Delta State Government says there are no plans to cede any community or any part of its territory to any neighbouring state, including Ondo State.
The State Deputy Governor Sir Monday Onyeme said this while addressing representatives of Tsekelewu and Opuama communities in Warri North Local Government Area who were in his office to alert the State Government of alleged coverts plans by the Ondo State Government to annex the two communities and Okirigbo community all of Egbema kingdom in Warri North Local Government Area as part of that state.
The conference hall, Office of the Deputy Governor, Government House Asaba, was the venue of the crucial meeting between leaders of the communities and the Delta State boundary committee chaired by the Deputy Governor.
Thanking the people of Opuama and Tsekelewu communities for the very detailed presentation which traced their inclusion in the territory now called Delta State to the creation of the Midwestern region of Nigeria in 1963, the Delta State Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme assured that the state government was firmly behind them in the struggle.
Calling on them to be united in spite of divisive methods that could be deployed against them, Sir Onyeme noted that there was the need to compile all available documents and records of the Federal Government of Nigeria and forward same to the Ondo State government along with a strong warning over the illegal plot which manifested in the activities of the Ondo State Government Performance and Implementation Monitoring Unit which listed three communities of Egbema kingdom in a map of Ilaje East Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The Deputy Governor asserted that the alleged map of Ondo State naming Tsekelewu, Opuama and Okirigbo communities as part of a local council development area being formed in Ilaje East local government area of Ondo State was illegal and would be resisted by the state government.
While calling on the people to continue to maintain the peace, Sir Onyeme said the state governor would be fully briefed on the development and affirmed that all necessary measures would be taken to protect the people and the territory of Delta State.
Presenting the position of Tsekelewu and Opuama communities on the alleged ONDO state government annexation threat, Chief David Ugedi said apart from the records of Midwestern Nigeria which clearly accommodated them, all federal government records including the creation of Delta state and the creation of Warri North Local Government clearly located them amongst their kits and kin of Egbema kingdom of Warri North Local Government Area.
The community leaders noted that the location of various oil installations in their communities and the revenue accruing to the Delta State government from these facilities were mainly responsible for the plot by the ONDO state government to forcefully annex both communities in defiance of the clear decisions of the federal government of Nigeria over the issue.
The community leaders also reported that threats and rumours of a planned attack against both communities by the Ilaje people of Ondo State were rife in recent times and urged the Delta State government to put in place security measures to protect them.
The state commissioner for Lands and Survey Chief Emmamusi Obiodeh, Chairman Warri North Local Government, Mr Smart Asekutu who is an indigene of Tsekelewu community as well as a cross-section of top government functionaries also attended the crucial meeting.
