With over 100 of its people killed and all the houses in the community flattened during the seven-week occupation by the Nigerian military there, it remains to be seen if Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State can ever be restored. Our Editor, EMMANUEL OBE and Correspondent, CLIFFORD CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON, visited Okuama, the Internally Displaced Camp at Ewu and other neighbouring communities and report.
It’s been over one month since the military pulled out of Okuama, the settlement of fishermen and farmers on the west bank of the Forcados River in Delta State, but fear and paranoia still reign in the community.
“The army may have left Okuama but they left it in pieces,” said Mr. Okobo David, a commentator on the state of affairs at Okuama. Not only was the community completely flattened by the army occupation force, people from neighbouring communities descended on it as soon as news got out that the military had left and began looting.
Anger, paranoia and apprehension were clearly written on the faces of the few residents found in the community when National Point visited the place two weeks after the military occupation ended. The people suspected everyone that ventured into the community and were ready for confrontation.
Though there was virtually no shelter to live in after the military operation, most of the people felt it was better for them to stay on in the community to protect their land and stop any encroachment from neighbouring communities.
IDP camp committee
Okuama came into the news on March 14 when 17 officers and soldiers from the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army were killed in the community. The soldiers had intervened in a tragic dispute between Okuama and a neighbouring community, Okoloba.
Following the killings, the army sacked Okuama on March 17, and occupied the town until May 7th when they left. During the period of occupation, the army moved from house to house destroying everything in sight. The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Chris Musa, said the military was searching for arms and ammunition and proceeds of crude oil bunkering
After the military pulled out of Okuama, apart from the Anglican Church building, located a short distance away from the main jetty to the community, no other building was standing in the community. They were all flattened by the military, who occupied the community for nearly two months.
What was left of the homesteads were heaps and mounds of what used to be houses and markets in the community. Not even the community buildings and public houses were spared. In most of the places grasses and weeds have covered what was left of the houses.
The few residents that found their way back to the community take shelter in the church building. How they cope without drinking water, food supplies, sanitary situation and the cold, having lost everything they previously had before the military occupation was a mystery.
It was not easy getting residents of the community to talk about their plight. Angry faces of both young and old probed the visitor. Some of them wielded machetes, while others had Dane guns. It was not long before it became clear that visitors were not wanted around. With no one ready to grant interviews, the National Point team had to hurry out.
Landing at the jetty was dramatic. As the boat approached the waterfront, scores of the indigenes stood on the jetty as if they were awaiting the arrival of special visitors. Some of passengers in the boat became uneasy as the driver steered the boat towards the jetty. “No, no, no!’ cried a female passenger. “Please, please don’t go there,” she cried to the driver.
Meanwhile, the visibly hostile locals at the jetty were shouting at the boat driver to move on. “Go! Don’t come here!” But the driver insisted and landed at the jetty. The cacophony that ensued at the jetty was frightening. While some were shouting at the passengers not to disembark, other beckoned on them to come.
The day was saved by members of the community’s committee who were just about to leave the community. They formed a wall around the journalists and told them in clear terms that they had no reason to come to Okuama at that time.
“You took a risk,” one of them said. “You will have to follow us as we go,” he said. He was to explain later that the committee had just visited the community to talk to the people that had relocated there about the setting up of a camp for them at Ewu.
Though people had called for the military leave Okuama so that the people could pick up their lives again, their exit did not make things any easy for the people.
First, travelling to Okuama is still very cumbersome. There is no road access to the place. During the military occupation, the waterways were closed and that left no access at all to the town. Before the crisis, getting a boat from Bomadi was the best bet. With the opening of the waterways, boats are not yet moving from Bomadi to Okuama. At best, the boats from Bomadi avoid Okuama and only take passengers travelling to other communities along the Forcados River. The mutual suspicions between the communities along the river were still palpable.
This takes visitors travelling to Okuama on a tedious long winding trip through Ughelli, Otu-Jeremi to Okwagbe waterside, an Urhobo community along the Forcados River. From Okwagbe, the journey by boat to Okuama takes roughly one hour on the Forcados.
The military left Okuama on May 7 unannounced and the following day, a clash occurred as people rushed into the community to loot. One person was reportedly killed and several other people wounded in the clash.
Chief Victor Akemor, a member of the post-occupation committee of the community working for the safe return of the people to the community and the internally displaced camp set up by the government said there was really nothing to return to. “What is uppermost in our plans is how to get the people to accept to go to the camp,” he said.
“As for Okuama, you can see that there is nothing there again. Whatever we find we try to manage it. There is no much food but we are still managing. We have been giving them small small things. But you know that what someone will give to you will never be enough for you,” he said.
After the military pulled out of Okuama, Delta State Government opened a refugee camp known as the Okuama Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) at Ewu and inaugurated a committee to manage the camp. But the people refused to go to the camp, insisting that they would rather have the camp in Okuama. They argued that apart from giving them the feeling that they were finally back home, staying far away from Okuama would make their homes and farms vulnerable to thieves and looters.
