*FULL TEXT OF CHIEF (COMRADE) SHERIFF MULADE SPEECH AT ALADJA-OGBE-IJOH PEACE CONCERT .*
Date 15 of August, 2020.
All protocols observed.
Aladja Ogbe-Ijoh,
Aladja Ogbe-Ijoh,
Ogbe-Ijoh Aladja,
Peace!!!
I am very delighted and overwhelmed to stand before you all, also joining my voice with Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh Peace Vanguard to canvass for peace in Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities.
This concert is apt in tag, *WE ARE ONE, PEACE- THE POWER OF UNITY *
Ladies and gentlemen, peace is sacrosanct to growth and development. It has become clear in our history that communal crisis is a set back not only to the nation, but to the Continent and the world at large.
The best thing that can happen to any individual, community and country is peace and not war. We need peace in Aladja, Ogbe-Ijoh and all other communities and I am glad that peace has come to stay.
It is true that there are crisis, wars and disunity among peoples of the world today, but we can work to achieve peace, because peace for our people is peace for us, peace in our neighborhood is peace for us, peace in our communities is peace for all of us, and where there is peace there is unity, love, growth and development.
*PEACE SONG:* Everyone is crying for cars, houses and money but no one is crying for Peace. Today, Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh are crying for Peace. Indeed, everyone is crying for *PEACE.*
We all know that the journey to achieving peace is not always easy, it goes with a lot of sacrifices and dedication, sacrifice of time, resources and money. Whenever peace is achieved, the joy that comes with it is unquantifiable, that is why people like Martin Luther King (Jr), Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and other notable advocates of peace invested their lives on such a course and they never regretted their struggles for human rights, equality and peaceful coexistence.
Let me say that Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh Peace Vanguard has done noble in achieving the peace that others thought was unachievable, they have bridged the gap between war and peace and between unhappy and happy people, between Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities, between the Ijaws and Urhobos. History will never forget their action, they shall always be remembered all over the world, because history books will record this event.
It is often said that the elders declare war but it is the youths that fight and die in the war. Let us sing this *PEACE SONG:*
NO more war to fight. Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh, no more war to fight. Never again will our youths and elders die because of war. Never again will our elders declare wars for our youths to fight. No more deaths among our women. I say Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja youths shall not die but live fulfilled lives. I say to Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh people, *NO MORE WARS BUT PEACE!!!*
I have always been on the path of peace, so I support this great peace and unity movement powered by Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh Peace Vanguard. I call on the Delta State Governor, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, Deputy Governor, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, the Chairmen of Warri South West and Udu Local Governments, Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, Community Leaders, Women and Youths of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities to embrace peace and support this great peace initiative towards restoring permanent peace to the communities. The benefits of peace outweighs the blood shed at war.
We should remember that Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh are one people. There is no true Aladja person that is not related to Ogbe-Ijoh in one way or the other, and there is no true Ogbe-Ijoh person that is not related to Aladja, so we are one people. We should therefore display genuine love for one another.
Let us commit ourselves to building on the peace, unity and oneness as the legacies of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh Peace Vanguard, so that, everyone in both communities, can enjoy peace, prosperity, inclusive and sustainable development in the land. We should know that disunity causes constant underdevelopment and backwardness.
Let me say that never and never again shall it be said that this beautiful and God-given land experiences war, killings, disunity and oppression of an Aladja man by an Ogbe-Ijoh man, or of an Ogbe-Ijoh man by an Aladja man, like what happened during the past crises.
The sun shall never again rise and set on such unfortunate inglorious happening, disunity, crisis and killings in the land of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh. Let unity, peace, love and oneness reign supreme in our communities.
God bless Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh Communities
God bless Warri South West LGA
God bless Udu LGA
God bless Delta State
God bless Nigeria
God bless Africa
Thank you and God bless.
