Save us from Ijaw militants, Abiala indigenes cry out

BENIN CITY - The people of Abiala Village in Oduna Ward in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State have called on the Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the Oba of Benin and the leadership of Edo State House of Assembly to save them from the Ijaw militants in Gelegele, who have vowed to drive them out of their own village.

Narrating their ordeal before newsmen, the youth Chairman, Mr. Clement Ekhorutomwen said the Ijaws in Gelegele under the leadership of one Don Ben, have times without number attacked the people of Abiala without any provocation.

Mr. Ekhorutomwen said the latest attack was on June 18, 2009, when the people of the village tried to erect a town hall, adding that the Ijaw militants from Gelegele led by Don Ben descended on them with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.

The Youth Chairman said the kidnapped three of their men, including one Mr. Victor Aigbe whom they abandoned on the way when he was almost half dead.

He wondered how Ijaw settlers in Gelegele could claim ownership of Benin land even though a supreme Court Judgment told them clearly in Lagos in 1982 that Gelegele belonged to the Benins, and that they the Ijaws are mere settlers.

Mr. Ekhorutomwen explained further that the early Europeans who came through Gelegele in 1897, 112 years ago, only had contact with the Benins in Gelegele, Abiala and Ughoton and not the Ijaws, whom he said, had never stepped on Gelegele soil as at then.

He said on February 16 this year, they complained to the palace of the worrisome attitude of the Ijaw residents in Gelegele, saying that the Palace wrote a letter to the Chairman of Ovia North East Local Government Council and the D.P.O. in Evbuotubu, requesting them to check the incessant harassment with a view to ensuring tranquility and peaceful co-existence in the area.

Mr. Ekhorutomwen said two weeks after the incident with two men missing and one critically ill in the hospital, the people of Abiala are running out of patience.

He called on the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolor, to prevail on the state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the leadership of Edo State House of Assembly, the State Police Command and the Chairman of Ovia North East Local Government Council, to act now before law and order breaks down in the locality.

Tags: Ovia

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