[allAfrica.com]  [Africa_2004]


Group Threatens Ijaw Leaders Over Peace Accord

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
June 30, 2004
Posted to the web June 30, 2004

By Kingsley Omonobi, Emmanuel Aziken & Osaro Okhomina
Warri
THE Warri Ijaw Peace Monitoring Group (WIPMG), comprising Ijaw opinion leaders,
yesterday warned all Ijaw members of the Warri Ijaw/Itsekiri Grassroots Peace
Front which recently agreed to a cease fire that what they signed represented
war not peace.
Opposition to the agreement also came from Ijaw National leader, Chief Edwin
Clark, who said the agreement between Itsekiri and Ijaw ethnic groups was a
one-sided affair. He said those nominated to represent the Ijaw ethnic group
during the negotiation betrayed the nation.
However, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Business and
Rules, Mr. Ita Enang, has called on Governor James Ibori of Delta State to
protect the recent awaited peace settlement in Warri.
The Warri Ijaw monitoring group said: "The leaders that signed the peace accord
with the Itsekiri leaders will be stripped naked and flogged whenever they come
home. The elders are no more our leaders and representatives in any capacity.
No peace-loving individual or organisation should have anything to do with them
because they stand condemned."
A statement signed by Apostle Clement Tonfawei, Chief Tony Ayebi and Johnbull
Demebi said: "A lasting peace can only be achieved in Warri when the grassroots
and stakeholders are involved in a peace talk. Those elders are not
stakeholders, because they are a wasted generation."
Regretting that various peace committees have been set up in the past to look
into the issues of the Warri crisis without any meaningful result, the group
said: "The few ones that came out with prospects to resolve the crisis were
either swept under the carpet or totally rejected by the Itsekiri. The said
peace meeting between the Ijaw and Itsekiri surprisingly came out with a report
on June 23, 2004 which is nothing short of complication of the Warri crisis. As
a result, the atmosphere is full of tension and panic as no one knows what will
happen in Warri because of that futile report. The report shows the cruelty of
our leaders and their nature of destruction of mankind. We of the Warri Ijaw
Peace Monitoring Group (WIPMG) totally and urgently reject the report and its
collaborators. The report does not represent peace and the purported new dawn
but war in Warri," the statement added.
Clark faults accord
Chief Edwin Clark spoke just as the Ijaw leaders are set to meet at Kiagbodo to
discuss and review their position on the signed peace accord reached by the
Ijaw and Itsekiri at NNS, Delta State last week. According to Chief Clark, the
Ijaw representatives led by Chief Wellington Okirika, signed the peace accord
without due consultation with the leaders and people of Ijaw ethnic
nationality, thereby subjecting the future of the Ijaw nation to the
manipulation of the Itsekiri on the fundamental issues on the ways to resolve
the Warri crisis.
Chief Clark, who spoke with newsmen yesterday during the reception in his
honour on arrival from London at the Osubi Airport, said the Ijaw
representatives led by Chief Okirika had, without the mandate of the people,
mortgaged the future of the Ijaw people and subjected them to the rulership of
the Olu of Warri.
He said: "The accord I saw was shocking and I was not happy. When you sign an
agreement, it should benefit both parties. It cannot be one-sided agreement. I
have been saying over the years, I want peace and my people desire peace. We
want industry to grow in Warri, oil companies must operate under no stress.
Kidnapping and piracy must stop. We want the war between the Ijaw and Itsekiri
to stop, but does it mean it should be one-sided? The Itsekiri have manipulated
my people, they don't know what they are doing.
"Right from the beginning of the meeting, we have sensed that something was
wrong. I called a meeting of Ijaw leaders, youths and women to Kiagbodo and it
was agreed that they should withdraw from the negotiations on March 14, but
these people were going secretly to the meeting and coming to tell me bogus
stories. But true peace must be founded on justice and fair play and must
address the real issues affecting both sides to the conflict."
Chief Clark noted that the contentions issues such as the self-determination of
the Ijaw in Warri, ownership dispute of Isaba, Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu and Egbema
lands and proper delineation of wards had not been properly addressed by the
peace accord.
On the issue of vacation of property and towns forcibly occupied by both ethnic
groups, he described it as "ridiculous and unimaginable. There is a conspiracy
between the Ijaw and Urhobo leaders. Mabiaku has a house along Miller
Waterside, my people were driven from their various homes in 1997, and they
found themselves in abandoned property at Miller Waterside and Machiver areas.
So you now said they should go."
Enang lauds accord
Ita Enang, on his part, tasked the Federal Government to urgently step in to
ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crises in the region. Mr.
Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom), lauding the initiative of the ethnic nationalities,
said the peace initiative would not only help give a positive image to the
country's foreign image, but said it would also help fetch more money for the
country.
"All the parties should be honest, the governor of the state should be very
honest and serious. He shouldn't appear to take sides, he should watch and take
the example that any unguarded utterance can flame passions," he said.

   

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