ASABA—CHAIRMAN of Panel of Inquiry set
up by the Delta State Government to resolve
the land dispute between Aladja in Udu
Local Government and Ogbe-Ijoh in Warri
South-West Local Government Areas of
Delta State, Prof. Abednego Ekoko has said
that the committee will proffer lasting
solution to the lingering inter- communal
crisis.
Ekoko who spoke to journalists after the
panel was taken to the areas in dispute on
land and water by Aladja elders and
community leaders to show their claims and
boundary, described the exercise which was
peaceful and smooth as a voyage of
discovery.
Noting that their assignment was sensitive
and serious, he heaved a sigh of relief that
the panel was making considerable
progress.
He assured that the panel would be fair to
both communities in its final report and
recommendations to the state government.
“Aladja has shown the committee the extent
of land, then extent by water. We now have
a mental picture of their claim and when we
return to the office, we shall transfer what
we have seen on paper. Ogbe-Ijoh will show
us their claim in like manner and when we
have seen these two, we shall now consider
the two and produce a report, which shall be
the solution to the crisis we are looking for,”
Ekoko said.
A member of the Aladja Elder’s Council,
Alhaji Godon Djehwo, who took the eight-
man panel on the two day visit to show
them their claims, boundary and extent of
land belonging to them as contained in their
memoranda, said that their fore fathers only
gave a small portion of land close to the
Okpavwa creek to Ogbe-Ijoh.
Djehwo told the panel which flagged off its
visit to the disputed land amidst tight
security provided by the Nigerian Army,
police and Anti-Bomb Squad, that other
places currently occupied by Ogbe-Ijoh
community outside the original area given to
them was an encroachment on their land.
The panel members who went by boat
through the creeks and river to Ikperhi, new
camp, Ovwarhanven camp, Ayama
community and Ubame/Abama in a journey
that lasted close to four hours to identify
Aladja claims and its boundary, were also
told to look into their claims and determine
the true and bonafide owner of the land in
dispute.
At the various points claimed to be their
land, including settlement camps, farm
lands, ancestral shrines, river and creeks,
professional Surveyors from the Delta State
Surveyor-General’s Office led by the
Surveyor-General, F.Osawa deployed Global
Positioning System, GPS, instruments to
record and establish the various points.
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