WARRI—HIS Royal Majesty, Kalanama VIII (Ogiame), Pere of Akugbene-Mein kingdom in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State, S.P. Luke, yesterday absolved the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, of any complicity in the crisis between the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta and militants in Gbaramatu kingdom.

His words: “ I absolve the governor of any complicity in the crisis in the riverine area. Why I say so is this, there is no way a man will build a house himself and destroy that same house.

“The governor, before he was elected, has a focal point  and that focal point is the three-point agenda and the number one thing in that agenda is peace and security, and right from when he assumed the mantle of leadership as the executive governor of Delta State, he has hammered so strongly on peace and security.

He set up the Delta Waterways Security Committee (DWSC), which was saddled with the responsibility of gathering intelligence information on criminal activities on the waterways and also doing everything possible to persuade the youths not to engage in criminal activities on the waterways of the state.

“To some extent, from 2007 till date, there has been relative peace in the state until the present incident. And this can attest to the fact that the governor has actually done well in the area of peace and security.

“Even in the Warri metropolis, you will notice that criminal activities have drastically reduced.

If truth be told, the criminal activities on the waterways of the state went down sharply and that is why for quite some time, we did not hear of hostage taking and all that, so I want to believe the peace process of the governor must be pursued vigorously.

All Deltans must put our hands on the deck to ensure total peace in Delta.”
He appealed to Deltans to shun rumour mongering, saying, “God in Heaven knows why

He has brought all of us together to be in one place. If you go to the East, it is all Igbo-speaking tribes, if you go to the West and North, practically the same, it is only in the South-South that we have varied ethnic groups and when you come to Delta State specifically, you have five ethnic groups.

We should avoid rumour mongering by trying to instigate one ethnic group against the other.

“We should live together as indigenes and citizens of Delta State, the Big Heart and so, we must tolerate every one of us. There should not be infighting.

Today, the governor is an Itsekiri man, we are behind him, it was James Ibori before, after him, it is Uduaghan, and believe me, after Uduaghan’s tenure, some other ethnic groups will also have a taste of it too, and so I want to appeal to all Deltans to give peace a chance.”