By Festus Ahon & Ochuko Akuopha

MANAGING Director of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Bashorun Askia Ogieh, has advised youths to work towards the attainment of sustainable peace, saying: “These are not the time for the drums of war to be sounding in our clans.”

Speaking during the Isoko Youth Peace and Security summit held in Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of the state, Ogieh stressed the need for youths to shun political thuggery in the 2023 general elections.

He urged Isoko youths and other stakeholders to painstakingly deliberate on the burning issues of insecurity in Isoko land, towards finding an all-embracing, acceptable and workable solution that would endear sustainable peace and even development to the area.

He said: “These are no times for the drums of wars to be sounding in our clans. These are the time to be thinking of development, and we can only achieve this when we have peace.

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“Over time, Isoko has transited from a warring nation to a hospitable, friendly and peaceful nation particularly when the book of God, the Bible, descended from heaven into this land of Isoko at the Bible site at Araya.

“Since then, through the activities of the missionaries, we have left our old ways and have embraced peace and the great religion of Christianity and that to my mind has brought a lot of peace in our land.

“But very recently that peace has been broken by the quest of various individuals, personalities and communities, either to expand the frontiers of the various communities and kingdoms and for some reasons, I do not know.

“We have just discovered that the Isoko people have taken up arms at one point or the other. Community rising against another community, something that was not known to us in modern times, and so I felt very agitated.

“Those of us in DESOPADEC have decided to partner the oil-bearing communities, particularly with youth bodies to engender peace in our mandate area, particularly as it affects I as Isoko man, because our agency is known for development and building of infrastructure.

“But we do know that without peace, without security, the atmosphere of peace for the building of infrastructure will just not be there, and we needed peace in our land so that the needed development that we are yearning for as a people from the government can be brought to us.

“We will soon be going into elections, and many of those that are being used in perpetrating the violence at times are mostly youths  and in most cases, those who use us don’t have their children in our midst.”