Ijaw Community in Delta Raises the Alarm over Alleged Military Blockade

Omon-Julius Onabu

The Ijaw people of Egbema Kingdom of Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State have cried out over imminent starvation of their people due to an alleged blockade by military troops occupying the area has prevented food from being taken into the coastal communities.

The leaders of Egbema have, therefore, called on relevant authorities in Nigeria and the international community to come to their rescue by ensuring that the troops were withdrawn immediately.

“We wish to draw the attention of the civilised world to the fact that Egbema in Delta State is currently facing starvation comparable only to what is happening in the Tigres region, where Ethiopian soldiers refused to allow UN Peace keepers and food to get to the civil population,” the people said.

A statement that was titled, “Egbema Kingdom: Suffocating Under the Jackboot” and signed by President Egbema Leaders of Thought, Elder Edmund Doyah Tiemo, was copied to the Chief of Army Staff, the Delta State Governor, the military JTF Commander based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and the JTF commanding officer in Koko in Warri North.

It stated that the people of Egbema Kingdom were being punished for the action of unidentified criminals who might not even hail from the locality, adding that the siege to the riverside communities was untenable.

The statement attributed the blockade to an alleged attack on a military base station at Obodo where an unspecified number of soldiers were allegedly killed by hoodlums.

The statement reads: “Although, no official statement on the attack has been issued by the military Joint Task Force (JTF), the soldiers had told passengers on the Benin River and Gelegele axis about the attack, thus justifying the lockdown of Egbema since July 2, 2021, when the incident reportedly occurred.

“Before this incident, another one was reported on June 28, 2021, few kilometers from the scene as the Egbema Peace Keepers came under attack by unidentified gunmen, leading to loss of several lives. Thus, the military operatives who were attacked are victims just like the Ijaws in the area were also victims of criminal attacks. Therefore, it would be wrong for people who have suffered same magnitude of losses to be subjected to this horror.

“The fundamental rights of the people to movement as entrenched in Section 44 of the 1999 Constitution as amended have been clearly violated in the guise of chasing after hoodlums.

“Why on earth should the innocent populace suffer because of the crime of an unidentified few? We cannot agree less with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe when he asserted that the Nigerian government of President Muhammadu Buhari operates two sets of laws: In the North where criminals kidnap, terrorise and kill both soldiers even school children, none of their communities was unduly punished for the crime of the few.

“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced it in Odi in Bayelsa State and now it has been taken to a higher and bigger level, whereby a whole kingdom of not less than 45,000 people is under siege for over five days consecutively without movement of people and food items.

“While they denied our people food and medical attention; the army moved food to soldiers who guide critical oil facilities in their fatherland!”