URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI BOUNDARY CONFLICT
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI BOUNDARY CONFLICT
THE BASIC TERMS
CONFLICT
Conflict have come to stay in any setting where two, three and more people living or sharing things in common, conflict is bound to arise. It could be marital or political, big or small involving part of or the whole community, intra state or inter state, short live or prolong. Conflict is derived from a Latin word which means "to strike together" (Albert, 200, Ola, 2006:169) cited in (Yusuf and Adefarakan 2014:4).
In addition, Wikipedia 2017 defines conflict as some form of friction, disagreement or discord arising with a group they belief or action of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group. Furthermore, conflict is fighting between countries, state, communities or group of people as a result of clash of interest.
URHOBO
Urhobos are people of southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta. They are the major ethnic group in Delta state. They speak urhobo language. They are about 2 million in population and their practice religions are Christianity and Igbe religion (wikipedia, 2017).
ITSEKIRI
Itsekiri are also ethnic group found in Nigeria's Niger Delta area, Delta state. The itsekiri presently are number just under 1 million people i.e about 800,000. They live mainly in the warri south, warri North and warri Southwest local government districts of delta state on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Their practice religion is Christianity with about 98% of their populace involved (Wikipedia, 2017).
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT (1999)
On October 29, 1999, a simple dispute escalated into a heavy fighting between some Urhobos and Itsekiri. In ordinary times, this sort of dispute would be settled locally. But it was quickly conjoined with the existing problems in Warri City where there was physical conflict between Itsekiri and Urhobo in June 1999, five months before the Ajagbodudu inter-ethnic fight. (Ekeh, 2000). Ajagbadudu is one area where there has been failure (Ekeh, 1999). Ajagbodudu lies in a contested piece of land, over which there has been some litigation between Oghara, a cultural fragment of Urhobo, and Itsekiri (Ekeh, 2000). The fight between both ethnic groups is in sequences and some innocents souls were wasted as Ekeh (1999) put it that, in the early hour of june 4, 1999, Okere-Urhobo in warri was invaded by well-armed Itsekiri youth. The attack continue until june 7, 1999 resulting in the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property.
THE REMOTE AND THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT
Okolo (2005), in one of his research work on the issues of conflict in Niger Delta, state clearly the remote and the immediate cause of Urhobo and itsekiri conflict. He assert that' "it is apparent and obviously clear from the prevailing circumstance that the remote cause of the conflict between urhobo and itsekiri is LAND while the immediate cause was the oil finds or oil location that occassioned the agitations which eventually was not nipped on bud and thereby escalated to a point of no control."
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI RELATION
Urhobo-Itsekiri relations date back to many centuries and they are complex. In the course of this time, there have been conflicts but also the forging of close ties. There is no other ethnic group with which the Itsekiri have closer blood ties than the Urhobo people. In fact, there are very few Itsekiri without Urhobo blood. This is obviously because of intense marriage relationships between the two ethnic groups, perhaps the greatest of any two ethnic groups in the whole of Nigeria (Edevbie, 1999).
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT RESOLUTION
There had been cases of conflict among the urhobo and itsekiri people, but most of these have been handled by local Itsekiri and Urhobo leadership without resorting to violence (Ekeh, 1999). In a response to a press release by the Itsekiri survival movement Edevbie (1999), opine that, "We believe the right approach is to mobilize local efforts for an effective solution. We are gratified that the new Governor of Delta State, Chief Ibori, is already hard at work on this matter. Sadly enough, there will be groups like the so-called Itsekiri Survival Movement that will attempt to sabotage such efforts. The Urhobo leadership is however determined to work with all local interests to resolve this matter." The above quotation make it apparent that the government and the leadership of king like urhobo's king and the then governor of Delta state were at stake for resolving the conflict.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, conflict is said to be ubiquitous i.e is found everywhere, it doesn't matter how close two or more people are once they get clash of interest it burst into fighting which eventually may claim souls of innocent people. Despite the close ties of urhobo and itsekiri people yet they still fight with one another and many souls were killed. A big thanks to government of that time and the local urhobo leadership that took it upon themselves to ends the conflict. It is expected that all political, religious, and traditional leaders should emulate this, and be agent of peace in all their endeavour.
REFERENCES
Edevbie, O. (1999). Niger Delta crisis: false allegations by the itsekiri survival movement of urhobo attack on itsekiri. Retrived from http://www.waado.org/Organizations/UNF/UNFPressRelease.htm
Ekeh, P. (1999) urhobo historical society; an appeal to itsekiri survival movement for restraint. Retrieved from http://waado.org/UrhoboHistory/WesternNigerDelta/Ajagbodudu/NatureOfConflict/UHSReplyToItsumov.html
Ekeh, P. (2000) urhobo historical society; itsekiri-Urhobo conflict at Ajagbadudu. Retrieved from http://waado.org/UrhoboHistory/WesternNigerDelta/Ajagbodudu/Introduction/Introduction.html
https://en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/conflict-(process)
https://en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/urhobo-people
Okolo, P. O. (2005), DSP Alamieyeseiga, His political achievement for Bayelsa ijaw nation and the Niger Delta. Yenagoa funebi center for conflict resolution (research)
Yusuf, E. H. & Adefarakan A. Y. (2014). Peace and conflict management in Nigeria: an introduction. Kaduna. Yehison Nigeria limited
THE BASIC TERMS
CONFLICT
Conflict have come to stay in any setting where two, three and more people living or sharing things in common, conflict is bound to arise. It could be marital or political, big or small involving part of or the whole community, intra state or inter state, short live or prolong. Conflict is derived from a Latin word which means "to strike together" (Albert, 200, Ola, 2006:169) cited in (Yusuf and Adefarakan 2014:4).