“Our neighbours were looting our farms and fish traps, even while the army were there,” said one of the indigenes of Okuama. “You saw that no sooner did the army leave than they came in full force to reap from our sorrows. That is why some of us returned quickly to Okuama and met those who were looting whatever the army left behind,” one of the people said.
Even though the state government had well equipped IDP camp, the people still boycotted the camp located at Ewu Grammar School, more than 30 kilometres from Okuama.
Mr. Abraham Ogbodo, the Chairman of the Okuama-Ewu IDP Camp committee, told National Point at the camp site that everything that was needed for camp life was there and they were only waiting for the people to make themselves available.
He wondered why they had refused to take advantage of the facilities provided when it was clear that they had no place for now to return to in Okuama.
Ogbodo said the fear of being targeted by the military during the military occupation of Okuama was no longer there and the people should feel free to report. He also allayed their fears that their lands would be taken over by the neighbouring communities if they were not at home.
He said, “The soldiers have left. If it is about their being arrested and all of that, they are already in Okuama. Why haven’t soldiers gone there to arrest them? It is not possible. We have gone past that stage. If they have other reasons, fine, but not that they fear being arrested while they are in camp. That does not exist at all. It is just an imagination.
“They have said that they don’t want to leave their place completely exposed and vulnerable that it could be overrun by hostile neighbours, which of course, is a legitimate fear. But it is unfounded. It can’t happen that way.
“That’s one of the fears they have expressed and the government has given assurance that it will not happen and naturally it will not happen. Nobody goes to overrun a community in this modern day or time and then you take it over just like that. It never happens. It has not happened in this our part of Nigeria. Maybe, if you talk of the Middle-belt where herdsmen are running wild in the place. But here, it has never happened that a set of people will go and sack people from their ancestral homestead and take it over. It doesn’t happen that way.”
The IDP Camp committee chairman said with no home to return to in Okuama, the camp is where every Okuama displaced person should be.
“That is what we believe. They are displaced because there is no building standing in Okuama. So, as it is, they don’t have homes to go to. Their homes have been destroyed and that is the point. And they could be anywhere. They could be hanging with maybe relations, neighbours, anyhow they are. They may be embed-ded in other communit-ies. But the truth is that they don’t have homes, homes they can return to and call their place. And government is concerned, which is the idea of this IDP camp. While they are here, they can talk of the bigger issue of restoration and how the community can be reconstructed. That is just all.”
Why didn’t government locate the camp at Okuama, which would have brought them nearer home? Ogbodo said the peculiar terrain of Okuama made it so. Besides, he said the devastated state of the community could be traumatic for the people.
“For the purpose of accessibility, this (Ewu) is the best location. Imagine moving all of these supplies, these relief materials through the river to that place. Do you know the risk? Supposing the boat capsizes and everything is lost in the water; supposing we are attacked?” he asked.
He said the earlier the displaced persons reported to camp the better it would be for them to be catered for. He said some donor agencies and individuals that want to support the displaced persons have been eager to send in their supplies.
Besides the people being afraid to leave their place in Okuama for fear of losing their lands; and the fear of those who think they could be targeted for arrest by the security forces, Ogbodo said a lot of the people were thinking of the camp as a place where they could get some empowerment from government and were playing politics with it, so as to be made part of it.
A check around the camp showed that a lot of facilities have been put in place and renovations made to make life easy for the displaced persons when they come in. There are two water boreholes with overhead water storage tanks, standby generators, solar powered outdoor lights, dormitories, clinic, general toilets, kitchens, store for the food items and standby security.
At the time National Point visited the camp, there was only one displaced woman in the camp. But Ogbodo said the camp was capable of holding more than 2,000 inmates, with a lot of space for recreation.
Though he said there was no definite time-frame within which the camp should last, the committee chairman said, “We will do it within the shortest possible time. It is not going to be like it’s running forever.”
However, despite the severity of the destruction that took place at Okuama, there does not appear to be an existing arrangement by government to rebuild the community. The IDP camp committee chairman told National Point that, the rebuilding of the community was not part of the mandate of his committee. “That is at the discretion of the government. We take one step at a time.”
With the total destruction of everything in the community including schools and health centres, it could only be imagined how the community can cope with life, even after the camp. The location of the community in a hard-to-reach location across rivers could compound matters for the people. The animosity between Okuama and its neighbours, which ignited the entire crisis, has not been resolved, making a long term peaceful resettlement of the people a long shot.
But Chief Akemor, whose concern at the moment seemed to be about mobilizing the displaced people to the Ewu camp thinks that early restoration of Okuama is possible. He told National Point that, arrangements were being made to restore Okuama. He cited the promise by the Governor of Delta State to rebuild the health centre and the classroom blocks in the community school. “The government has approved to build the health centre and the six-classroom block. It is for that building to commence, while they are working on the rebuilding of the community,” he said.
For now, the children have no schools to attend. The camp at Ewu did not provide for a school for them. “Those that missed the school certificate examinations because of the army operations cannot have their time again until next year,” said Mr. Golden Okoro, a resident of Ewu who spoke to National Point at Ewu.
