The hopes of residents of Kokori and environs that the capture of suspected kidnap kingpin, Kelvin Oniarah, in September 2013 would bring peace to the troubled town are waning by the day due to unmitigated reign of terror, criminality, threats and recent killing of the second highest ranked leader of the community. South-South Regional Editor, SHOLA O’NEIL and POLYCAP OROSEVWOTU, who visited the community again, reports that it is not yet uhuru in Kokori.
FOR over two years, alleged kidnap kingpin, Kelvin Oniarah Ibruvwe, dragged the peaceful town of Kokori in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State into national limelight as the kidnap headquarters of the Niger Delta region. The purported escapades of Kelvin and the criminal gang he led read like a James Hadley Chase classic crime novel; they brought negative publicity to the town, which is home of reputable businessmen, outstanding legal luminaries and others excelling in various fields. The fame and notoriety of the hoodlums led to the invasion of the community by troops of the Joint Task Force, ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ in September 2013.
Like in most parts of the country where soldiers were drafted in to perform the duties of the police, the deployment of JTF troops left trails of blood, wanton destruction and pillage of the oil-bearing upland Urhobo community. Several houses, including the private residence of the respected traditional ruler of Agbon clan, HRM Ogurimerime Ukori 1, were torched; no fewer than 50 vehicles, dozens of tricycle (Keke NAPEP) were burnt down.
The destructions were carried out mostly by armed youths from the area who engaged soldiers in a long battle for the control of the town. Several persons, including Kelvin’s innocent maternal uncle, were killed in the crossfire between troops and the self-styled Urhobo militant group LIMUP – Liberation Movement of Urhobo People.
It would be recalled that LIMUP was hurriedly formed by Kelvin and his group, in a desperate brinkmanship after security operatives launched a full-scale hunt for him and his gang members. The ploy to expand the scope of the crisis climaxed in September 2013 when the group brazenly entered the town to the embrace of dancing women, youths and other leaders of the community. They said it was a ‘protest’ against the neglect by the Federal Government. LIMUP issued a three week ultimatum to the Federal Government to develop Kokori and other Urhobo clans or face unpleasant consequences, including the shutdown of the Kokori flow station belonging to Shell Petroleum Develop Company.
Rather than provide the soft-landing anticipated by the group, the one week ultimatum led to intensification of the manhunt, which led to the arrest of the notorious suspect and his cohorts in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Despite his arrest, Kelvin’s boys regrouped in their forest camps and boldly seized the town before it was liberated by soldiers. Over two years after the capture, several leaders of the gang have emerged. The second in command to Kelvin, popularly called Don Jazzy, was killed in a battle with the JTF earlier this year.
Yet, Kokori continues to be a keg of gunpowder. Our team of reporters, who visited the town last week, gathered that residents and indigenes of the community still sleep with their eyes open despite the presence of armed, fierce-looking soldiers.
A highly placed source in the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our reporters that fear, uncertainty and high level of insecurity still pervaded the town. “Although some of the people who fled last year are gradually returning, their return is mostly borne out of lack of other options or because they are tired of staying out of their habitats. We still sleep with our eyes open.”
Our source disclosed that the situation is only marginally better than it was over one year ago when terror reigned unchecked. “There is still hunger. Back then, hunger was due to the fact that shops, markets, business places and other economic activities were shut down; today, the hunger is due to the destruction of farmlands and lack of farming activities last year. As we are predominantly farmers, those who did not farm last year do not have anything to harvest or barns to fall back on now,” our source added.
A trader, Mrs. Beauty Erharhirhe, explained that the cost of living is higher than before the crisis erupted, explaining that Kokori people are mainly farmers but the fear of attack by hoodlums in the bush affected farming activities. “Most of the things we sell and eat are produced by us. But now that the bad boys had taken over our farms, the fear to go to the farm becomes a difficult thing; those who could summon courage to go if they come, they sell at their own discretion, not minding how one feels. It is either you buy or you leave. Those leaving outside the community also refused to bring their farm products to the market for the fear of attack or invasion by hoodlums.”
Another source said the suffering has led to increased criminality in the town. It was gathered that women cooking in the kitchen have to keep constant watch over their pots of soup to ensure that thieves do not snatch them from the fire. Owners of livestock and domestic animals also suffer loss of their animals.
But beyond the pangs of hunger, is the fear of insecurity. Our checks revealed that the criminal gangs are more feared than soldiers in the town. “They tell us when to stay in our homes and when to go out; defying their orders can lead to calamity. There is a feeling of lawlessness and bare-faced criminality,” one source said.
