EDO STATE: WHY WE TOOK UP ARMS, BY EGBEMA YOUTHS

IJAW youths of Egbema Kingdom in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State, have given reasons why they took up arms to fight for the rights of their people in that axis of the Niger Delta.

Leader of the Niger Delta Freedom Fighters (NDFF), Egbema 1, told our correspondent in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, at Ofunama, the cradle of the kingdom in Edo and Delta states that they rose to fight a political battle, and not for economic vices.

''We are fighting for political justice for the Ijaw people in Edo state. As a matter of fact, we dont see ourselves as militants but as freedom fighters. We are not involved in hostage-taking nor on willful destruction of oil facilities. Whenever we hit at oil facilities, we do so to attract attention since no one wants to listen to us since 1962 when the defunction Mid-West Region was created'', he said.

According nto the leader of the Ijaw rebels in Edo, Adams Oshiomhole was the first governor since 1962 to visit Ofunama. As you are aware, the governor visited us today, Wednesday, January 21, 2009. From what he said, the Egbema people who made Edo state to be counted among the oil-producing states have been unjustly cheated''.

Continuing, the rebel leader said the Ijaw youths took up arms to fight against the system that made them slaves in their own country because as oil-bearing and producing communities, they have nothing to show for the oil wealth.

''We dont have access roads, no good drinking water, no electricity, no healthcare facility, no standard school. To say the least, we dont have any basic neccesity of life'', Egbema 1 said, pointing out that their arms struggle is aimed at making the authorities to create separate local government councils for the Ijaw people of Edo state.

According to him, ''we are pressing our people's governor, Adams Oshiomhole to make a case for us at Abuja, why a minimum of five local government areas should be created for us. The five council areas we are asking for are: Egbema North-East with headquarters at Ofunama, Egbema North-West with Ajakurama as its headquarters, Olodiama with headquarters at Inikorogha, Okomu/ Safarogbo with headquarters at Okomu, and Furupagha with Jide as its headquarters''.

Our correspondent who was in the area to cover the historic visit by Governor Oshiomhole, however, reports that there are no motorable roads linking the largely riverine Ijaw communities with the rest of Edo state.

Most of the roads like Udo-Inikorogha-Ofunama; Ajakurama-Gbeoba-Gbolukanga-Abere; Ajamagie-Ofunama; Okomu-Safarogbo; Siluko-Gbelebu-Jide; Benin-Ikoro-Ekenwa-Iboro; and Benin-Ekenwa-Gelegele roads are literally bushpaths due to decades of neglect.

Egbema 1, however, claimed that in 1977 when the Udo-Ofunama road was constructed as an earth road, it took the Ijaw people 45 minutes to travel from Udo to Ofunama. ''But today, that same journey is taking virtually a whole day with transport fare ranging between N1500 and N2000.

The state governor had admitted that his first attempt to visit Ofunama after travelling for five hours ndid not succeed. Besides two government vehicles breaking down, Oshiomhole said he had to abandon the trip two weeks ago because of the deplorable state of the road.

''The journey we could not accomplish then in five hours, took us 12 and a half minutes by helicopter from Benin Airport'', the governor said.

Egbema 1, further claimed that people die frequently in the community from preventable diseases, adding, ''the tragedy of our situation is that we drink from the same source of river we use as our toilet''.

The armed youths have, however, pledged to give the Oshiomhole administration a trial with the hope that it will bring justice to them.

Already, there is hope for the people as the governor has promised that his administration was determined to address all issues that have crippled the progress of the state. Determined to bring smiles on the faces of Ijaw people in the state, he has invited their leaders for a meeting in Benin City, the state capital, aimed at priotising their developmental needs.