Communal Wars: Erei communities now disposed to peaceful coexistence

This disposition was disclosed by the Secretary of the Erei nation in Abanwan, Uwen Godfrey Ogban, on Monday 19th October this year when the palace of the Onun Usor of Abanwan played host to a delegation of pro-peace civil society organisation, Partners for Peace in the Niger Delta Initiative, P4P. 

While addressing the P4P delegation represented by peace actors Raphael Antigha the leader of the delegation, Alhaji Abdullahi Shabaam, Gabriel Ekpenyong, and Efio-Ita Nyok, in Abanwan, Ogban observed that the Erei nation had already begun the process of resolving the conflict that had threatened to break the community at its seams. 

Ogban disclosed that the root cause of the ongoing communal crisis was a direct product of a connivance with Ekoli people to co-own Erei Palm settlement, which he asserted is owned by Egbor community. He said that ‘there was peaceful harvesting of the farm and the payment of royalty to Egbor; however, Ekoli connived with an Ebonyi man to launch an attack to the intent of sacking the entire Erei’. 

He further noted that the Erei communities had reported the development to the state government  but ‘there’s no response’. He disclosed that about 400 militants have been reportedly hired to launch an attack on Erei; that this sinister efforts was discovered as the assailants went for diabolical charms with which they intend to prosecute the native war with according to their source. 

The visiting P4P delegation while addressing the members of the community in the palace of the Onun Usor of Abanwan, through Antigha appealed to the community leaders and indigens present to give peace a chance stressing that without peace there will be no meaningful development in the community. According to Antigha who doubled as the leader of the P4P delegation to Erei as well as the Chair of the Prevent Team, a standing committee in the P4P ‘we have observed while we came into the community, the spate of infrastructural destruction… the destruction of property like living residences, schools, farms, etc we are therefore appealing that things cannot continue like this. That is why we are here. However, we are not here to impose a solution going forward, we are rather asking you to tell us what the solution should be’, he said. 

Ogban emphasised that ‘the solution to the problem is let’s be allowed to use our culture and tradition to resolve the crisis, that is what they will fear.’ 

In a document handed over to the P4P delegation and cited by our reporter, titled ‘Undertaking/Resolution reach at the Instance of Edu Community returning to their Ancestral Father Land(Edu-Erei), it is stated one of the nine terms and conditions for Edu Erei to resolve existing crisis ‘A traditional oath of trust be taken by all Edu indigens and same be planted therein to ascertain that the Edu community or group of persons from Edu will no longer conspire with the Urugbams and their Ekoli cohorts to attack or plan to invade Erei nation’.

Ogban on behalf of the Erei communities appealed to the federal government to resume the construction of the abandoned Ikun/Abanwan road, the only road network leading to the community. The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC abandoned the road as a result of the insecurity occasioned by the communal violence.

The current communal crisis experienced in Erei is the 2018 native  battles involving Egbor, Ipene, Abanwan and Urugbam; the 2019 battle of Ipene, Egbor, Umolor and Urugbam; and the 2020 communal war engulfing Egbor, Ibini, Afono, Edu and Urugbam. The communal war revolves around disputes of Egbor Erei land and the oil palm plantation on the said land disputed by Urugbam, Ekoli Edda and belligerent elements in Afikpo South LGA in neighbouring state, Ebonyi.