The Crisis Resolution and Peace Committee of Evwreni Kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State has appealed to the state Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, to set up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry to look into the remote and immediate causes of the crisis in the kingdom.
The Committee led by a foremost business mogul, politician and an indigene of Evwreni, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, made the appeal when they met with the governor at Government House, Asaba, as part of efforts to bring an amicable end to the crisis that had bedevilled the community over time.
In a three paged document presented to Dr Okowa and endorsed by six members of the Committee, the peace ambassadors said, “Evwreni Kingdom has been engulfed in an unfortunate and destructive internal crisis since first quarter of 2020 that has resulted so far in the death of three persons, one missing person, destructions and damages of several houses and properties and the displacement of many youths and the elderly from the community.
“The crisis has placed the Evwreni Vigilante outfit and other youths that are sympathetic to the King, HRM Gghenekevwe Owin Kumane against other youths that are sympathetic to the President General of the Evwremi Clan improvement Union, Mr Bright Adjogbe. The Vigilantes and a number of the youths are armed and at war with each other.”
Continue, the Olorogun O’tega Emerhor led Committee explained that “It is in these dire circumstances that we under the aegis of Evwreni Crisis Resolution and Peace Committee, a body convened and comprises of eminent sons and daughters of Evwreni, having seen the need for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, met on the 7th of April 2021, to find ways of resolving the crisis”.
The Committee disclosed that at the end of the said meeting, a communique outlining a pathway to peace, reconciliation and restoration was released which copy it said was earlier sent to the office of the governor and also published in both the electronic and print media.
“Sadly, the other parties to the crisis who are sympathetic to the President General, the Adjogbe and Unagha families (who lost siblings in the crisis), and a group that is clamouring for the dethronement of the King, have refused to key into the peace process. They insisted that until legal and judicial interventions are exhausted, there should not be peace. That they do not desire peace without justice, ” the Committee stated in the document.
It ,therefore, explained further that the committee seeing the calamity that will follow the collapse of the peace process by way of further loss of lives and property and a complete breakdown of law and order in Evwreni community, has decided, as it last hope, to appeal for urgent
and decisive intervention of the Governor.
The Committee listed areas for intervention to include, to appoint a Judicial Panel of Enquiry to look into the remote andimmediate causes of the crisis, to ascertain the role played by various individuals and apportion blames where
necessary and to look into the role of the community Vigilante in the crisis, their involvement in the killings and destructions, and if any, to bring the guilty to book and to determine their dissolution as may be required.
Others include: to look into the role played generally by youths and other armed groups in the killing and destructions in the community with a view of bringing them to book, to determine and identify possible sponsors of the violence either through the Vigilantes or the other armed groups with a view to bringing such sponsors to book, to look at the merit of the various claims to the stool of the Ovie of Evwreni and resolve the agitations thereto as well as to look into and resolve any other issues that will bring lasting peace to Evwreni kingdom.
While assuring Governor Okowa of the required cooperations, the Committee said it will appreciate an immediate response in arresting the potential escalation of the crisis that is already debilitating.
The document was signed on behalf of the Committee and the Evwreni Community by the Chief Convener of the peace meeting, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, OON, the Committee Secretary, Olorogun Emuobosa Victor Ohare, a Leader in the community, Elder Victor V. Mowoe, the Director-General, National Biosafety Mgt Agency, Chief Rufus Ebegba, representative of the King of Evwreni, Mr Clevef Oweh and representative of the President General, Evwreni Clan Improvement Union, Mr Joseph Ighorodje.
NewsNet learnt that Governor Okowa in his response promised to liaise with the Chief Judge of the state to work out modalities for the setting up of the Judicial Panel of Enquiry.
The Governor, however, appealed for peace and urged all the parties involved in the crisis to stop further hostilities while efforts were being made to find lasting peace in the community, even as he commended the Evwreni Crisis Resolution and Peace Committee for its efforts towards an amicable resolution of the crisis.
