The ethnic conflict in Warri
By
Some of us who have kept a close eye on events in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, have never stopped to wonder and question and in the end get no answers to the wisdom of what has the appearance of a permanent war of attrition which neighbouring communities are inflicting on themselves. And because the rest of Nigeria has turned a blind eye to this malaise, the situation is deteriorating by the day. But if the truth must be faced, that attitude of unconcern can prove to be quite a negative one as it has not assisted in finding an end to the absolutely mindless blood letting pastime going on there.
America always argues that peace in all parts of the world is essential for a balanced global development. Is their justification for sending troops for peacekeeping assignments around the world.
The claims and counter claims which trigger hate conflicts in Warri may not be easy to comprehend, but smoking guns and arsons have never provided the arguments required by independent observers to come to a fair judgment. The vindictiveness exhibited in the Warri conflicts has never enabled the genuine intervention of friends and well-wishers to take hold.
When the news first broke that war was raging in Warri over the relocation of a local government headquarters from Ogidigben to Ogbe Ijoh, it sounded so trivial, but the extent of destruction of life and property fueled by hawks on all three sides of the argument went beyond their claims to self defense. The magnitude and fury associated with these armed struggles defy logic. Squabbles over farm settlements, homeland, and fishing rights in Warri date back to many generations. Urhobos, Itsekiris and Ijaws find it convenient to forget that what made a lot of sense three to four hundred years ago may be untenable in the 21st Century. It will shock their forefathers, were they to return, to find that the oneness of families, which they took for granted in their days, and in the spirit of which, intermarriages were encouraged, has turned soar and become cause for mutual elimination. Whereas these intermarriages have mercifully served the purpose of ameliorating the degree of savagery exhibited, the conflicts needed not to have occurred in the first place. It might have been worse, I guess, had these intermarriages not taken place.
As an Igboman, I cannot perceive a situation where I will take up arms against an in-law, or against the children of my sister no matter the degree of provocation. Those children for instance are generally and legitimately insulated against any kind of hostility, outrage or harm from their mothers’ families. It is forbidden. Such children are showered with love and treated like sacred cows. Every wrongdoing by them is pardonable. Are there no daughters of Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw kingdoms who can undertake the delicate duty of invoking the spirit of the first generation of Warri settlers as the efforts of the men folk seem to have failed to achieve peace. Are they not being too passive in this matter for only when they step in will the men step away from all hostilities.
Each combatant claims that the other two are misinforming the public. Even if that is so, are they also misinforming the many courts and judicial panels that had looked into the matter? And if we must assume that the courts have been listening to series of false claims and misinformation are courts not trained and equipped to separate the truth from the untruth? To listen to lies, wade through a maze of complicated evidence, authentic and spurious, sieve them, and determine the truth is the duty of the courts. It is well known that the judicial process had always been a waste of time as pronouncements in various courts have been brazenly swept aside with guns and grenades. Nigerians will like to see peace and good neighbourliness installed in Warri. Immense sacrifice on all parts is what is required to achieve this.
Public worry over insecurity is not getting the right responses from Warri. Instead, what we have are shouting contests and affrays which are no substitutes for a logical debate. Nigerians are making efforts to understand what the real issues at stake are but find that they are too complex and often deliberately complicated by different versions of the same history.
Most Nigerians prefer to be left strictly alone lest they be characterised as biased. That is short sighted and tends to confirm how distant we really are from each other and how dishonest is our professed desire for national cohesion. What is going on in Warri is like a cancer which has the capability of spreading beyond their boundaries. Urhobos, Ijaws and Itsekiris must surely be disappointed that Nigerians have been content with the role of being distant spectators. This apathy is neither safe nor justified.
I have read quite a lot of advertisements, press reports and rejoinders on the Warri imbroglio. On one side is the insinuations that the Itsekiris seek dominance over their neighbours and are not being subtle or conciliatory about it. On the other hand there is the Itsekiri insistence that all they are asking for, is a homeland that always was theirs. Considering the numerical imbalance between them, it is only reasonable that conflict resolution be pursued in a civilised way.
The combined population and economic strength of the three communities in a country like Nigeria where tribe plays critical roles are sufficient to make that geographical in it the greatest in Nigeria and may even outstrip in greatness the three major tribes in prosperity and national relevance. That is the triumph that awaits a peaceful Warri of the future. And it is a better reward than feeding on the blood of brothers and sisters and gloating over it.
