Life is not essentially about the wealth an individual has acquired.  It does not matter at what age you were able to make it to the top. But what matters to most people with the heart of Christ is how many faces you were able to put smiles on their faces.   One of such Nigerians with large heart is Peter Omoh Dunia, who recently clocked 42. 

For the Ogbona, Etsako Central Local Government Area, Edo State-born philanthropist, life is about making others feel belonged and important. This explains why Ogbona indigenes, home and abroad, friends and well-wishers, were full of praises for a man who has made a mark in the emancipation of the Niger Delta region at his 42nd birthday.

Apart from his philanthropic gestures, Peter was one of the players behind the amnesty granted by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to former Niger Delta warlords in 2009.He worked with Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, former Chief Economic Adviser to the late Yar’Adua, Alhaji Mohammed Asibelua and Mr. Walter Watgbasoma, Chairman Ontario, to prevail on his brothers, the freedom fighters, to lay down their arms. Peter narrates his role in the struggle to grant amnesty for the former warlords.

By Chioma Obinna

‘How I convincedex militants’

I was in London then but I set up a platform due to the fact that nobody could reach Tompolo apart from me. They wanted him to embrace the amnesty.

I played a major role by meeting the late President Yar’Adua first before I preceded that night to meet with the vice president who is now the president. We had a chat and assured him that Tompolo was going to embrace the amnesty programme. And it came to pass! On the day Tompolo and the rest dropped their arms, which was the final day, October 3, 2009, precisely, I joined them to prove that hostilities had ended.

We met in Chief Anenih’s house in Asokoro. Present there wer Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Tompolo, Kingsley Kuku, Dennis Otuaro, Dan Ekpedide, Ankkio Briggs and some other eminent Niger Deltans.   We left Anenih’s house for the Villa to see the president. We were welcomed by the president and the vice president, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

We met the president and gave him assurance that Nigeria was now one; we were going to work with him to make sure that the whole Niger Delta became peaceful. Thereafter, the leader of the Niger Delta, Chief Edwin Clark, hosted us in his residence in Asokoro. He expressed appreciation to Tompolo and others present for their support in ensuring that peace returned to the Niger Delta.

It was at this point that we received a call that the then vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, was ready to receive us in his Akinola Aguda House.

So, I was part of the success story because I lived in Warri, and I ensured that the process was a success because Tompolo is a good friend. We were all part of the whole crisis then because they are my brothers”.

 Roles in Niger Delta

Peter is also involved in the development of youths in the Niger Delta region, particularly in Warri and environs.   His company, Oceanwave Marine Oil and Gas, was the official sponsor of Warri Wolves Football Club.

“I took it upon myself because I believed that if you empower one youth, it has multiplier effect. I boosted the club with one hundred million naira in 2008/2009 and we made sure that we removed most of the boys from the streets by ensuring that they are gainfully employed through my company. We employed some of them on our vessels”, he said.

Peter explained that his support was rooted in the belief that the resources belong to the Niger Delta region, yet there was nothing to show for it.

“Most of the support came from me from the beginning of the crisis because I felt the resources belong to us. We are the bird that lays the golden eggs, yet there was nothing to show for it until when I went to Oporoza and environs. I went to see my bosom friend, Tompolo. I arrived there in the afternoon. A boat sail from Warri to Oporoza is about one hour, thirty minutes.

“But prior to that time, I discovered that most of the communities didn’t have pipe borne water, they didn’t have hospitals, no schools and you see most of them coming out to defecate in the river and, at the same time, drink from the water. It was a sorry sight. I took it upon myself to provide them water. I met a lady who had boats and I told her that I had just travelled to her village to see a friend and what I discovered was not good. I requested her to do me a favour. I told her I knew that sachet water was not expensive. It wasn’t that I had much then because I had just moved into Warri and trying to settle down. I told her to hire me her boats or do it for me.

`Let me buy enough sachet water so that as you are going to offload your building materials, you can stop by one of the villages and give them water’. That was how we started. Every week, I would buy sachet water and put them in two to three Cotonou boats. They will sail to those areas and the water would be supplied to them. I did that for six months”.

It was at this point about 20 chiefs from the communities insisted that he (Peter) be the arbitrator between them and some companies they were about signing a Memorandum of Understandings, MoUs, with.

“So, that was how I integrated myself into community business. I signed MoUs on behalf of the communities as attorney so that they could benefit from Shell, Chevron and other companies. That was how the relationship started and that was how I met Tompolo in 2003, and we became friends and he was part of the whole process to liberate the Niger Delta region from poverty, life of penury”.

He explained that even though they never wanted to agitate against government “You cannot stand when your own brother is being killed and you fold your hands.” Peter continued: “That was how the struggle started, but, today, we give God the glory that our own brother is the president. But that is not the end of it. Up till now, nothing is being done.

The place has not been developed, but we know that the president is doing his best. But he should also refocus on the region because nothing has been done as far as I am concerned. The issue of lack of hospitals is still there, there are no coastal roads. But we applaud his educational drive like the Maritime University in Gbaramatu Kingdom. We know what that would attract.”

Peter also extended his gesture to his community, Ogbona. He ensured that roads around his community were constructed.

Before then, the community had been neglected by successive governments.   Ogbona is one of the four villages that made up Avhainwu clan. Peter single-handedly asphalt tarred all the major roads and streets of about 15km in the community with proper drainages to go along.

The feeling among the Ogbona people as a result of the ingenuity and kind-heartedness of Peter shows in the way they love and address him each time he makes an appearance.

The commissioning of the roads, precisely on March 7, 2009, witnessed the presence of Governor Adams Oshiomhole; a former Chief of the General Staff, the late Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe (rtd); the Catholic Bishop of Auchi Diocese, Most Revd Gabriel Ghiakhomo Dunia among others.

Peter, had during the ceremony, declared that the road project was embarked upon as part of Oceanwave’s corporate social responsibility.

With Peter’s noble venture, his name has been written in gold in the annals of Afenmai history, Edo State and the entire Niger Delta region.