But the Ijaw people of Gbaramatu kingdom, had advised the National Assembly to jettison such move or be ready for a renewed hostility against economic assets and their Itsekiri neighbour. A Supreme Court judgement, which could not be got as of press time, was said to have earlier restored the name of the NMU location as ‘Okerenghigho,’ an Itsekiri word, as against Ijaw’s ‘Okerenkoko,’ thereby supposedly conferring ownership of the area to the former. Oweilaemi said the letter by the AGF, if it had any atom of truth, was not only provocative, but designed to instigate ethnic crisis between the Ijaws and Itsekiri, reminiscent of late 90s. “IYC sees the letter as another ploy by our external forces to pitch tent between the Ijaws and our Itsekiri neighbours to engage each other in fratricidal war. The Itsekiri youths group enjoined the AGF and the National Assembly to ignore and not succumb to the blackmail and threats of the Ijaws by enforcing the apex court’s judgment without fear of favour.

Source: Nigerian Tribune January 12, 2018 04:47 UTC