By Francis Ewherido
It’s been a while since I wrote on Okuama, but today I have reasons to revisit Okuama. Okuama, you recall, is a village in Ewu (Egwhu) Kingdom in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State which was levelled and razed by Nigerian Soldiers on March 14, 2024, sequel to the unfortunate killing of 17 officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army. The killing incidentally took place at the river bank of the Forcados River by Okuama. Since then, nobody has been convicted for the dastardly act, although some indigenes of Okuama were declared wanted, while some were arrested. The corpse of one was released after he died in detention, while another leader was released on health grounds. The others remain in military detention. At the first and only court hearing, none of them was presented in court by the military. Hopefully, they are still alive because two of the leaders detained have so far died in detention.
Back to the purpose of today’s article. In May of 2024 after months of taking refuge in the bush and living as refuges, the Delta State Government set up an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Ewu with Mr. Abraham Ogbodo as the chairman and Deacon Austine Ohwofaria as the camp commandant. Along with some hard-working members of the committee like Mr. Henry Ediyo and Mr. Sunny White, etc., they did a very effective job of running a very functional IDP camp.
Though the camp was closed in December 2024 three members of the committee, led by Mr. Ogbodo, Deacon Ohwofaria and Mr. Ediyo, along with some contractors and government officials, went to Okuama during the week for an on-the-spot assessment of Okuama and ongoing projects. From their account and the video recordings I saw, the four projects the state government and Ughelli South LGA promised have been completed, at least the physical structures with some amenities. The projects the state government executed are: a block of six classrooms for the primary school with a teacher’s office attached to each classroom, a block of six classrooms for the secondary school, also with each class having an office for the class teacher, and a health centre with a doctor and staff quarters with a 10kva solar system to provide electricity for the health centre and the residential quarters.
What are missing are medical personnel to stay in the health centre quarters and attend to the health needs of the villagers and equipment for the health centre; teachers’ quarters for both the primary school and secondary school teachers and chairs, tables and desks for both teachers and students. No teacher posted there will want to go until accommodation is provided. Okuama is accessible only by water and how many teachers are ready to commute daily to and fro school from nearby Ewu or other communities? It’s a logistical nightmare no teacher will likely undertake.
My father was the pioneer principal of Orere Grammar School, Orere, where the state government is currently constructing a bridge to link Orere to Ewu. The villagers provided the principal the accommodation, while other teachers also got accommodation within Orere. Okuama is in ruins and the indigenes do not have accommodation for themselves not to talk of one to give or rent to teachers. Like the government did for the health centre, it should also build teachers quarters. I also suggest that government should provide extra incentives for civil servants going to work in the state’s riverine areas, if such a provision is not already in place. The current condition of Okuama is deplorable.
Ughelli South Local Government, on the other hand, built a 40-room residence with bathrooms, toilets and water system for the indigenes. I thank both the state and local government for fulfilling their promises. Special thanks to the Delta State Governor, Elder Sheriff Oborevwori and the Ughelli South LGA Chairman, Dr. Lucky Avweromre. The governor did a lot more than the public knows as far as the Okuama matter is concerned. The contractors also did a good job in all the projects as shown by the videos I saw which was attested to by the committee members I spoke with. The buildings were well raised high above the ground so that they won’t be flooded in the rainy season like other parts of Okuama. Okuama actually needs sand filling because it suffers from severe flooding during the rainy season.
Like many riverine areas in Delta State, Okuama needs shoreline protection. I don’t have details on how to go about it, but it’s something the senator representing Delta Central, Okakuro Ede Dafinone and our House of Reps member representing Udu, Ughelli North and Ughelli South Federal Constituency, the Revd. Francis Waive, should look into it. They were there for the Okuama people when they were in the IDP camp and in other ways. Now that they are home and in need, their attention is urgently needed.
More needs to be done for the Okuama people. The army left the village in ruins. It needs to be rebuilt and life needs to return to normalcy. This normalcy includes providing the village with solar lights. Right now, the place looks deserted at night as if nobody lives there. Solar lights are not that expensive to install and maintain. Over all Okuama people need urgent empowerment to help them rebuild their lives. A lot of empowerments are going on within the state. It just needs to be extended to Okuama people. They are as Deltans as other Deltans. This is especially so since no court has found Okuama villagers guilty for the killing of the soldiers. They remain innocent until proven otherwise. The villagers currently live in very deplorable and subhuman conditions.
The member representing Ughelli South Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Chief Festus Otuama, has been largely anonymous since the Okuama incident started. He was a member of the IDP camp committee but after attending the inaugural meeting, he neither participated nor gave any form of support subsequently. He has also not been to Okuama since the villagers returned to their devastated homeland. Chief Otuama, this is another opportunity for you to prove to Okuama and indeed Ewu Kingdom that you also represent them. They need your solidarity and empathy in these difficult moments. It’s not only Okuama people, but the entire Ewu Kingdom is waiting for you to do what is expected of their representative. Ordinarily, this should not come up because your core function as a legislator is lawmaking, but the Nigerian system added attracting projects to your constituency and constituency projects. Na Nigeria, nor be me talk so.
I am not just saying this because I am from Ewu. Ughelli South, which you represent, has four kingdoms, Ewu, Ughievwen, Olomu and Effurun-Otor. I can trace my roots to three kingdoms: Effurun-Otor (my mother) and paternal/maternal roots to Olomu: paternal grandmother (Okpare), paternal great grandmothers (Oviri-Olomu and Umolo) and one maternal great grandmother (Oguname). So, I am Ughelli South through and through, except paternal roots in Iwhremaro and maternal roots in Ogor in Ughelli North. I also have maternal roots (second maternal great grandmother) in Enwhe Isoko South. So, I am substantially Ughelli South and competent to speak for Ughelli South, but the issue today is Okuama.
Finally, two of the Okuama leaders detained by the military died in detention. Are they waiting for all of them to die in detention? Something should be done about their situation. The state government has also not demarcated the border between Okuama and Okoloba. It’s important that it’s done. We must avoid another conflict over border dispute.
