In the Peace/Reconciliation Process, Gbaramatu does not constitute threat to the Oil-based Economy as touted in some quarters.

In the risk of crossfire of the fratricidal inter-ethnic conflict between the Itsekiri and the Ijaw of Warri, the oil companies particularly the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) ordered that her workers should quit site in the crisis area of Warri.

The former Governor James Onanefe Ibori introduced the Road Map to Peace in Delta State and the Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government followed suit in finding reconciliation to the Niger Delta national challenge.

When the genuine issues of agitation are yet to be fully addressed/redressed, it is understandable why the oil companies are not in a hurry to reopen their operations in the creeks. The stakeholders have all since agreed and the delay in re-opening is no additional cause of the oil bearing communities. Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan was therefore damn right to say Delta State was relatively peaceful.

In the face of Gbaramatu-Ijaw commitment to the peace/reconciliation process as affirmed by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Chief Security Officer of Delta State , can it be said that the Ijaw Gbaramatu Kingdom constituted threat to national economy to warrant the massive aerial, marine and ground bombardments of its communities?

Chief (Dr.) Bello Oboko
President, Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC)