SAN FRANCISCO, November 13, (THEWILL) – The ground-breaking ceremony of the $16 billion Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Delta City Gas Project, situated in Ogidigben, Warri South West Local Governmenrt of Delta State, scheduled to be performed by President Goodluck Jonathan this Friday, Nov. 14, has been put on hold following security threats in the Delta waterways due to disagreements between stakeholders in the two host tribes of Ijaw and Itsekiri, THEWILL has learnt.
Reliable sources from Abuja and within Delta State told THEWILL on Thursday that the President had cancelled the flag off because his Ijaw kinsmen had drawn his attention to their grievances.
This is the President’s second cancellation of the groundbreaking ceremony in six months.
The sources said the President had called Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to ask him about the “vexed issue” concerning the project which had generated so much heat after which he said he would no longer make it to the Niger Delta creeks.
Dependable sources told THEWILL that the Ijaw people, who claimed to have been short-changed in the current composition and concept of the project, had explored their contacts within the Presidency to stall the flag-off of the project until their interests are seriously considered.
The sources said that Ijaw leaders, including ex-militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, (aka Tompolo) had reached out to the president through the Chief of Staff in the presidency and other principal officials in government to register their displeasure, get the president’s attention and re-order the arrangement of the project’s operation.
According to our sources, the protest which took place in Oporoza, administrative headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom on Wednesday was basically to give the impression that the area where the president was meant to perform the ceremony was unsafe, a factor which is taken seriously by the security advisers of the president and about the only valid reason to call off the ceremony for now.
“They went through the Chief of Staff and some other principal staff to the president. The president then called Governor Uduaghan to ask for what was happening in his place; that was when the president told him that he would not come. You know they have their contacts in the presidency,” an insider source said.
It would be recalled that few months ago Jonathan had visited the Delta creeks without any security threat for a similar groundbreaking flag-off of the Maritime University situated at Okerenkoko, an Ijaw enclave and had recently promised to perform another groundbreaking of the multibillion dollar project which promises to boost the socio-economic of the region but it appears the tension in the creek coupled with the purported strong case being put up by his kinsmen may have forced him to recede his decision.
Notwithstanding the situation, the Itsekiri people however have begun mobilising their people to Ogidigben to give the president a rousing welcome, saying since they have no “quarrel” with their neighbours, the Ijaws, nothing would stop them from going to Ogidigben on Friday in anticipation of the coming of the president.
“The military have being on ground, everything had been prepared for Mr. President. We didn’t have any problem with the Gbaramatu people and the project had been on for about a year now, nobody has come to disturb it because it’s our place,” the source explained.
“We are moving to Ogidigben tomorrow in anticipation of the visit, because we don’t have issues with the Ijaws, all this while we have been waiting for Mr. President to schedule a date but if the president fails us because his people are lobbying him, then we know we are not secure under him and then we may have registered our protest and from there we would also take our stand”, an Itsekiri source who craved anonymity said.
Meanwhile, tension is growing in the Delta waterways as ex-militants on Wednesday regrouped and rolled out several “Ijaw war boats” on the waterways chanting war songs, a development which sent serious panic to residents of Warri of a possible outbreak of crisis between the Ijaws and Itsekiris.
THEWILL learnt that the ex-miliants who are mainly “foot-soldiers” of Tompolo were deployed to embark on a “show of force” in the Delta waterways to send signal across to the presidency that there would be bloodshed if the president ventures into the creeks.
The deployment of the “Ijaw war boats” was followed by massive protest by Ijaw elders, leaders and youths of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Oporoza, few hours after Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo who is representing Chief Ayiri Emami and Chief Thomas Eriyitomi, leaders in the Ugborodo community, had sent yet another open letter to Jonathan of alleged threat by Tompolo to disrupt the event.
Keyamo alleged that Tompolo had threatened that if the project is not renamed to reflect “Gbaramatu”, he would prevent the President from venturing into the Delta creeks to perform the flag-off.
Keyamo’s allegations were preceded by Emami’s open letter to Jonathan urging him not to succumb to the threats by Tompolo and his cohorts, saying; “Please re-assure us of Itsekiri safety, ignore the Ijaw threats against this Friday November 14, 2014 groundbreaking ceremony of the EPZ which you (President Jonathan) confidently told the world during your reelection declaration speech Tuesday November 11, 2014 and come to carry out this constitutional right of yours and those of Itsekiri people.”
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has warned youths from both the Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nations in Delta State to refrain from activities and tendencies that could break the fragile peace in the Warri .
IYC, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Eric Omare, noted that the EPZ crisis, if not properly handled, could lead to yet another bloody tribal crisis in Warri, warning that the horrible experience of the past should not be allowed to repeat itself.
IYC, however, appealed to President Jonathan, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and other leaders in the Niger Delta region to rise up to the occasion, prevail on the various interests in the matter and prevent a bad situation from becoming worse.
“ IYC notes that there is a brewing war between the Ijaws of Gbaramatu and Ogulagha kingdoms on one hand and the Itsekiris of Ugborodo over the title and protection of stakeholders’ interest in the project.
“The IYC’s position is that the contending issues between the Ijaws and Itsekiris should not be allowed to scuttle the laudable idea of siting a multi-billion naira EPZ project in Delta State, which would improve the economy of Delta State and the Niger-Delta in general.
“Therefore, the IYC calls on President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and other Niger-Delta leaders to, as a matter of urgency, engage the relevant stakeholders with a view to resolving the contending issues to allow the project kick-off in earnest.
“We do not want a repeat of the ugly past in Warri where the Ijaws and Itsekris, who are supposed to be neighbours, killed themselves and destroyed properties worth millions of naira. We strongly believe that the Ijaws and Itsekiris can live together and manage projects as stakeholders as was done with the Escravos Gas to Liquid Project (EGTL) that was executed in the same area a few years ago.
“We also call on government to set up a joint negotiation team between the Ijaws and Itsekiris, which would meet with government to resolve the contending issues. Ijaw and Itsekiri youths should be calm and restrain from any acts that would threaten the existing peace in the waterways of Delta state”, the statement said.
