The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs yesterday donated relief materials worth millions of naira to the victims of the recent crisis between the Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State.
The materials, comprising food, beverage and household items, were handed over the Chairman of the Transition Committee of the council, Mr. David Edun, on behalf of the Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe, by a top official of the ministry, Mrs. Aghata Ojuh.
Orubebe, in his remarks presented by Ojuh, who is the Delta State Coordinator of the ministry, condemned the July 2 attacks on some Itsekiri coastal communities and the killing of over 10 persons by suspected Ijaw gunmen.
Ojuh, who was with some top members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, including two commissioners in the Delta State House of Assembly Service Commission, Mr. Ben Etanabene and Chief Rowland Kemefa, said Orubebe was deeply touched by the colossal losses of lives and property in the crisis.
She said: "The honourable minister, who would have loved to personally present these relief materials, expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their beloved ones in the avoidable crisis and condemned the action in all its ramifications.
"He is deeply touched that human and material resources have been lost and he prayed that God will give the bereaved families the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses.
"Consequently, the honourable minister has directed that these relief materials be presented to the victims to serve as immediate succour for them."
Receiving the items, Edun thanked the minister for his show of brotherly love as demonstrated in his concern for the victims.
He said Orubebe's gesture was the first response by the Federal Government to the plight of the victims and commended the minister for the donation.
Edun urged other well to do members of the society to emulate the gesture of the minister.
Besides, the chairman explained that contrary to the widespread notion, there was no ethnic war between the Ijaw and Itsekiri in the council area, saying that the perpetrators of the killings and arson were mere criminals.
Edun said they were either bandits or illegal oil bunkerers, adding that virtually all the coastal communities abandoned by his Itsekiri kinsmen had been looted by the gunmen.
He said: "It was not a war. It all started on July 2. I can confidently say that they are robbers and those who have been deprived of bunkering activities because no one is given the right to take life or destroy property."
National Mirror