The Itsekiris, the Urhobos and the Ijaws, have different reasons for the perpetuation of the prevailing unrest in Warri. A consensus sometimes is established between the Urhobos and Ijaws but never all three together. They contend that Itsekiris are overbearing and want to play a dominant role in the region. The name they give it is "overlordship". They also charge that having encountered the white man and civilisation earlier than they did, the Itsekiris took advantage of that to rewrite the history of Warri and its environs to suit their purpose.
To remedy this alleged anomaly, each of the two other ethnic groups has found it necessary to produce its version of the "authentic" account of historical events in Warri. For this reason no group is disposed to accept the finality of judicial pronouncements. Every decision has had to be appealed from one court to the other, sometimes vertically and at other times horizontally. These have only served the purpose of confusing observers and compounding matters.
The Niger Delta Development Commission is positioning itself to swing into the business of transforming oil blessed Niger Delta communities from the zone of neglect to an eldorado. To make the best of this deal, all hands need to be on deck. Oil producing communities, irrespective of the ratio of their individual contribution to the gross oil resource must guarantee peace for success to be achieved. The region has borne injustice for much too long and should not allow intangible obstacles to stand in the way of actualising the new dream which only peace guarantee.
Separate ethnic groups may have their interest, but when their collective interests can only be realised with mutual cooperation, common sense demands that all stakeholders should meet to work out areas where sacrifices must be made. The Itsekiris, the Ijaws and Urhobos cannot separately or collectively be wrong all the time or right all the time. It is very important therefore that each of them should know that an uncompromising position is incompatible with peace, coexistence and development.
My instincts tell me, aided by what limited information is available to me, that all parties to the conflicts in Warri and its environs have reached a point of mental and physical fatigue. At the driving seat now can only be human emotions. A war in which the objective is to wipe out and render a brother useless is one in which there will be nothing to celebrate at the end of the tunnel. In the circumstance, all the contending groups should consider accepting judicial intervention which may lead them if need be to the nation’s highest court. In that regard, before the first legal step is taken, each group must give an undertaking that whatever decision is handed down this time around will be binding no matter how stupid, or lacking in complete success, a party may find it. On the other hand, they should seek arbitration outside the courts. The three ethnic groups in consultation with the state and federal governments should agree on the composition of the panel of arbitrators.
There are always extremists in every conflict who may argue that only those who wear the shoes and know where they pinch should say what condition to live with. Such people do not work for consensus. I agree that they are best placed to determine their peace terms but the citing of a local government headquarters is not good enough justification to spill blood. But whether the real issues are expansionism, security, homeland, politics or a determination of who is host and who is guest, I do not consider them beyond the wisdom and skill of judges to resolve. As hinted earlier, I have seen a number of conflicting judicial pronouncements on all the claims and counter-claims made. That the problems persist can only mean that one or all the adversaries are refusing to respect court rulings. The timidity and dishonesty shown by some judges and past governments over the years have not helped matters.
There is more than a bit of Urhobo, Itsekiri, and Ijaw blood in the families of each of the three ethnic groups. This is good enough reason for them to seek more cooperation among themselves than we now see. There are not too many Nigerians who can recognise the differences in their traditions, cultures and idiosyncrasies. And if the public ignorance or naïvety have not killed them, why should the groups devour themselves on account of their being endowed with natural intelligence and over saturated knowledge.
The carnage in Warri no longer amuses anybody. It is a national embarrassment and most be put to an urgent end. The ethnic leaders in that region should resolve to sheath their swords and seek a civilised way out of their wrong attitude to one another. Government should show more candour in its handling of the administrative questions that arise from that hot spot and not behave as if it desires to give one group a position of advantage over the others.
We are blessed, and Nigerians should be grateful for that, that the conflict in Warri is not religious. Were it religious we should never expect an end to it as such conflicts are based on faith rather than reason. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland is a living example. What we are witnessing is on the same parallel as the recent row between Ife and Modakeke, Umuleri and Aguleri and the Jos mayhem, which can be resolved by reasoning and maturity. All Nigerians should turn their attention to Warri and as questions as our apparent silence is not golden.
I commend in good faith the words of George Hegh who said that "GENUINE TRAGEDIES IN THE WORLD ARE NOT CONFLICTS BETWEEN RIGHTS AND WRONGS. THEY ARE CONFLICTS BETWEEN TWO RIGHTS". I need only add that they can also be conflicts between two wrongs.
October 2001