LAGOS MAY 23RD (URHOBOTODAY)-Group under the aegis of Delta Peace Initiative (DPI) has appealed to Senior Photographer of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr Akpokona Omafuaire and Transition Chairman of Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, Hon Raymond Edijala to suspend whatever grievances they have against each other and let peace reign.
The group in a statement signed by it’s Coordinator, Mr. Paul Onome, made available to URHOBOTODAY an online medium is making the appeal to both parties based on the incident which occurred between Akpokona Omafuaire and Raymond Edijala during the special sanitation exercise in Warri, Delta State on Saturday.
The group which claimed in the statement that some of their members where at the scene of the incident however regretted the unfortunate incident which they claimed was as a result of a gap in communication between the journalist and Local Government Boss.
According to the statement, the report which alleged that Raymond Edijala and his thugs attacked the journalist was blown out of proportion, stressing that it was Edijala’s police orderly who called the journalist to order when the altercation between him and his Boss was becoming too confrontational.
“The Edijala we know is a gentleman who will not throw caution into dust bin in the public by engaging in physical combat with anyone not to talk of a journalist sent on official duty. Besides, he do not go about with thugs and as such cannot ask his thugs to attack Akpokona as was reported in some of the media. What we believe is that the issue was blown out of proportion by some section of the media. Be that as it may, we are not making this statement to find fault or blame anyone but to call for truce between both parties” the statement disclosed, just as it pointed out that the Chairman had since extended his olive branch to Akpokona by writing a letter of apology to him through sms.
While not exonerating Edijala and his men from the allegation of brutalizing Akpokona, they, however, advised the Local Government Boss to be cautious of the way and manner he handled administrative issues with respect to attending to the public because a leader in his position ought to be a peacemaker and not trouble maker.
They also appealed to members of Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) Delta State Chapter and Human Right Activists who have threatened taking legal action against Edijala to shield their swords so that peace will continue to reign in Udu LGA in particular and Delta State in general.