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Two Delta Communities Trade Blames Over Killing Of 12 Persons, Demand Thorough Investigation

November 23, 2020

The victims were gruesomely murdered on October 12, 2020 on a farm land in Oleh by gunmen suspected to be from Ozoro community.

Oleh and Ozoro communities in Isoko South and North local government areas of Delta State have continued to trade blames over the killing of 12 indigenes of Oleh community by yet to be identified persons.

The victims were gruesomely murdered on October 12, 2020 on a farm land in Oleh by gunmen suspected to be from Ozoro community.

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The two Isoko communities had been at loggerheads following a lingering boundary dispute that had defied all efforts to be resolved.

The Oleh people, through the President-General, Believe Alakri, called for a thorough investigation while maintaining that some leaders of Ozoro community especially the monarch, Anthony Ogbogbo, former President-General, Raphael Afemarei, and the current President-General, Nicholas Areh, have so many questions to answer.

While accusing the people of Ozoro of crimes against humanity, Alakri described the people of Oleh as peace loving, adding that "amidst all provocative actions of the Ozoro people, Oleh had always sought peace.

The community called on President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Mohammed Inuwa, and Director-General, State Security Services, to intensify efforts in fishing out those behind the killing and bring them to book to serve as deterrent to others.

On their part, the people of Ozoro community through Areh noted that Oleh natives were only fanning the embers of war with the way and manner they were currently going about the issue.

They emphasised that the farm in Oleh where the people were gruesomely murdered by unidentified persons was not in dispute.

"It is never in doubt that disputes over boundaries of land between Ozoro and Oleh dates back to generations past, it must be placed on record that such have always been resolved through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms which have yielded results that brought peace.

"It is noteworthy to state that while the Oleh people accused Ozoro people of disrespecting decisions, which is not true, it has been characteristic of elements from the Oleh community jumping into the heart of lands owned by families from Ozoro, running into kilometers," Areh said.

While disassociating Ozoro community from the murder, which they described as barbaric, Areh sympathised with the people of Oleh and urged the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter.