By Emma Amaize & Samuel Oyadongha

WARRI—SUSPECTED Ijaw youths, yesterday, allegedly abducted two Urhobo youths, Happy Khali from Okwagbe and Prince, a native of Ughelli, along the Warri River, Warri in Delta State.

Their kidnap created fresh tension in Warri, just as the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Ogbe-Ijoh Clan, Warri South-West Local Government Area, warned that the murder of Samson Bebebo, an Ijaw youth, at his fish farm in Ogbe-Ijoh town, weekend, would escalate the crisis between Ijaw communities of Aladja and Isaba on one hand and Urhobo community of Aladja, if not properly handled.

Khali is reportedly from Ughelli South Local Government Area and Prince is from Ughelli North Local Government Area. Both were said to be working for an Itsekiri man.

The IYC, Ogbe-Ijoh Clan, in a statement by Smart Okosugbene, said it was “worried about the killing, considering the recent ultimatum and alleged declaration of war against Ijaw people by the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, Udu Kingdom Youth Wing.

“This killing is not unconnected with the ultimatum by UPU, as there has been tension between Isaba, Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja communities since the inciting statement and ultimatum was made during Chief Omene’s visit to Aladja community.

“This killing is capable of truncating the efforts by stakeholders to achieve peace between the warring communities. We call on the relevant security agencies to carry out thorough investigation of Bebebo’s murder.”

Mothers’ react

Meanwhile, Ijaw women, on the platform of Ijaw Women Connect, IWC, Worldwide, have condemned Bebebo’s killing.

In an online statement made available to Vanguard in Yenagoa, the women described the act as provocative and capable of eroding the peace of the area.

The statement by the group’s President, Rosemary Graham Naingba, called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to wade into the crisis in the interest of peace.

It read in part: “Urhobo is the closest ethnic group to the Ijaw, with a historical bonding of blood relationship: it is rare to see an Ijaw family without an Urhobo lineage and vice versa.

“We, as mothers of the Ijaw nation, will continue to play our roles as the greatest advocates of peace, in speaking to our youths and husbands not to trade the path of war, but peace. Because where there is peace, there is harmony.”