in Warri and other Niger-Delta areas.
Meanwhile, the South South Parliamentary caucus of the House of Representatives has concluded plans to ensure that armed militants in the Niger Delta would be flushed out to make for proper development of the area.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Chairman of the Caucus, Hon Esio Udo, advised youths from the area to shun overtures by sponsors of violence. He added that all that was needed for peace to return to the area was for the youths to work with both States and Federal Government on the issue.
Udo said they have already put modalities in place to ensure that armed youths were chased out of all the communities in the Niger Delta.
"Declaration of rebellion in the Niger Delta is very unfortunate. We do not support such intention. Federal Government is doing its best to address the issue of deprivation through intervention agencies being put in place. We cannot afford to disrupt these efforts. As a caucus, we will do all within our powers to ensure that all structures of rebellion are dismantled", he said.
Udo called on oil companies to be part of the peace efforts through a change of attitude towards their host communities. He added that the caucus would be meeting with oil companies with a view to setting up mechanisms for lasting peace.
He advised oil companies to "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. We believe in true federalism, the basic infrastructure needed by the people must be provided".
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