EMMA AMAIZE,
Regional Editor, South-South

On Thursday, May 23, top security officials in Warri, Delta state, led by the Commander, Nigeria Navy Ship, NNS Delta, Captain Musa Gemu are asking the previously warring youth of Ogidigben and Ugborodo to surrender the weapons they used during the crisis.

Gemu met with the chairman, Mr. Austin Oboroegbeyi and members of the Ogidigben-Ugborodo Interface Committee on the $16 billion Gas Revolution Industrial City in the state.

For anybody conversant with the bloodletting that is the Ugborodo crisis and the haunting hostility among brothers, the meeting was a timely follow-up to the Tuesday, May 20 inauguration of the Interface (Peace)  committee by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

The Oboroegbeyi committee, made up of prominent leaders of the combatants from both factions is chiefly  to interface between the host community and the Federal Government on the gas project. The president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is expected in the state soon to flag-off the project.

Governor Uduaghan had while inaugurating the committee in Asaba explained that he laid the foundation for the truce between the parties that culminated in the peace committee, adding that he later handed over the peace process to the offices of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) to maintain his neutrality and give credibility to the process and its outcome.

Captain Gemu, who said the meeting was conveyed to explore ways the security and interface committees would work together to implement the peace treaty reached by both factions, stated that the matter was of utmost concern.

His words, “I want to say categorically that within the two previously warring factions, weapons were used, but when we get there, we do not see the weapons, they have either buried or hidden them.”

“So I call on the peace committee to get back to the youths to handover the arms and ammunition in their possession. After that, if there is any further skirmish, we will use the full wrath of the law to come down on them,” he added.

The navy boss asked the peace committee to interact with the factions and get back to the security committee on the date for handover of weapons.

He said security agencies were