- Story of two Edo communities which live so close to each other but don’t inter-marry
Who will bring peace to the people of Uneme-Erhurun in Akoko-Edo and Ogute-Okpella in Estako East local government areas of Edo State?
Both communities are close neighbours in the state whose people do not inter-marry. They speak different languages, farm on the same land and pass through each other’s communities. But they harbour a mutual suspicion.
Ogute is one of the 25 villages that make up Okpella clan, while Erhunrun is of the Uneme clan.
There is presently a military checkpoint at the boundary of both communities, while a joint patrol of the police and army is noticed within Uneme-Erhurun community following the clash between the neighbours on February 21. Several people were injured, while three indigenes of Okpella – Adamu Ufeoshi, Augustine Aliu and Isah Yakubu – remain missing. Two lorry tippers, six motorcycles, several vehicles and houses were also destroyed in the attack.
Hostilities developed between the communities when the Western Region Legal Notice 24 of 1954 placed Uneme-Erhurun within Akoko-Edo District Council, while Ogute-Okpella within Okpella clan was placed within Estako District Council Area. The establishment of a new administrative division known as Akoko-Edo Division out of the Afenmai Division saw the Uneme-Erhurun making a complete break with Okpella, even though they were still on Okpella land.
The 1981 Judicial Commission of Inquiry, headed by the late Justice S.A. Ajuya, and set up by then governor of the defunct Bendel State, the late Professor Ambrose Alli, after the first crisis broke out between both communities, pointed out that the major object of dispute, the Unufi forest, is the property of Ogute-Okpella in Erhurun, present day Akoko-Edo Local Government Area.
Checks showed that the division between both neighbours is more serious than imagined following the alleged discovery of a huge limestone deposit in Uneme-Erhurun. It was, however, gathered that the recent crisis came up when one Godwin Peters from Ogute-Okpella went to the Unufi forest to fell and saw some wood. On the way back, it was alleged that Uneme-Erhurun youths barricaded the road and prevented them from taking the logs away because no permit was obtained.
The traditional ruler of Okpella, HRH Andrew Dirisu, the Okhuokpelagbe of Okpella, told The Nation that he got a call at about 8:30a.m. about the barricade and sent his Personal Assistant, Chief Ahmed, to get first hand information on the crisis.
HRH Dirisu said the Uneme-Erhurun were allowed to settle on that part of the land by one of his predecessors, HRH Malik Afegbua, and that a state government’s White Paper clearly stated that Okpella has no boundary with Uneme-Erhunrhun but with Dangbala at River Orle. He said: “The root of the matter is about the ownership of this forest they are talking about. The Uneme people have no common boundary with the Ogutes. The Uneme-Erhunrun people are on Okpella land.
“They are now saying that the land belongs to them. It was Makif Afegbua, who was a district head that allowed Uneme-Erhurun people to stay on that portion of our land. As the traditional ruler, whatever he wants to do on any land on Okpella, he has the power. Our land tenure system is that kindred owns land, but whoever is the traditional ruler holds it in trust of the entire people and takes decisions on the land in consultation with the kindred.
“This was what brought clash in 1981 during the administration of late Ambrose Alli. The White Paper issued by the then government clearly stated that Okpella has no boundary with Uneme-Erhurun but with Dangbala at River Orle. That they are saying that I am the one causing problem is bad.
“They should be grateful that somebody like me is the traditional ruler of Okpella today. I am a peaceful person. I don’t like violence. All they are doing is provoke our people. Their traditional ruler is not helping issues. I have called him several times, if there must be peace there, let us look for ways to resolve any arising issues. The forest in dispute is very big.”
HRH Dirisu, who denied allegations that the presence of mineral deposits caused the recent crisis, said he only sent officials of BUA Cement and Dangote Cement to conduct exploration and determine whether the mineral deposit is of commercial quantity.
“That place is Ogute-Okpella land and not for Uneme-Erhurun people in Akoko-Edo. It is not true that the dispute was caused by mineral deposits. My people reported to me that there are traces of limestone deposit in that area. I contacted BUA Cement Company and Dangote to go there and do exploration to see if the deposits are of commercial value so that they can come back for us to discuss. As soon as they saw the people working, they did a petition that BUA came to their land to do exploration without their permit.
“I told my people we will resolve the issue by dialogue and that I will tell the appropriate authority with proof that the place belongs to Okpella. The story that I am instigating the crisis is a malicious allegation. There is no case between Uneme Erhunrhun and Okpella people. I pray that nothing will make us quarrel.”
A resident of Ogute, Andrew Oshiekwu, claimed that their farmlands had been vandalised by the people of Erhunrun since February 21. He said: “This is an opportunity for them to loot our farms, they set our cocoa farm on fire. They are not prepared for peace. There is no sign of remorse from them.”
Head of Ogute village, Chief Joel Ojo, said they didn’t know that the Erhunrun people were still nursing hatred for them. He said: “It was a surprise to us after the 1981 incident. They used to pay homage to us up to 1950. I schooled together with the traditional ruler, but they are very hostile.
“When they came, they were very scanty. They lived on top of the hill and later asked has that we allow them to settle at the foot of the hill. Our people managed to pass through routes to the farms and saw their crops destroyed.”
The wife of one of the missing persons, Mariam Adamu, 35, said she has been left with six children to care for. Mariam said her husband didn’t tell her he would stay away for so long.
The traditional head of Central Uneme Clan, HRH Oba Moses Omoarelogie Braimah, said the wood was sawn by a registered timber contractor of Erhunrun extraction and that vigilante from Okpella attempted to take the timber away in the heat of the the fracas. Said he: “He cannot come from Etsako East Local Government Area to own a land in Akoko Edo. This is a place where my great grandfather lived and died, it is over 300 years that we settled here.
“He is from Agenebode and we have no connection with them at all. Since the colonial era was abolished, Erhurun-Uneme has been on its own. We don’t do anything with them.
“Last Sunday, 21st of February, they came with two tippers, they went to the bush to confront our kinsman, the same man they collected his motor saw last time. This time around they went to collect all his wood. But when they were returning, our youths blocked the road that they should not carry the wood. The vigilante people from Etsako sent by the Okhuokpelagbe went to go and reinforce. Most of our people were in the church; before you know, it they started setting our houses on fire, destroying cars and motorcycles.
“The beginning of this crisis was when I wrote a petition that, that land belongs to Erhurun-Uneme and that I am the only person that has the authority to give instruction on what to do with it. So I said that any company coming here to excavate any mineral, whether BUA or Dangote, they should come and register with me, then I will carry the registration to Igarra where our Local Government headquarters is. He is victimising my people because he feels we are so small in population. Four of our kinsmen have been missing since that attack. Those missing include Oladimi Ojo, Alasa Yusuf, Olurifemi Onifaye, Okereke Saliu.
“We have minerals in that land. The police invited us on the 2nd of February and told us that any of us who felt cheated should go to court. I want the government to give us a boundary so that everybody will know his area. Since he jumped from Etsako East to come to Akoko Edo to drag our land, it means he does not know his boundary. So, I want the government to demarcate the boundaries so that he will know.”
The alleged wood operator from Erhunrun said he was warned to stop felling wood at the forest. “On Saturday night, some people told me to remove the woods. I fell that they were coming to take them away. But I said, no, I cannot remove the timber, that I legally took it from our land and with permission from Akoko Edo Local Government.
“That Sunday, they came when we all had gone to church with two lorries, but our youths came out and told them that they cannot take the timber away. And I told them they cannot take my wood from our land to Okpella, that it is in Etsako East, and that was how the fight started.”
