By Festus Ahon

Long, long ago, it was said, somewhere in Africa, the world ‘s Mother Continent, that challenges by which, I think, they meant great obstacles to set goals, are a necessary part of life and that anyone who has not dealt with, at least, one in a lifetime, certainly has not attained full maturity.

This wise saying of our forebears, probably made many centuries ago, is true of the individual as it is correct about corporate organizations and even governments.

For the government of Delta State, under the watch of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the truism of the above wisecrack came to the fore last week when it had to respond to two critical security situations in parts of the state.

The first, and the more profound one, going by the large spectrum of interests it generated, had to do with the Okuoma / Okoloba crisis related to an ageless land ownership tussle, which, drew in the Nigerian Army and its personnel, 17 of whom perished in the course of its peace mission.

The dead included a Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Bomadi in Bomadi Local Government Area of the state, two Majors, one captain and 13 soldiers.

The other had to do with the protests in and around the School of Midwifery axis of Okpanam in the state capital territory, by commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as “okada riders”.

The protests, which spanned more than a day, was against the Task Force setup by the State Government to enforce the ban of night operations of “okada” in the state capital territory. The protesters under the guise of the protest, vandalised several public offices and the carted away vital public assets.

With regard to the Okuoma/ Okoloba conflict, the administration had before the killings, invited all stakeholders to a meeting at which it was resolved to maintain the prevailing peace and a peace accord was signed by the two communities in the presence of their representatives in the State House of Assembly, the two Local Government Council Chairmen and security agents.

Perhaps, what made the Okuama/Okoloba crisis more heart-wrenching is the fact that officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, who were on a peace mission to Okuoma community, were killed.

The killing of the military men was dogged by what sources termed strategic encirclement (siege, in pure military terminology) and the torching of many private property in the community, as well as the reported death of some civilians.

Following the development, Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, as the chief security officer of the state, promptly visited the operational head office of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Bomadi, for security council meeting. That meeting, which was prompt, proved effective in significantly easing tension regarding the conflict.

Straight from the Bomadi meeting, the governor flew straight to Abuja to meet with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to brief him on the situation. Though, like the Bomadi meeting, it was held behind closed doors, Oborevwori, afterwards, briefed State House Correspondents on the sinews of his discussion with Mr. President.

At the media brief, the governor said that the situation had been brought under control and assured Nigerians that there would be no more attacks.

The governor explained: “The two communities in question have been having issues for years, and last month, on the 7th of February, they were invited by the state government, where the members representing the two local governments, the council Chairmen and leaders of the communities agreed to work together and they signed a peace accord.

“We condemned the killing of the officers and the soldiers because they were on a peace mission. What is happening now is something that we did not bargain for.

“I want to assure everybody that there will be no more attacks on the villages. If there is any one that happened in the past, there will be no more attacks but we know that those who are culpable will be brought to book; the innocent citizens will not be attacked.”

Oborevwori added, “Yesterday, I was in Bomadi for a security meeting to get the full briefing. So, some of those issues are security issues that you can’t say publicly; so, we are managing the situation.
“The issue of whether a place has been burnt down or people have been killed, it has happened and what we want is the way forward.

“The way forward is two-fold: the people that have been killed, the officers and soldiers, we must see how we can find succour for their families and how they can be given befitting burials, and then, the community, anything that has happened in the community in the past will not happen again.”

As the governor said earlier in a press statement condemning the killings, it is not in the character of Deltans to exhibit a culture of violence.

Obviously, the violence, in Okuoma and the violent cyclists’ protests in and around Okpanam axis of the state capital territory, ran counter to the culture of amity and hospitality for which Deltans are renowned.
Although prevention could have been better in both circumstances, however, where they became inevitable as events showed, the prompt response of the state government to both situations testify to its devotion to the active promotion of peace and security as a core element of its MORE agenda.

….Reads riot act as he meets Royal Fathers, Advisory Council

On Thursday, Oborevwori met with the State Traditional Rulers Council and the State Advisory and Peace Building Council at both separate sessions he gave an insight into what had transpired so far regarding the Okuoma/Okoloba crisis and the plethora of meetings he had held with the echelon of the country’s security architecture as part of efforts to douse tension.

At the secretariat of the royal fathers, he told them that the state government, in liaison with the top brass of security architecture of the country, was determined to ensure justice in respect of the matter.

He warned them against shielding suspects, stressing that the killings of the four officers and 13 soldiers who were on a peace mission, was not only inhumane, but sadistic and ran contrary to the grain of generic peace and hospitality for which the state and its people were renowned.