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LG polls: Another war looms in Warri
SEGUN JAMES, Warri, CAJETAN MMUTA, Asaba
THE bloody
Warri crisis may resume following a threat by the Ijaws of the oil-rich area to
re-commence military operations against their neighbours should elections be
held in the three councils of the city next week.
Making the threat in Warri yesterday, Ijaw
national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, said at a press conference that his
people will not allow any election hold in the city till the outstanding
political issues pertaining to the local governments are resolved.
The vexed matter of local governments also
reared its head in Ika North-East council area of the state where the people of
Umunede town threatened to drag the state Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC)
to court over alleged lopsidedness in the recent ward delineation exercise.
Chief Clark, who addressed newsmen in his
Warri home, read from an open letter he wrote to the chairman of DSIEC, Justice
James Omo Agege.
In the letter he complained that his
people cannot vote because the Warri crisis, which revaged the city at the time
of the voter registration exercise did not allow his people to register.
Besides, Chief Clark complained that the
fundamental issues which led to the crisis and the suspension of election in the
three local government areas have not been addressed.
According to him, "we reject the November
27th election. We are not going to participate and we will not allow the
election to take place."
Clark also said that the Ijaws have "the
legitimate right to prevent any election from taking place, most especially an
election that will not benefit us."
The Ijaw leader wondered why DSIEC would
conduct an election in Warri when the delineation of ward exercise had not be
done.
"And on which ward structure? The one used
in 1999? Or the new one which the DSIEC created which has been rejected by the
Itsekiri?" he asked.
"Is it not true that as a result of the
crisis associated with the registration, majority of the eligible workers in
Warri South West local government concil could not register pending the
restructuring of the wards whereby the Ijaws with their majority had only four
and the Itsekiris who are in the minority had six, and with the Ijaws having
only 64 registration centres and the Itsekiris 147 registration centres?" he
further explained.
Chief Clark therefore warned the DSIEC
chairman not to jeopardise the relative peace pervading Warri since the
beginning of the year.
"Are you not happy that there is now
relative peace in Warri since the beginning of the year? With the full
expectation that the industries that had left Warri for other locations will now
return to their base in Warri and the role being played by the British
government in particular to see that the existing peace is maintained and
improved upon, and for this they have made three trips to Warri and its environs
within the last four months.
He therefore warned that "the Ijaws in
Warri will not accept being under the Itsekiris chairmanship and this situation
must be corrected before any local governmental election. We strongly, therefore
advise, in the interest of peace and stability in Warri, which we have all
agreed to maintain, that the election in the Warri local government councils
fixed for Saturday, November 27, 2004 should remain suspended until a political
solution is worked out."
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