Youth of Ijaghala Community in Warri South-West LGA of Delta State have declared that their community is part of the federated Ugborodo communities amidst squabbles with youths of neighboring Gbaramatu Community.
Niger Delta vanguard gathered that trouble brewed between Itsekiri youths and Ijaws on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 when officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) visited the community to carry out the ongoing fresh Ward delineation exercise as ordered by a Supreme Court judgement in 2023.
The INEC team which was led to Ijaghala by one Mr. Aboyowa had successfully concluded mapping out activity when youths of Gbaramatu led by its chairman, Kingsley Arerebo Egbejule stormed the community with angry Ijaw youths claiming ownership of Ijaghala as part of Gbaramatu land.
According to Wilson Abeson, the Ijaghala youth chairman, a visibly angry Egbejule said, “Ijaghala is Gbaramatu land and Itsekiris had no business coming to capture the community as an Itsekiri community.
He threatened that if the people of Ijaghala refused to undo all that they had done, they will forcefully come and evacuate us from the community within the next 24 hours.
Although historically Ijaghala community is partly (itsekiri) Ugborodo and Oporoza (ijaw) but we are in Ugborodo land; not Gbaramatu Kingdom”, he clarified.
But when contacted, Mr. Ogbe Eyengho, the PDP Councilorship candidate for Madangho Ward comprising Ijaghala, Kpokpo and Madangho confirmed to us that the issue had been resolved, dismissing the Gbaramatu Youth Council’s claim that Ijaghala is Gbaramatu. “Ijaghala is part of Ugborodo federated communities. The other four being Ode-Ugborodo, Ogidigben, Ajudaibo and Madangho.
However, there are fresh indications that the issue had not been resolved because after the Gbaramatu youths had been resisted by the Ijaghala people, a press statement signed by Egbejule and his secretary, Raphael Erike on behalf of the Gbaramatu Youth Council (GYC) was released on Thursday July 11, 2024 warning of dire consequences if the issue is not promptly addressed by the relevant government authorities. The statement claimed saghara, Kantu and Ijaghala communities are part of Gbaramatu land.
In a swift reaction, a group, the Concerned Ijaghala Indigenes Network (CIIN) has issued a petition to security agencies, calling on them to caution the Gbaramatu youths whose threat on Ijaghala community, they claimed, is capable of rocking the peace in Warri South-West.
Parts of the petition reads, “The Ijaws have continued to use force of arms and intimidation from time to time in Ijaghala Community, as if the people are conquered!
It is for the above reasons that CIIN call on the Nigerian security agencies to immediately call on the Pere of Gbaramatu and Tompolo to stop tormenting Ijaghala Community with the recent threat to forcefully evacuate and pulverise the community within the next 48 hours if the community refuse to abide by their weird and insane orders, which of course the Ijaghala Community SHALL NOT YIELD TO NO MATTER THE THREAT!”