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I read the post by Dr. Harrison Adja titled “Recent Fulani herdsmen onslaught & the Abraka Electorate”, and I could not but take exception to the part where he stated that, “but a Prophet is without honour in his home! Oh! Abraka my Abraka, has anyone brace up to the challenge since the recent spate of the Fulani herdsmen Killings???”.
Dr. Harrison Adja sounds as if the fate of our Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom is tied to the actions of just one man. No, it is not.
Granted that Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie did very well in leading the struggle in the fight against the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds, but then, the firmness and resoluteness of our Oruarivie-Abraka people cannot be undermined at the altar of the political servitude of some persons bent on maligning the Abraka people for their political choice.
Abraka is not the only community under the invasion of the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds, and if Dr. Harrison Adja cared so much to have raised the issue that, the incumbent Member Representing Ethiope East Constituency at the DTHA, addresses the issue of the invasion of our land – (and in this case, Ethiope East LGA) by herdsmen and their herds, then it would have been better the Oruarivie-Abraka people are spared the wailing on the political choice of a people. Indeed, our strength as a people lies in our resolve to collectively fight a common enemy.
Do not ever try, as a political opponent to the APC Party, camouflage your intended attacks on the APC, by dragging the Abraka people into the matter.
My advice would have been, ‘some things are better left unsaid’. However, since this matter has been exhumed from where it was jejely resting by those who are hell-bent in panel beating history to suit their ultimate aim of insulting and blackmailing the Abraka people who (for their personal political reasons) want to malign the Oruarivie-Abraka people for their political decisions, I now have to speak out. Please do not try to politicize the issue of the invasion of our land by murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds.
Perhaps you would care to know that just like we had Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie, during his time at the DTHA, there were so many other unsung heroes of the struggle and the fight against the unwarranted killings in Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom, would never be known because they do not seek the limelights. They are more interested in finding solutions to the issue, and not use it, or manipulate it for their political gains.
So, if you think you know our people and that of Oruarivie-Abraka history more than us, then I shall provide you with ‘jig-saw’ facts, and I expect you to piece it together and draw your conclusions. However, be warned that I am in custody of facts that even Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie do not have (of course, I provided him with the facts and records of the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen menace in Abraka).
In the year of our Lord 2014, I was elected the President-General of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom (where 90% of the killings in Abraka has occurred). The year 2014 was long after the killings started in Abraka and also long before Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie was elected as a member of the Delta State House of Assembly in 2015.
Note that the first killing of an Oruarivie-Abraka indigene took place on the 20th March, 2012 (the late Mrs. Margaret Okotie), and even though the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen who perpetrated the dastardly act were caught and taken to the police in Abraka, all efforts by Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom to seek justice was thwarted by some Abuja based power lords – (can I say that they connived with the Federal and State PDP governments of then to deny the Oruarivie-Abraka people justice?).
You may please note that, only that one incident was recorded in Abraka until 2016 – (one year after Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie was elected in 2015).
Between 2015 and 2019, when Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie left the Delta State House of Assembly, we recorded the killing, by Hausa/Fulani herdsmen in our Ovre Farmland, the late Mr. Adjeke Agoda (5th January, 2016); the late Mr. Philip Obayendo (11th March, 2016); the late Mr. Francis Okotie (29th March, 2016); the late Mr. Sunday Idama (25th March, 2017); the late Mr. Sunday Edjor (24th April, 2017). In early 2017 (January) two natives of Eku community residing in Oruarivie-Abraka (Urhuoka), were attacked and killed by herdsmen.
The above were besides the many other cases of rapes of women and young girls, as well as physical attacks and injuries inflicted on our farmers who managed to escape with their lives from attacks by these Hausa/Fulani herdsmen, as we also reported in January, 2017.
While there have been very few cases of attacks on our people between 2018 and now, I can rightly confirm that the farmlands has fully been taken over by the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds. Compared to my several past visits to the Oruarivie-Abraka Ovre farmlands, the place is now more deadly than ever. It is now a ‘no-go-area’ for our farmers. I can say so, because I was part of a team that recently visited the farmlands concerning our farmlands dispute with Presco Nigeria Plc. Truly, it is not an area that our farmers would dare enter into for their subsistence farming.
The struggle cannot therefore be ascribed to the efforts of just one man. It was a struggle that many – (including yours sincerely) has been able to use our God-given offices and positions, to fight as representatives of our people.
As President-General, it is on record that our Oruarivie-Abraka women and farmers were the first, amongst the autonomous Kingdoms in Urhobo Nation to organized a general protest on the 5th November, 2015, along the Abraka Axis of the New Sapele /Agbor Road, and to the Abraka Police Station (to the knowledge of the Commissioner of Police and the Delta State Governor), to demand that these murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds (cattle) vacate our farmlands.
During Inaugural Stakeholders Interactive Session (Meeting) organized by the Delta State Government at the Government House, Asaba on the 30th May, 2016 – (presided over by the State Governor), to discuss and proffer solutions to the conflicts between communities and these murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds (cattle), I eloquently addressed the problems faced by my Oruarivie-Abraka people as a result of the incursion of the Hausa/Fulani people and their herds into our farmlands, and how we have lost lives, and have started experiencing low farm outputs which inevitably would cause hunger in not just my community, but also in every community that suffers same.
