Benjamin Omoike
Nigeria, July 11, 2016 – A group, known as Warri Ijaw Peace Monitoring Group (WIPMG) has dismissed allegations by the Itsekiri people that the attacks carried out by rampaging militants were sponsored by Ijaw people, saying they were false and deliberately made to malign the Ijaw people in furtherance of the Itsekiri age-long hatred against Ijaw people.
Chairman of WIPMG, Chief Patrick Bigha while reacting to the allegations against the Ijaw people in Warri, advised that people should shun provocative and inciting statements for the sake of peace.
“The Itsekiri people are deliberately inciting the Federal Government against the Ijaw people so that government would bomb and kill innocent Ijaw people and communities.
“We wish to state clearly that the Ijaw people have no business or connection with the Niger Delta Avengers. This position has consistently been stated by different Ijaw groups and personalities.
“It is not true as claimed by the Itsekiri people that the attacks are being carried out in Itsekiri territory. The obvious truth is that the Ijaw people of Warri especially Gbaramatu, Egbema, Ogbe-Ijoh, Diebiri clans and the Ijaws of Ogulagha in Burutu Local Government Area are the greatest victims of the Avengers’ attacks. Nearly all the attacks have taken place within Ijaw territories. The Itsekiri claim to the territory is baseless” he wrote in a statement.
He said further that, “The Itsekiri claim is an elongation of their land grabbing nature. It is shocking and shameful that the Itsekiri people would persist in their land-grabbing attitude even in matters of attack on oil facilities.”
The group called on the Federal Government and security agencies to completely disregard the claim by the Itsekiri people, adding that; ” Some Itsekiri people such as Ayiri Emami’s wish is that the Ijaw people especially those from Warri should not live. That is why Ayiri Emami wants Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) dead at all costs. Some Itsekiris have pathological hatred for Ijaws. Government must not allow their agencies and officers to carry out an ethnic agenda by Itsekiris against Ijaw people.”
They implored the Warri Monarch, Ikenwoli 1 to caution his subjects “as the attitude of some of his subjects is so provocative in recent times that it may lead to another Warri crisis. If he cannot call such rampaging subjects to order in the public, then it will be construed to mean that he is behind them, and this will not do us good. We are aware that the Itsekiris are ready to fight the Ijaws of Warri with their statements and actions as regards the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers,” the statement noted.
