Decades after the protracted “ownership” of Warri conflict in Delta State, another potentially dangerous inter-ethnic dispute is developing in the Sapele axis of the Big Heart state.

Already, on Tuesday, violence erupted between the Sapele Okpe and the Abigborodo communities over a land dispute.

Closely linked to the ethnic question of “ownership” in Delta, is that of representation in the formal structures of government, both at local government and state level.

Delta State was created in 1991, with several others, by the military dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida. Initially, the Ijaw and the Urhobo were not comfortable with the situation in which the Itsekiri dominated government structures in the three Warri local government areas of Warri North, Warri South, and Warri South West. For them, it was unfair.

Warri is the second most important oil town in Nigeria after Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. Though not the capital of the state, Warri is the largest town of Delta. The Itsekiri, the Urhobo, and the Ijaw, claimed the oil city as their homeland.

The Itsekiri, a small ethnic group of hundreds of thousands people live in villages spread out along the Benin and Escravos Rivers into the mangrove forest riverine areas towards the Atlantic Ocean.

The Urhobo, a much larger group numbering some millions related to the Edo-speaking people of Benin City, live in Warri town and to the north, on land. To the south and east, also in the swampy riverine areas, are members of the Western Ijaw, part of the perhaps ten million-strong Ijaw ethnic group, the largest of the Niger Delta, spread out over several states.

The first major outbreak of violence in the Warri area in recent years was in March 1997, and centered on the creation, by the then military regime, of a new local government area, Warri South West, and the location of its headquarters.

An Ijaw expectation based on official statements that the local government headquarters will be in Ogbe-Ijoh, an Ijaw town, was disappointed when the location published in the federal government gazette turned out to be Ogidigben, an Itsekiri area.

From March to May, widespread clashes continued, in which hundreds of people died on each side. More than 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) production were closed down for some weeks.

The state government under Military Administrator Col. J. Dungs appointed a commission of inquiry into the violence, chaired by Justice Alhassan Idoko, which met during June and July 1997. The report of the inquiry was never published nor its recommendations implemented or incorporated into a government “white paper” setting out the official response to the inquiry’s findings.

Violence has regularly erupted in that axis since then, leading to clamp-downs by the authorities. In October 1998, a curfew was declared in Warri town by the new military administrator, Navy Commander Walter Feghabor, after at least five people were shot dead in clashes between Ijaw and Itsekiri and a large number of houses set on fire.

Violence nevertheless continued, in Warri town and in the surrounding creeks, with attacks on leaders of each community. Oil exports were reduced by several hundred thousand barrels a day for several weeks.

In late May and June 1999, at the time of the hand-over from a military to civilian government in Nigeria, serious violence once again broke out in and around Warri, when new local government officials were due to be sworn in for the contested local government area created in 1997.

Up to 200 people were reported to have been killed in raids by ethnic Ijaw and Itsekiri militia on areas inhabited by members of the other ethnic group. Governor James Onanefe Ibori, imposed a curfew which remained in place for months.

Hundreds of soldiers were once again deployed to Warri town and its environs. President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Warri on June 11, 1999, and pledged to find a fair solution to the problems. In September 1999, the state House of Assembly passed a bill moving the Warri South West Local Government headquarters from Ogidigben to Ogbe Ijoh.

Though the intense fighting of 1999 died down, there were new clashes throughout the next four years, in which, cumulatively, dozens of people were killed. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil production were also lost in periodic shut-downs of flow stations following occupation by armed or unarmed youths or by other local residents, including women’s groups; in some cases based on grievances with the oil companies, in others on discontent with government.

There has been no systematic investigation of the crimes committed in the Warri conflict since 1997. There have been no consequences of any kind for those involved in the violence. None for the political leaders of those who were fighting on the ground. The continued impunity for years of brutal violence could be a fundamental cause of the emerging conflict in Sapele.

However, while fishing, a Sapele Okpe resident, Patrick Gageche, sustained gunshot wounds during the Tuesday clash. Leaders of Sapele Okpe publicly denounced the incident, accusing the Abigborodo youth leader, Ephraim Mebradu, of orchestrating the attack.

They claimed Mebradu acted on his community’s orders to intimidate Sapele Okpe and seize disputed lands. They also alleged that a prominent Abigborodo figure, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, a former governor of the state, used falsified documents to support territorial claims.

Citing colonial-era records, including a 1933 ordinance, they dismissed judicial rulings favoring Abigborodo as fabricated. Allegedly, Sapele Okpe representatives have sustained harassment since 2019, including wrongful murder and kidnapping charges against members.

They labeled these tactics as attempts to suppress resistance.
“Resolve land disputes legally, not through force”, they said, while challenging their opponents to present their evidence in court.

The Sapele Okpe leaders are appealing for calm, prioritising legal and diplomatic solutions over retaliation because “violence worsens crises”, they warned, as Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is being urged to wade urgently into the gathering storm.

Last January, Itsekiri leaders of Abigborodo, Obotie and Ugbekoko reiterated that the aforementioned communities are the host of the land in which on Seplat oil company is operating.