In addition, Wikipedia 2017 defines conflict as some form of friction, disagreement or discord arising with a group they belief or action of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group. Furthermore, conflict is fighting between countries, state, communities or group of people as a result of clash of interest.
URHOBO
Urhobos are people of southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta. They are the major ethnic group in Delta state. They speak urhobo language. They are about 2 million in population and their practice religions are Christianity and Igbe religion (wikipedia, 2017).
ITSEKIRI
Itsekiri are also ethnic group found in Nigeria's Niger Delta area, Delta state. The itsekiri presently are number just under 1 million people i.e about 800,000. They live mainly in the warri south, warri North and warri Southwest local government districts of delta state on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Their practice religion is Christianity with about 98% of their populace involved (Wikipedia, 2017).
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT (1999)
On October 29, 1999, a simple dispute escalated into a heavy fighting between some Urhobos and Itsekiri. In ordinary times, this sort of dispute would be settled locally. But it was quickly conjoined with the existing problems in Warri City where there was physical conflict between Itsekiri and Urhobo in June 1999, five months before the Ajagbodudu inter-ethnic fight. (Ekeh, 2000). Ajagbadudu is one area where there has been failure (Ekeh, 1999). Ajagbodudu lies in a contested piece of land, over which there has been some litigation between Oghara, a cultural fragment of Urhobo, and Itsekiri (Ekeh, 2000). The fight between both ethnic groups is in sequences and some innocents souls were wasted as Ekeh (1999) put it that, in the early hour of june 4, 1999, Okere-Urhobo in warri was invaded by well-armed Itsekiri youth. The attack continue until june 7, 1999 resulting in the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property.
THE REMOTE AND THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT
Okolo (2005), in one of his research work on the issues of conflict in Niger Delta, state clearly the remote and the immediate cause of Urhobo and itsekiri conflict. He assert that' "it is apparent and obviously clear from the prevailing circumstance that the remote cause of the conflict between urhobo and itsekiri is LAND while the immediate cause was the oil finds or oil location that occassioned the agitations which eventually was not nipped on bud and thereby escalated to a point of no control."
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI RELATION
Urhobo-Itsekiri relations date back to many centuries and they are complex. In the course of this time, there have been conflicts but also the forging of close ties. There is no other ethnic group with which the Itsekiri have closer blood ties than the Urhobo people. In fact, there are very few Itsekiri without Urhobo blood. This is obviously because of intense marriage relationships between the two ethnic groups, perhaps the greatest of any two ethnic groups in the whole of Nigeria (Edevbie, 1999).
URHOBO AND ITSEKIRI CONFLICT RESOLUTION
There had been cases of conflict among the urhobo and itsekiri people, but most of these have been handled by local Itsekiri and Urhobo leadership without resorting to violence (Ekeh, 1999). In a response to a press release by the Itsekiri survival movement Edevbie (1999), opine that, "We believe the right approach is to mobilize local efforts for an effective solution. We are gratified that the new Governor of Delta State, Chief Ibori, is already hard at work on this matter. Sadly enough, there will be groups like the so-called Itsekiri Survival Movement that will attempt to sabotage such efforts. The Urhobo leadership is however determined to work with all local interests to resolve this matter." The above quotation make it apparent that the government and the leadership of king like urhobo's king and the then governor of Delta state were at stake for resolving the conflict.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, conflict is said to be ubiquitous i.e is found everywhere, it doesn't matter how close two or more people are once they get clash of interest it burst into fighting which eventually may claim souls of innocent people. Despite the close ties of urhobo and itsekiri people yet they still fight with one another and many souls were killed. A big thanks to government of that time and the local urhobo leadership that took it upon themselves to ends the conflict. It is expected that all political, religious, and traditional leaders should emulate this, and be agent of peace in all their endeavour.
REFERENCES
Edevbie, O. (1999). Niger Delta crisis: false allegations by the itsekiri survival movement of urhobo attack on itsekiri. Retrived from http://www.waado.org/Organizations/UNF/UNFPressRelease.htm
Ekeh, P. (1999) urhobo historical society; an appeal to itsekiri survival movement for restraint. Retrieved from http://waado.org/UrhoboHistory/WesternNigerDelta/Ajagbodudu/NatureOfConflict/UHSReplyToItsumov.html
Ekeh, P. (2000) urhobo historical society; itsekiri-Urhobo conflict at Ajagbadudu. Retrieved from http://waado.org/UrhoboHistory/WesternNigerDelta/Ajagbodudu/Introduction/Introduction.html
https://en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/conflict-(process)
https://en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/urhobo-people
Okolo, P. O. (2005), DSP Alamieyeseiga, His political achievement for Bayelsa ijaw nation and the Niger Delta. Yenagoa funebi center for conflict resolution (research)
Yusuf, E. H. & Adefarakan A. Y. (2014). Peace and conflict management in Nigeria: an introduction. Kaduna. Yehison Nigeria limited
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