HOPE for full restoration of peace, which has eluded troubled Okrika community in Rivers State, has emerged, following a declaration to that effect by the leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante, Ateke Tom and the leaders of other rival militant groups.
Ateke’s group had engaged other rival groups in a fierce battle for supremacy in the Okrika axis and other parts of Rivers State.
But yesterday at a ceremony mediated by the Kiriike-Be-Se Peace and Development Project and the Wakirike United Peace Guild, he and others pledged to discontinue all forms of hostility.
The militant groups involved in the Okrika crisis, namely Ateke’s NDV; Outlaws; Niger Delta Solidarity Front; Klans Men; Green Landers; Black Axe and Iceland signed the peace deal.
The militant leaders swore to both Christian and traditional oaths, to end the fratricidal clashes in Okrika and other parts of the State.
At the occasion attended by the Okrika local government area council chairman, Christopher Chuama and the Amanyanabo of Koniju, Captain Nemi Tamuno Iyalla Oputieya X, the repentant militants promised to assist in the rehabilitation of their members and full restoration of normal life in Okrika.
While Ateke and the others embraced to signal the end to terror in Okrika; they guaranteed to work for peace in the entire Okrika and cooperate with other organisations, persons and agencies of government at the ward, local, state, federal and international levels to achieve peace in the area.
The Okrika council chairman, Chuama, described the signing of the peace agreement among the warring groups as a miracle and declared yesterday “a day of grace and happiness for the people of the Wakirike nationality.”
He noted that the sincerity, honesty and spirit of repentance in the militants was real and urged all parties to embrace and forgive the militants who had shown remorse for their past misdeeds.
He said: “We should embrace our brothers and sisters who have, on their own, said enough is enough of maiming; enough is enough of killing; enough is enough of carrying arms against each other; and enough is enough of dividing this community. We must come together and give peace a chance.”
The council chairman appealed to the government to engage and empower the fighters meaningfully, to avoid their going back to what they had willingly renounced.
He observed that the people of Okirika had in the past eight years toiled, wept and cried for peace to return to their troubled land.
The facilitators of the rare peace agreement, Evangelist, Clara Ngeribika and Mr. Egerton Akuro thanked God for His intervention in the Okrika crisis, describing yesterday as a remarkable day in the history of Okrika.
The Amanyanabo of Koniju, Captain Oputieya X, who attended the occasion with his Chiefs, also urged the government to speed up the development of Okrika as well as empower its youths that had renounced violence.