The Itsekiri leaders in a statement by the Chairman and Secretary of Abigborodo Management Committee, Misan Ukubeyinje, and Victor Atseponu, accused the Sapele Okpe leaders of trying to cause confusion and breakdown of law and order in Delta.

They accused Sapele Okpe leaders of embarking on a campaign of name calling and misinformation of concocting lies about the Alema of Warri, High Chief Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, Chief Edwin Uzor.

They asserted that Sapele Okpe leaders reference to the Alema of Warri, an administrative chief of Abigborodo, Ugbekoko and several riverine communities in Warri North and Sapele Local Government Area, Uduaghan, is defamatory and grossly disrespectful.

The Itsekiri leaders described the calls for the removal of the special adviser to the governor on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution as baseless, claiming that Seplat Energy in collaboration with the Sapele Okpe concocted a narrative of false claim of intelligence that there might be armed conflict with a view of preventing the visit of the committee to cover up the obvious facts.

“Instead of acting neutral in this investigation, Seplat is fully in league with the Sapele Okpe and Ugbukurusu communities as they were seen in a sea truck boat belonging to the oil firm together, even when the takeoff point of the visit was well communicated and it was Abigborodo Jetty and the area of investigation is the Seplat dragging site, the communities of Abigborodo, Obotie and other surrounding communities and Seplat operational base.

“This visit by the investigation committee could be done with or without parties. They may even choose not to visit and rely on the visitation report of DSS and the inter-ministerial investigation committee that had physically visited. No matter how it is seen, the visitation had all parties and could not be labeled as biased.

‘’All issues surrounding the Okpe Sobo forest reserve have been settled and the decisions have been gazetted in Government White Paper Official Document No. 1 of 2021. Their claim of incursion into the forest reserve is baseless as they have no land in the reserve. However, what is in contention here is the area of operations of Seplat particularly the new area of drilling which the state peace building and conflict resolution is investigating. What is the business of Sapele Okpe community in the riverine areas bordering Abigborodo, Obotie and Ugbekoko communities?

“It is also unbelievable that Ugbukurusu which is over 15 kilometers away is laying claim of ownership in Areas of land in Abigborodo, land surrounded by Abigborodo, Obotie, Ugbekoko and Aja-Okotie.

“We as a community, the bonafide owner of the land and host community to Seplat by all intents and purposes are prepared and ready for any other visit as the features, land, water and distance of our community to Seplat remain constant and we know the result of all visitation and even subsequent visitation to the Area in contention will remain the same, come rain or sun.”

According to them, Abigborodo community from time immemorial are owners of land covering area of operations of Seplat including Ugbekoko community housing Seplat jetty, several oil wells, the flow stations and virtually all the drilling locations of Seplat West Limited.

Similarly, leadership of Ugbekoko community is saying that the defence being put up by the Chairman of Sapele Okpe community, Onoriode Temiagin, that Ugbekoko land belongs to Sapele Okpe because of a market built there lacks merit.

“This is their stock in trade to claim land by any means. Their illegal incursion into our land with the connivance of Seplat will be resisted forcefully within the ambit of the laws of our land’’

In the meantime, the Okpe people have a rich history and a unique cultural heritage. They are like siblings and are primarily located in Okpe Kingdom, which covers two local government areas in Delta, Sapele and Okpe.

Their history dates back to ancient times. It was one of the largest kingdoms in the Niger Delta that played a significant role in trade and commerce during pre-colonial times. The Okpe people have a traditional monarchy system with the Orodje (King) as the paramount ruler. The Orodje is regarded as the custodian of Okpe culture and traditions and serves as a spiritual and political leader for the community.

The Okpe language is spoken by the majority of the Okpe people. It is a distinct language of its own and not Urhobo. It is part of the larger Edoid language family, which includes several other languages in the region. English is also widely spoken and understood.

Economically, they were known for their agricultural prowess, particularly in farming and fishing. Today, they are involved in various economic activities, including trading, education, entrepreneurship, and civil service.

The Itsekiri people on the other hand, speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in the states of Ondo, Edo and Delta. Presently, they transcend a population of over one million people and live mainly in parts of Ondo, Edo and majorly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South-West local government districts of Delta on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria.

Their history dates back almost a thousand years before the founding of the Kingdom of Warri. According to historical records, Itsekiri were formed by a group of Yoruba tribes who migrated to the Niger Delta. The Yoruba ethnic nationality that made up the Itsekiri people were said to be primarily from the Ijebu, Mahin/Ilaje, Ugbo, Owo/Ọ̀ghọ̀, igala and Ile-Ife regions.

These groups were collectively known as the "Olukumi" people, with "Olukumi" translating to "my friend" in the itsekiri language. This name was used to refer to the Yoruba people for centuries.

Interestingly, a significant event in Itsekiri history occurred when Olu Ginuwa left the Kingdom of Benin to found the Kingdom of Warri. During this time, Bini migrants who were chasing Olu Ginuwa joined the Yoruba group in the area and founded Okere.

The Kingdom of Warri has continued on to the present day with Ogiame Olu Atuwatse III currently ruling as king of Warri Kingdom. The Warri Kingdom's historical capital is Ode-Itsekiri also known as "Big Warri" or "Ale Iwerre" though the monarch's main palace is in Warri Town.