The Mayor of Urhoboland and notable ex-militant leader, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has called for a lasting and peaceful solution to the incessant armed conflict between the Ogbe Ijoh and Aladja communities both in Warri South and Udu local government areas of Delta state.
The Mayor stated this in Ughelli North LGA at the heels of a brainstorming session among stakeholders in ‘Urhobo Project’ on Monday.
The Mayor said both communities have enjoy age-long cordial relationship being indivisible entitles bonded by the cord of brotherhood.
Akpodoro commended the efforts being made by the traditional councils from both ethnic divides, noting that the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU should commence the process of entrenching lasting peace being the custodian of peace and harmony over the years.
He commended the Orodje of Okpe, HRM Felix Mudjakpero, in whose instance a meeting to foster lasting peace was hosted at his palace recently.
He said the crisis that has claimed lives and properties over the years should be stamped out just as he said stakeholders from both ethnic nationalities should ensure peace is sustained in both communities.
The UPU, according to the Mayor, owes it a duty to foster peaceful co-existence among tribes within and outside urhobo nation saying nobody could separate Urhobo and its neighbouring tribes.
He said apart from brotherhood by marriage, both culture and traditions are interwoven making it difficult to separate the two tribes.
Akpodoro noted the need for the pan Urhobo socio-cultural organisation to be in the forefront of bringing peace to bear in Ogbe Ijoh and Aladja areas for “our children to move and conduct their businesses freely without fear of molestation.”
In same vein, Akpodoro commended efforts by the traditional rulers from the Ijaw axis of the state led by the King of Ogulaha Kingdom who led others to the security meeting at Orokpe Kingdom, all in search of peace, stressing that their mission was the first of its kind since those he described as career troublemakers started stoking crisis in the troubled area.
He called on both state and federal governments to wade into the lingering crisis with the aim of apprehending those behind the blood letting crisis so that law abiding citizens could breath air of peace.
Politicians, he noted, are feasting on the division created by the crisis while he called on the traditional institution to be more vigilant, gather intelligence and feed same into the security apparatus with the aim of ending the era of strife in the area.
He said: “Our Kings have taken the search for peace to a lofty height and we commend them for their efforts and we also urge them to do more to end the blood letting in our domain.
“The UPU also has a lot of roles to play in bringing peace to bear among Urhobo nation and their neighbours.
“No nation enjoys a pariah state, therefore, as peace loving people we must unrelentlessly search for peace and bring it to bear on the people.
“We live in subjectivity with one another and we must harness our diversities for strength, growth and development of our people.
“Urhobo people have a heritage of love for neighbours and not even civilisation can erode that virtue from our nation.
“I also commend our umbrella body and urge them to build peace always.”
