The Fiyewei of Gbaramatu kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekama speaking during the press conference
By John Egie
Two Ijaw communities, Ikantu and Ijaghala in Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State are under threat of being forcefully evicted from their homeland by their Itsekiri neighbours and hence have sent a Save Our Soul message to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori for swift intervention.
This was disclosed by the Fiyewei of Gbaramatu kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekama during a press conference held on Monday, June 16.
After sounding the alarm, Chief Fiyewei appealed to the federal and Delta State Government to immediately intervene and not to take the matter lightly as the threat to the continued existence of the two communities is real.
The Gbaramatu stakeholders led by the Fiyewei traced the threat to a group of persons who trade in gun running with alleged Itsekiri accenstral roots.
He said since the release of the first report of the delineation exercise of the Warri Federal Constituency by INEC and the public declaration of discovery and re routing of the cultural identity Ikantu and Ijaghala communities to Gbaramatu kingdom, their Itsekiri neighbours have spewed bile and breathed fury threatening to violently dislodge and evict the Ijaw people of Ikantu and Ijaghala Communities in Gbaramatu kingdom from their accenstral homeland.
They called on INEC to waste no further Tim in completing the delineation exercise that the commission had begun.
” We the ijaws will not fight the itsekiri people but they must leave the ikantu and ijalagha people alone.
” We are peaceful people but if any Ikantu or Ijaghala indegenes are attacked by the Itsekiris because they traced their ancestoral root to Gbaramatu kingdom, the gods will fight for us”
Citing the Nigerian Constitution which guarantees freedom of movement and right to access and live anywhere in the country, Chief Gbenekama declared that the indigenes of Ikantu and Ijaghala Communities are not exemption from that fundamental human right.
“There is freedom of speech , movement and association in this country and I am pleading with those threatening our brothers and sisters in Ikantu and Ijaghala communities to stop the act and the relevant federal and Delta State Government should rise to the occasion to protect the love and property of indigenes of Ikantu and Ijaghala communities from the impending pogrom threatened by the Itsekiri neighbours.
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