Kolokolo Protest Can Spark Off Tribal Conflict Between Binins And Itsekiris
By Frederick
The protest staged at the palace of the Oba of Benin by some Itsekiri indigenes of Kolokolo community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Council Area of Edo State alleging oppression, intimidation, illegal arrest and harassment by the Iyatsere of Warri Kingdom, Delta State, Chief Johnson Atseleghe has been described as capable of igniting tribal conflict between the Benins and Itsekiris.
Chief Atseleghe who made this remark at his palace at Ologbo in a press briefing deny all the allegations against him, saying that the protesters are imposters, illegal oil thieves and pipelines vandals, power hungry persons with inordinate ambitions that has intimidated the Kolokolo elders and youths into submission over the years.
According to him, Kolokolo community is one of the communities in the Iyatsere descendants of Warri Kingdom under his direct jurisdiction, saying other communities in the family lineage are Ologbo, Ikara, Ajatiton, Ajoki and Ajamimogha respectively and that the Kolokolo community were directed at a general meeting held at his Ikaye palace at Ologbo by all the listed communities on May 30, 2019 to apologise to himself, Ajoki and Ajamimogha communities for their misconduct and disrespect in relations to sundry offences including barge hijacking and pipeline vandalism.
Apart from providing evidence of illegal oil thieving activities against some of the leaders of the protesters, he said his main concern was negotiating peace for the entire communities but express regret that a so-called 13-man committee illegally inaugurated by some powerful persons to run the affairs of Kolokolo marked the beginning of these unending problems.
He said the 13-man committee has been dissolved by the Iyatsere family descendants at the said meeting because a particular family held 5-key positions in the committee to chagrin and exclusion of other family stock, adding that the kolokolo community even wrote a letter to disown one key member as not being an indigene of Kolokolo.
Chief Johnson revealed further that he neither took Kolokolo community contracts nor anybody’s job as alleged but instead, stated that at the said meeting it was agreed that contracts and jobs forcefully taken over by members of the dissolved 13-man Committee be returned to their rightful owners and flow station workers that were driven away in the heat of the communal fracas be allowed to return to their various jobs, saying that “it is their loss of power to continue in their oppressive tendencies that pushed them into staging the protest to the palace of the Oba of Benin and nothing more. This is capable of creating unwarranted friction between the palace of the revered Benin and Warri monarchs for their personal aggrandizement and it is not acceptable to us because we are both brothers”, he emphasized.
Truly, the Itsekiri National Youth Council, INYC, feels aggrieved by the action of the Kolokolo protesters as they were said to I have invited the leaders of the protest for questioning over the rationale behind their Benin protest that has sent many of the participants running for their own safety for attempting to drag the name of and the palace of the Olu of Warri into the mud.
The placard carrying Kolokolo protesters and some of their leaders were seen and clearly heard on ITV Channel saying that they were under the tutelage of the Oba of Benin and the Enogie of Ologbo and demanded they be rescued from the hands of Chief Johnson Atseleghe just as the Enogie of Ologbo H.R.H Prince Owen Jason Akenzua wrote in his letter addressed to AIG Zone 5, Benin City requesting that “Chief Johnson be called to order before he sparks off tribal conflict between Itsekiris and Binins…Chief Johnson, an Itsekiri Chief, should play his role as Chief in Warri, Delta State and not in Benin, Edo State”, the letter dated 24 December, 2019 stated.
