By Oghenekevwe Laba
LAGOS JULY 10TH (URHOBOTODAY) The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe has called on both Ijaw and Itsekiri to shield their sword, just as condemned the alleged killing of four Itsekiri indigenes in the Warri North LGA Area following a clash between the Itsekiri and Ijaw youths in the area.
The Niger Delta Minister commended the effort of Delta State Governor Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan in ensuring that the crisis did not excalate.
Orubebe who made the call a statement on Tuesday described the current clash in the area as a setback to the recorded inter ethnic harmony in the between the two tribes.
Orubebe said the Ijaw and Itsekiri were neighbours brought together by God, wondering what must must have responsible for the clash to develop to the extent of killing of lives and destruction of property.
He appealed to both government and law enforcement agents to investigate both the remote and immediate cause of the crisis so that such incident would not occur again.
Orubebe who said human life is sacrosanct, added that those behind the breach of peace in the area were incurring the wrath of God.
He disclosed that while it was normal for neighbours to disagree, he, however advised that emergent issues should be dealt with appropriately through dialogue and not through violent.
“The Ijaws and Itsekiri have long history of living together. They have intermarried and breed children together. There is no Ijaw family you will enter that you not see the trace of Itsekiri, so also it is for the Itsekiri family. They do things together. So why must they be fighting and killing themselves? I guess this must be the work of devil and God will not allow it. Thank God that the State government and security agents are already putting the crisis under control,” Orubebe, who called on Itsekiri and Ijaw leaders in the state to intervene in order to avert an escalation of the crisis said.
He commended the effort to restore calm to the area by the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan.