The people of Oke-Oroma community of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State have sent a Save-Our-Soul (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue them from their neighbours, Amagba and Obazagbon communities of Oredo LGA of the state.

Elders of Oke-Oroma community raised the alarm, saying failure by the president to save them would amount to their total annihilation by the neighbouring communities.

They appealled to the president to order security agencies in Edo State to bring to an end the injustice and inhumanity being meted out on them by youths suspected to be from neighbouring Amagba and Obazagbon communities.

According to them,

Several houses, including the town hall and mansion belonging to the Odionwere (village head), were razed in the attack.

In February 2020, three persons were killed in Oke-Oroma community, including an 86-year-old man, Monday Okulegbe, and their corpses were never recovered.

The hoodlums invaded the community and razed several houses. They cut down all age-long traditional and economic trees and put a sign board in the village with the inscription “Welcome to Amagba Erese.”

In the open letter signed by the Head of Oke-Oroma, Chief Gaius I. Emokpae, and other elders, said the latest attack occurred after soldiers in the area were withdrawn without warning or notice.

They said the security personnel were deployed in the community due to the outcry and some of the attackers were arrested.

According to the statement,

It is on record that since the second quarter of 2012, Amagba and Obazagbon had been persistently and consistently attacking unarmed Oke-Oroma indigenes, killing some of them and destroying many houses and vehicles, including the elders and traditional chambers with ignominy.

The inability of the security agencies to bring the culprits to book all these years lent credence to conspiracy theory and thus promoting communal strife or war. It also opens the floodgate of anarchy, and the consequences of such possibilities portend immense and unbearable proportions which could degenerate into full scale communal war. An urgent intervention will avoid unwarranted breach of peace in our area.

It is crystal clear that there is in place a network of conspiratorial synergy and orchestration by Amagba, Obazagbon and Okhoromi villages to raze down Oke-Oroma village so as to execute their expansionist ambition as they did to Ugbo, Evbukhu, Oguumwenyi, Ago Uwagboe and Ogheghe villages recently.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.