But full restoration of Okuama looks tricky for now because of the many unresolved issues surrounding the factors that led to the killing of the soldiers, that culminated in the occupation of the community by the military.
Top among those issues is the unresolved boundary dispute between Okuama and Okoloba. Two neighbouring communities, Okoloba and Okuama have been at war over their common boundaries. From time to time, clashes between them have led to fatalities. It was in the course of one of those clashes that the military intervened on March 14, 2024. That intervention ended up in the killing of 17 soldiers and officers, including the commanding officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion based at Bomadi, Lt. Col Musa Ali.
In response, the military raided Okuama, where the soldiers and officers were killed, brought down every house in the community and reportedly killed many of the residents. Those that escaped, took shelter in the forests and faraway communities as the military combed neighbouring communities for the fleeing residents of Okuama.
What would have been a local boundary issue between two small communities had escalated to an inter-ethnic dispute. While Okuama is Urhobo, Okoloba is Ijaw. Though both of them are located side-by-side on the west bank of the Forcados River, they belong to two different local government areas. While Okuama is Ughelli South in Delta Central Senatorial Zone, Okoloba is in Bomadi in Delta South Senatorial Zone. Their differences have also been recognized in their religious boundaries. Okuama belongs to Warri Diocese of the Catholic Church while Okoloba belongs to Bomadi Diocese of the church.
While a lot of people are desirous to see Okuama restored after the military invasion, many other people have counseled against any hurried restoration of the community.
Just as Governor Obovrewori promised to start the rebuilding of the health centre and six-classroom block in Okuama, women of Okoloba took to the streets to protest the rebuilding and return of Okuama people.
A group that goes by the name, Concerned Ijaw Citizens kicked against the Delta State Government’s plan to rebuild public structures such as schools and health centres in Okuama. In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Seigha Manager, the group said, “Delta State Government should have invited the neighbouring Okoloba people and their leaders, give them listening ears and let them bare their hearts on their challenges, pains and fears, before embarking on any rehabilitation agenda for the displaced Okuama indigenes.”
It said engaging one party to the dispute between Okuama and Okoloba could be counter productive in the quest to find lasting peace between the two communities. It therefore urged Governor Oborevwori to address the fears of Okoloba people and assure them of government’s equal attention and protection at all times.”
The group also urged the state government to “get specific terms of commitment from them (Okuama) particularly, their leaders to continue to co-operate and collaborate with the state government and security agencies in maintaining peace in their community, and of course along the River Forcados as a whole”.
This way, they said, “the Government would have laid a solid and immutable roadmap to restoring enduring peace in the state, not just in Okuama/Okoloba case but, everywhere else in Delta State”.
Mr. Francis Ewherido, an Urhobo from the Ewu Clan, also urged the state government to thread carefully before resettling Okuama people.
He said, “The boundary between Okuama and Okoloba should be well demarcated; both communities should be part of the demarcation and they should sign a fresh agreement to respect each other’s right to existence. Indigenes of both communities have intermarried and most of them speak both Urhobo and Ijaw languages.”
He cautioned those he called trouble makers to allow the simple farmers and fishermen of the two communities to live in peace. “Some Okuama indigenes might suffer post-invasion trauma. Where necessary, the government should send specialists to attend to their mental health,” Ewherido said.
Governor Obovrewori has not been very open about the crisis since it escalated in March. At a meeting he held with leaders of Okuama and the IDP Camp committee, he said the issues surrounding the crisis were sensitive especially as they involved the military and other security agencies.
Addressing media men, Gov. Oborevwori said “It is also pertinent to point out that matters of security are better handled with tact, wisdom, and patience; it is not meant to be a subject of daily media.”
Though the Defence Headquarters set up a panel of inquiry headed by Air Vice-Marshal David Ajayi to “gather facts from security agencies, community leaders and community dwellers in the aftermath of the military invasion,” the defence headquarters has not issued any information on the report of the panel.
The defence headquarters, which also carried out arrests, investigations and operations in Okuama has also not formally released its reports on the operations and what it found out all through its operations. Delta State Police Command said it had left interfering in the Okuama crisis because of the involvement of the military, which took over the entire matter.
During the saga, the military detained a lot of people, declared several others wanted and conducted its own investigations. What happened to all those efforts? Can there ever be official details of what happened in Okuama?
Akemor would not go into those details. But, he wants the people to co-operate with the government, now that it has set up a camp for them. “The community leaders have to talk with the (Okuama) people. We said nobody is bigger than government. So, they had to obey (and come to the camp), he told National Point.
Abraham Ogbodo spoke in similar light. “You cannot challenge government. Government is the only entity outside God that can meet its own wishes,” Ogbodo said.
While the world awaits the outcome of the military intervention and their inquest and how Delta State government intends to go about resolving the issues and implement its promise to restore Okuama, the people of that community and their neighbours are picking up the pieces and gradually getting back to the hard reality of life.