It is on record that I unequivocally (in my capacity as President-General of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom) re-echoed our demand, before the State Governor that, the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds (cattle) must vacate our farmlands, which I famously informed His Excellency, the Governor of Delta State, that was now the “Sambisa Forest of Delta State”, – (housing over 2000 herdsmen and over 10,000 cattle).
The Delta State Government records would show that I was one of the two – (amongst the numerous President-Generals who attended the interactive session) nominated to sign the communique that arose from that meeting.
Based on the persistent petitions to the Federal Government, as well as the Delta State Government from my then official position, and also from the various Presidents of Urhuoka Community of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom, we were regularly invited by government security agencies to be interviewed and questioned on our very loud outcry over the killing of our people by the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen.
Also, several world press conferences were held by us to address the matter by our Kingdom during my tenure as President-General (2014 – 2017). The last world press briefing made by me was 7th April, 2017, wherein I (spoke as President-General of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom) to affirm our total support for Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie, whom the State and Federal Government Security Agencies as at then, was accusing of lying, and making inflammatory statements, concerning the sighting of helicopters dropping off persons and suspicious items in our Ovre Farmlands.
I had just picked up a newspaper at the Airport in Lagos, on my returned from a short trip to the UK, when I read about the story of the strange helicopters as reported by Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie which the Police and Security Agents were reacting to. Of course, as President-General of my Kingdom, I knew that our farmers and darn-gun hunters have reported such, and the gist was making the rounds in the community, so I wasted no time in acting, as was due me. The next day after I arrived, my Youth President and I were asked to accompany the DPO to Asaba where we interviewed and made written statements to the Commissioner of Police. Same week, I interviewed and made written statements to the military police from Benin City. Several other government security agencies also visited me in Abraka to interview me on the matter and especially on our claims on the killings by those we described as murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen.
Anyone who was conversant with the newspaper reports then, would remember that I had a running battle in several newspapers, with Andrew Aniamaka, who was the then Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), who on the 13th March, 2017, and in an attempt to falsify facts against the alarm raised by Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie and myself, informed the public that there were few Hausa/Fulani herdsmen in our Oruarivie-Abraka Ovre Farmlands and that they were living ‘peaceful’ with the indigenes of Oruarivie-Abraka. We successfully established the lies in the supposed intelligence report by the police and other government security agencies who tried to report otherwise and also to suppress our repeated shout-outs to the world about the criminal activities of the herdsmen and their herds.
It was on account of the above circumstances as described by me above – (where the victim was now been hunted by the government security agencies, and made to look like the accused), that informed the world press briefing of 7th April, 2017.
I am aware that prior to the press briefing of 7th April, 2017, Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie had also petitioned the Office of the then Acting President – (HE, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo) on the persistent killings that took place in Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom during his tenure as the Member Representing Ethiope East Constituency in the DTHA. The petition was referred to one of the DIGs who commissioned an Abuja team led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police – (ACP Orutugu) to Abraka, Delta State to do a thorough investigation of the reports of the persistent killings of our Oruarivie-Abraka people by the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds (cattle). One very important area of their investigation was on our insistence that all of the killings were duly reported by us to the Police and the State Government, without any consequential action(s) taken by the ‘government of the day’ to protect our people. Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom was fully mobilized and were on ground to assist with the investigation by the Abuja team. Relatives and family members of victims, as well all those whose farms were destroyed, or managed to survive attacks by the crazy herdsmen were all gathered at the police station, where they were interviewed and also volunteered statements to the Abuja team. However, as I write this, we have not heard from the Abuja team nor from the Police Headquarters in Abuja. Such is the fate of our struggle.
I am also aware that at a time during the tenure of Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie in the Delta State House of Assembly, he and some other legislators, sponsored a very good and proactive anti-grazing bill, that we in Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom – (just like the other many communities suffering from the menace of the murderous and destructive AK47-armed Hausa/Fulani herdsmen and their herds), gladly looked forward to, I can confirm that the bill was summarily killed by a joint cabal of the Executive and Legislative arms of the Delta State Government. Note that the bill would have empowered the Police and (capable victims) with the rights to legally apprehend and prosecute these dangerous trespassers and invaders. I challenge anyone reading this, to demand from the Delta State Government, what happened to that Anti-grazing Bill?
At this stage, will you still say that our Oruarivie-Abraka people have not done anything to protect and fight for themselves, nor will you still say that we entirely depended on one man for our survival and safety? The fight and struggle has never been that of one single person, rather, it has been a collective effort of all.
This forum is not even where I can tell you about the tremendous personal efforts of HRM Akpomeyoma Majoroh, OJETA II, The Ovie of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom, on the issue. But suffice it to say that my HRM’s efforts has even exceeded what is ordinarily expected of him, in the protection of his people and Kingdom.
Even with all these interventions by Oruarivie-Abraka, Hon. Evance Ochuko Ivwurie, and myself – (as the then President-General), have we, with the clear pretence and inactions by the Federal and State Governments, been able to successfully battle the problems associated with the herdsmen attacks?
I shall stop here for the now. But if these politically motivated attacks on the Oruarivie-Abraka people continue, I shall be compelled to ask some salient Questions.
Thank you.
I am Okakuro (Dr.) Joseph Oghenebrorie Tedwins Emudainohwo.
(Immediate Past President-General, Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom).