Maritime Varsity: Tinubu urged to avoid another Niger Delta armed crisis

By Ologeh Joseph Chibu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to take careful steps to avoid igniting another round of armed conflict in the Niger Delta

In a letter sent to President on Thursday 36 groups under the umbrella of Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) asked the President to resist any attempt to locate the new Maritime University at a community that can spontaneously ignite ethnic violence between Itsekiri and Ijaw in the Niger Delta.

Copies were sent to the media.

‘If this happens, the crisis will be worse than in 1997 when conflict broke out following the military decision that changed Warri South West Local Government headquarters to Ogbe Ijoh instead of Ogidigben.

The crisis led to many deaths and the displacement of over 200,000 people.

The group said while the Maritime University has been approved to be located at Okerenghigho, pressure is being exerted on the President to adopt the name Okerenkoko.

‘This is a very dangerous step that should be avoided immediately. Apart from the fact that the mention of Okerenkoko can lead to spontaneous violence, there is a Supreme Court Judgment stating that the name of the community is Okerenghigho, which historically belongs to the Itsekiri people.

ONAC said any alteration of this decision by the apex Court is not only illegal but would undermine the principle of law while setting the pace for a major conflict in the Niger Delta.

The group said the ancient name of the community is Okerenghigho and not Okerenkoko which does not exist in history, in time and in space but a mere conjecture created by some individuals to usurp Itsekiri indigenous territories.

‘The Itsekiri are a smaller but ancient indigenous community in Delta State. They have suffered untold hardship, repression, historic injustice, assault, continuous and desperate plot hatched by their enemies to swallow they up through conscious distortion of their history. Lately, many of their ancestral territories have been violently usurped, violated and seized at gunpoint by hostile forces,’ ONAC said in the letter despatched to the President on Thursday.

The coalition said the Yoruba people will not stand alone and allow Itsekiriland to be assaulted and humiliated by any group.

ONAC said the Yoruba are blood-bound with the Itsekiri and that any insult or attack on Itsekiri is an insult and attack on Yoruba history and civilisation

“Mr President, we urge you to act with wisdom. We urge you never to allow corrupt people to lure you into creating another round of crisis that will affect the reputation and standing of your government in the eyes of your own people. We urge you never to sign any bill that is against the Judgment of the Supreme Court and a bill that can spark another round of hostility in the Niger Delta’
ONAC said there is a growing but wrong impression being created in the Niger Delta that the Presidency has been captured by a particular armed militant who is believed to rely bribery, blackmail and threats to have his way.

‘No responsible Government should allow itself to controlled by armed groups neither should any government succumb to cheap blackmail’ ONAC said.