Chief Sandys Omadeli Uvoh is a former Chairman of the Ugborodo Community Trust in Delta State and member of the $16b EPZ Interface committee. In this interview with Southsouth Regional Editor SHOLA O’NEIL, the 75-year old community leader speaks on the problem in the community and the alleged “unholy plan” by the EPZ committee to assume the leadership of Ugborodo Community Trust, warning that the move could create a fresh crisis in the community.
What is the situation with the Escravos EPZ Project, it seems to have been abandoned?
There is nothing different. Ours is to provide the enabling environment for the project, it is the Federal Government that will drive it and we cannot force them. Our role is to bring peace to the area; that is the highest contribution Ugborodo community can do.
Why has Ugborodo not developed in spite of its abundant resources over these years?
Ugborodo is like Nigeria, in that it is rich, but grossly underdeveloped. In the 90s we got it right, but those that came after us truncated the democracy in Ugborodo. Before I came in as chairman, there was no structure and we did our best to make sure that there is structure. We made our presence known to the oil companies and government that we are the landlords. But those who were benefiting benefiting from the old order secretly truncated the system.
They started saying, ‘these people are not doing well; you cannot use force and you cannot do this or that’ but they helped the oil companies to truncate the process. So if you watch from that time till now it is the same people; garbage in, garbage out. Tomorrow they will put this structure in place while some say no.
With all sense of responsibility, I don’t care about whatever anybody will say, one thing I know about Ugborodo is that anything good they never appreciated it. People may say Thomas Eritoyomi’s government is corrupt but come to look at it again, it was almost like my government if not better in the sense that it empowered so many Ugborodo indigenes. Those who never thought of driving cars had their own cars and built houses. But people will not see it that way, rather they will say this man is a thief, the man is this, the man is that. They started the so-called freedom fight.
What was the fight about?
They fought for some MoUs but in the actual sense, they thought that (David) Tonwe was the messiah and at the end of the day they come back to square one. That is why I said Ugborodo is like Nigeria. In the first republic, people said those people are corrupt and they will give one reason or the other to overthrow the government. Then at the end of the day another set of military officers will come up to say these people are corrupt and they will be kicked out. If Ugborodo gets it right, other communities in Itsekiri will fall in place
What is the way out of the deadlock?
The way forward as far as I am concerned is the committee set up by the late Pa Tsebi, the then only surviving member of the registered trustee. It was rejected by both Thomas Ereyitomi and David Tonwe sides. It should be allowed to function for a period because it is more or less neutral. If there is any adjustment to be made or any names to be added, it should be done. That is the only neutral committee for now and that is why you see that both sides have rejected it.
There are moves to make the EPZ Interface Committee, which you are member, to become the organ and trust of the community…
(…cuts in) That is a selfish and self-serving suggestion. That idea is mooted by some people (group) who want to be in control of the affairs of Ugborodo. It is a one-sided affair and from all indications they have been able to muzzle one of the oldest and well-respected elderly in the community to buy into that idea. If that happens, the fight will be worse than what it was before.
The EPZ Committee is a child of circumstance; it was drawn from the warring groups. The community was appointed by the government and not by the community. So, indirectly, they are not responsible to the community but to the government which set it up. I am a member of the committee and a senior citizen of Ugborodo, yet I don’t know what is happening there. For instance, what transpired between the community and NNPC, I don’t know. Many other leaders do not know. I am not saying they should report to me, but it is expected that whatever they discussed with NNPC should be reported to other members.
Even the land acquisition, the agreement they signed with the Federal Government, the Chairman and Secretary made themselves trustees, along with the Eghare-Aja and Olaja-Orori, without recourse to the committee. I feel that is a fraud and up till now we have not seen the agreement. I was away when it was signed, but I asked other members if it was discussed in the meeting for them to go and sign the agreement and make themselves trustees. There are a lot of issues with that committee that makes it impossible for it to transit.
The committee should be dissolved to allow the community appoints people who will report to it to man the EPZ committee. I am a member of the committee, but I am against its transition and if this is allowed, the younger generation of Ugborodo should know that they have mortgaged their future. What have we (committee) achieved that we should be rewarded with running Ugborodo affairs?
Let’s go back to the circumstance of the committee, it is an interface, peace committee and it was set up to make peace. Instead of making the peace, we are promoting strife because some of us don’t want to leave office and we don’t want the crisis to end. We could not even achieve our primary objective of peace.
On the late Pa Tsebi’s committee and peace meeting convened by Pa Ayomike.
The Tsebi committee was given one year to enable the community come up with a constitution that successive committees will use to run the affairs of the place. But now the community has no constitution.
Ayomike has done well by that peace meeting because it brought unity during the Olu’s burial. But the same people angling for the transition are making contacts and efforts. There are pressures from high place for support of the transition. But my appeal is that those people, who are being contacted, if they have the interests of Ugborodo and Itsekiri at heart, should not encourage the transition. I can tell you that 75percent of members of the committee knows its dissolution is the end of their relevance so their support is selfish. That is why I am advising everybody, supporters of Ugborodo and those in high places of authority, not to support it.
Any committee setup by government or those who think they are the sole authority cannot bring peace because the fight will still be there. I am saying this as an elder, who is a major stakeholder and the need to avoid another round of crisis and fighting. There are people who feel that they must be in charge when setting up any structure that will administer Ugborodo and without them it must collapse. That was how they collapsed my administration and the last administration because it was not favourable to them.
I was a chairman in Ugborodo, if you say I was corrupt, come out and tell us what happened to N203 million. Who administered it? It is the same group of people who are now saying EPZ Committee should transit.