Felix Omoh-Asun in Benin City
The five Ijaw kingdoms in Edo State — Egbema, Olodiama, Okomu, Gbaran and Furupagha — have accused the Edo State Government and the palace of the Oba of Benin of persistent deprivation, balkanization and threat to peaceful coexistence.
The leaders of the kingdoms said for decades, Ijaws in Edo State have been subjected to marginalization and treated as second-class citizens in their ancestral lands. They demanded an autonomy.
President of Ijaws in Edo State, Chief Robinson Ogunkoruwei, who read a statement on behalf of other 10 signees during a press at Gelegeles community in the state, alleged that the Ijaw population, spread across over 500 communities in Ovia South-West, Ovia North-East and Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Areas, has been deliberately split to deny them collective political voice, while attempts have been made to rename and annex their communities.
According to the kingdoms, the Ijaws are aboriginal to their territories and predate the Benin Kingdom, citing historical accounts by Chief Jacob Egharevba and other historians, as well as colonial-era institutions like Ikoro Baptist Church (1887), Gbelebu Primary School (1904) and native courts established in the 1920s.
They recalled that in 1988, the then Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa, attempted to appoint his brother, Prince Uyiekpen Akenzua, as Enogie (Duke) over riverine Ijaw communities, a move they said was vehemently resisted and later settled by the then military administrator of Bendel State, Col. Tunde Ogbeha.
The kingdoms also cited the Supreme Court judgment in Suit No. SC 131/1982 over a farmland dispute between Gelegelegbene (Ijaw) and Ughoton (Bini), stressing that the case was between individuals and not a determination of communal ownership between the two ethnic groups.
They further linked recent inflammatory publications and insinuations in the state and National Assembly, including motions by Hon. Omose Igbinedion, Hon. Murphy Osaro Omoruyi, Hon. Esosa Iyawe and Hon. Billy Osawaru, to a renewed attempt to undermine Ijaw agitation.
The kingdoms presented three demands to the Edo State Government: the creation of three local government centres for Ijaw indigenes in the state; immediate recognition of the five traditional rulers of Egbema, Olodiama, Okomu, Furupagha and Gbaran kingdoms and presentation of Staff of Office to them, and alternatively, all Ijaw communities in Edo State be allowed to join their kith and kin in Delta and Ondo States for better integration and development.
They anchored their demand on the 1988-1989 Constituent Assembly Report which recommended the creation of Toru-Ibe Local Government Area for Ijaws in the then Ovia Local Government, and on provisions of the 1999 Constitution on federal character and self-determination.
The leaders warned that failure to address the issues could escalate inter-ethnic tension, adding that the statement recently made by the Amanyanabo of Elem Kalabari, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, reflected the current reality of deprivation of Edo Ijaws.
Responding, Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said Gelegele is part and parcel of Edo State.
According to him, “We are engaging with a lot of their sons and daughters who are working with us. Our cardinal principle is collective engagement and solidarity. We are promoting unity and integration rather than division. We are one and we cannot be looking for ‘war’ where there is none. We need everybody on board to rebuilding a new Edo for all.”
He advised Ijaws in the state to calm down and constructively engage with the state government because “we are for Gelegele and the Gelegeles are for us”.