By Festus Ahon

ASABA—CHAIRMAN of Panel of Inquiry set up by the Delta State Government to resolve the land dispute between Aladja in Udu Local Government and Ogbe-Ijoh in Warri South-West Local Government Areas of Delta State, Prof. Abednego Ekoko has said that the committee will proffer lasting solution to the lingering inter- communal crisis.

Ekoko who spoke to journalists after the panel was taken to the areas in dispute on land and water by Aladja elders and community leaders to show their claims and boundary, described the exercise which was peaceful and smooth as a voyage of discovery.

Noting that their assignment was sensitive and serious, he heaved a sigh of relief that the panel was making considerable progress.

He assured that the panel would be fair to both communities in its final report and recommendations to the state government.

“Aladja has shown the committee the extent of land, then extent by water. We now have a mental picture of their claim and when we return to the office, we shall transfer what we have seen on paper. Ogbe-Ijoh will show us their claim in like manner and when we have seen these two, we shall now consider the two and produce a report, which shall be the solution to the crisis we are looking for,” Ekoko said.

A member of the Aladja Elder’s Council, Alhaji Godon Djehwo, who took the eight-man panel on the two day visit to show them their claims, boundary and extent of land belonging to them as contained in their memoranda, said that their fore fathers only gave a small portion of land close to the Okpavwa creek to Ogbe-Ijoh.

Djehwo told the panel which flagged off its visit to the disputed land amidst tight security provided by the Nigerian Army, police and Anti-Bomb Squad, that other places currently occupied by Ogbe-Ijoh community outside the original area given to them was an encroachment on their land.

The panel members who went by boat through the creeks and river to Ikperhi, new camp, Ovwarhanven camp, Ayama community and Ubame/Abama in a journey that lasted close to four hours to identify Aladja claims and its boundary, were also told to look into their claims and determine the true and bonafide owner of the land in dispute.

At the various points claimed to be their land, including settlement camps, farm lands, ancestral shrines, river and creeks, professional Surveyors from the Delta State Surveyor-General’s Office led by the Surveyor-General, F.Osawa deployed Global Positioning System, GPS, instruments to record and establish the various points.