…lament Edo govt failure to protect Ijaw indigenes
The leadership of the Soron Ibe-Ijaw kingdoms in Edo State has called on the Department of State Services (DSS), Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 5, and the Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command, to investigate and prosecute those allegedly responsible for an attack on Ijaw people at the premises of the Edo State High Court.

The leaders lamented what they described as the inability of the Edo State Government to protect its citizens, following the alleged attack on several Ijaw indigenes at the court premises on October 6.

Those allegedly attacked included Archbishop Godwin Soroaye, Mr Edwin Ikinbor, Mr Tena Donyegha, Friday Sode and others who were at the High Court to represent Gelegelegbene community in a suit instituted by Ughoton community against them.

In a statement signed by the Chairman, Elder Edmond Doyah Tiemo; High Chief Robinson Ogunkoruwei; Toru Ibe Agagha; and Dr Freedom Atigbi, the Ijaw leadership recalled an earlier mobilisation notice allegedly circulated on social media by one Stafford V.I.O. Iyonmahan, calling on Bini youths to mobilise to the court premises.

They alleged that the court’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras captured the incident and called for the footage to be made available to investigators.

According to the statement, “The assailants, numbering over 50, with insignia of OTEDO YOUTHS, who were led by one Osaze Amas Edobor and Uwadiae Iyoha, trailed the victims and their lawyers from the courtroom to the court canteen at about 10:30 a.m. after the court sitting.

“About 20 of them went into the canteen and made videos of the lawyers and their clients for reasons best known to them.

“They started perambulating the premises, brandishing battle axes and shotguns, chanting to intimidate and threaten the litigants and their lawyers who were on lawful duties in court.”

The Ijaw leaders further alleged that the situation escalated when the youths followed the litigants and their lawyers to the court’s exit gate, where they allegedly attacked them.

The statement claimed that some of the victims were forced into waiting vehicles in what it described as an alleged attempt to abduct them, adding that resistance from others and the intervention of court security personnel prevented the situation from escalating further.

The statement said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Aideyan Police Division subsequently arrived at the scene and brought the situation under control.

“The victims received various degrees of injuries, while some of them had their clothes ripped apart,” the statement alleged.

The Ijaw leaders added that the lawyers returned to the courtroom to report the incident, after which the judge invited the Chief Security Officer of the court to confirm what had happened.

According to the statement, the Chief Security Officer confirmed that the incident had been captured by the court’s CCTV cameras.

The Ijaw leaders also raised concerns over what they described as a growing pattern of hostility and harassment against their members.

They alleged that Iyamu Osaro, described by them as the president of the Aguobasimwin Movement Worldwide, trailed some of their leaders to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) premises in GRA, Benin City, where they were exchanging pleasantries with another Ijaw man in the presence of Ogbeide Uhunmwose and other journalists.

The leaders alleged that their photographs were taken at the NUJ premises without their consent and were subsequently posted on social media in what they described as an attempt to blackmail Independent Television (ITV) and the Igbinedion family over their association with the Palace of the Oba of Benin.

However, Iyamu denied trailing the Ijaw leaders to the NUJ premises.
He said he was already at the venue when the Ijaw leaders arrived and that he took and posted the photographs to show what he described as “Benin people fraternising with Ijaw people.”

Iyamu said: “…Before we could say Jack Robinson, we saw one Diesel who worked as ITV staff rush straight to the Ijaw man to receive him and his team. He took them to where Mr Ogbeide of ITV was sitting.

“Immediately Mr Ogbeide saw the Ijaw man, he stood up to shake him with his two hands. Hence, the reason we took photographs of their meeting for Edo people to know those who are fraternising with the Ijaws who are claiming ownership of our land.”

The Ijaw leadership accused the Edo State Government of “deliberately and wilfully” failing to protect Ijaw indigenes in the state, describing the situation as a failure in its responsibility to protect citizens.

They, however, said it would continue to pursue its grievances through legal channels.

“We are not oblivious of the capacity we possess in executing and prosecuting wars, but legal matters are handled with the required civility, especially at the sacred temple of justice, which in this case they acted in solidarity with the claimants,” the statement said.

The leaders further alleged that some individuals had openly threatened to “exterminate every Ijaw indigene of Edo State one after the other, including the lawyers,” describing such alleged threats as dangerous and capable of worsening ethnic tensions.

They warned that failure by the relevant security agencies to take urgent action could worsen tensions between the two ethnic groups.

“The Ijaw nation will therefore protect its people by any means necessary if urgent actions are not taken against the assailants who are hell-bent on creating tensions that will lead to ethnic crises and war,” the statement warned.

The Ijaw leaders, therefore, called on the DSS, the police authorities and other relevant security agencies to investigate the alleged attack, identify those responsible and prosecute them in accordance with the law