No incident highlights the prevailing fear in the town as the killing of one of the highest ranking chiefs in the community by yet unknown gunmen. Chief Josiah Orhorhoro, the Orhosuen (traditional Prime Minister) of the clan, was gunned down in his bedroom and dragged to his courtyard at about 8am on Sunday December 7. Reports that could not be independently verified indicated that he might have had a brush with members of the local crime lords who have seized the town before his unfortunate end.
One of the leaders of the community, who did not want his name mentioned in this report, said the incident indicated that peace had not fully returned to Kokori community. He said the threat to lives and killings by suspected hoodlums is a pointer to the fact there is still much terror and fear in the land.
“Half of the chiefs in Kokori who decide what happen and those at the helms of affairs have fled the community for fear of attack. We have seen that they (hoodlums) want to make us dormant and since we refuse to be silenced, they are out to take lives they cannot create.”
Investigation further revealed that the killing of the Orhosuen sent shivers down the spines of the community leaders because of threats earlier made by members of Kelvin’s group to decimate the community’s leaders who refused to back Kelvin over his ongoing trial in Abuja. It would be recalled that some of the community’s leaders and chiefs were forced to embark on a protest march in Abuja at the initial stage of his unending felony trial. It was gathered that those who refused were marked for ill-treatment by the hoodlums.
A source said one of the deceased’s sons, who might be connected to the gang, was fingered for his killing. It was learnt that the killing was linked to the young man after it was revealed that he made a deliberate attempt to cover up where his father was killed.
The usually reliable source said: “The young man tried to clean the blood trail from the deceased’s bedroom to the backyard. It means he wanted the public to think that his father was shot outside and not inside his house. Besides, although it was learnt that the killing took place around 8am, he did not raise alarm till about 11am – three hours later – even though he had called some persons in Lagos to tell them about the killing. So, we are thinking that the boy probably killed the man to inherit his property, or for whatever other reason that can only be determined by the police and the court.”
Report that the alleged killer has been arrested by Delta State Police Command could not be independent confirmed. Police spokesperson in the Command, DSP Celestina Kalu, said she was in a workshop when our reporter called her on telephone.
Meanwhile, the fear and tension in the town have necessitated calls for the deployment of more security agents to the area until total peace and normalcy returned to the troubled community. The Secretary of the Kokori Progress Union, Dr. Festus Arunayi, supported the call. “The hoodlums don’t only make empty threats; they usually go ahead to accomplish them”, he said.
“It is obvious that most of us would even find it difficult to come to the community to celebrate this Christmas; it is very funny and sad. We know with the help of the vigilance group and the security agents, we will overcome this situation. All our people are on exile for the fear of attack and nothing is happening as we have even cried out severally about our predicaments. We are calling on the federal government to come to our rescue before it is too late.”
But for the Chairman of the Kokori Community Development Committee (CDC), Comrade Emmanuel Diodemise, the outlook is bright. He said in spite of the prevailing situation, Kokori community is relatively more peaceful than December 2013. “As at last year, we cannot go to the market or even open our shops for business. But now, there is relative peace probably because of the vigilance group that has been inaugurated about three weeks ago with the approval of the local government council chairman and the army chief. A lot of our people are still taking refuge outside the community. They left the community at the heat of the problem and till date, many of them have not returned, probably waiting till when their house rents expire or till there is total peace in the community.
“I stand to be corrected that those that have not returned are fewer. We are still talking to them to come back and we know in a short while, they will all return. One other thing that may have militated against their coming could be traced to other development of threats and invasion of the community by the hoodlums on the residents.”
Despite the CDC chairman’s enthusiasm, our finding revealed that palpable fear persists in the town and the situation was not helped by the high profile abduction of a traditional ruler from Bayelsa State, Pere Ekere, Augustine Ebikeme, paramount ruler of Oporomor clan in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state. The monarch, who was said to be a regular visitor to the community before the incident, was abducted in November. It took the joint intervention of youths, local vigilance and security operatives to free the monarch. But before his release, security operatives had imposed a curfew on the town and shut down the market.
Residents of the town said the recent fate of the monarch as well as the ubiquitous presence of security operatives and attendant harassments scare away visitors from the town. Our reporter, who visited the town, was required to raise his hands while entering the town through the Isiokolo entrance.
Our source told our reporter was luckier when compared to what prevailed in the dark days when the soldiers were lords. “It was difficult for them to differentiate between man, woman and young girl and boy, they treated all equally. They flogged, manhandled everybody they saw without giving concern to age, but today they can see and know who is a young man and who is an old man.
“One other thing we still suffer in the hands of the soldiers is the process of passing through their check points, where everybody is mandated to raise his or her hands up. For some visitors, it is the height of humiliation. This also affects those we invite for ceremonies in Kokori. They often tell you they will not honour your invitation mainly beacause the raising of hands; they see it as total humiliation.”
