FRESH crisis looms between the Itsekiri and Ijaw in Warri, Delta State over the existing wards in Warri South Local Government Area. Dispute between the two ethnic groups led to a bloodbath in which many lives were lost between 2003 and 2004. Already, two Ijaw groups, the Ijaw National Human Rights Organization (INHRO) and the Ogbe-Ijoh Clan Governing Council in Warri, Delta State have called on the Federal and Delta State Governments, as well as the Joint Military Task Force on the Niger-Delta (JMTF) to call Itsekiri leader, Rita Lori-Ogbebor to order, saying that her recent �unguided outburst� on the purported illegality of GRA ward, an Ijaw quarter in Warri South Local Government area was capable of igniting another round of crisis in the oil city.
President of the INHRO, Mr. Koremene Festus said the Ijaw ethnic nationality was not prepared to entertain such tantrums from Chief Ogbebor, adding: �We are ready to resist nonsense if the state and federal governments fail to take appropriate steps. Do not blame us if anything untoward happens as a result of this provocation�.
On its part, the Ogbe-Ijoh governing council in a statement entitled: �Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor�s Protest at INEC Office� An Invitation to Anarchy�, signed by both the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General, Messrs Joseph Hitler and Prince Gbenebode respectively, said: �The Ogbe-Ijoh (Ijaw) people will not fold their hands and allow the Itsekiri people to take what rightly belongs to us�. Mr. Festus stated that Chief Lori-Ogbebor�s protest did not follow due constitutional process, stressing that: �The leaders of thought of Itsekiri know that the GRA ward and Pessu ward are originally owned by the Ogbe-Ijoh people�.
According to the Ogbe-Ijoh council: �We wish to react to the statement of Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor during her protest to INEC office, Warri, as reported in the Vanguard of November 15 that the GRA ward in Warri South Local Government Area is an illegally created ward in order to put the record straight. We want to state without equivocation that contrary to Chief Lori-Ogbebor�s claim, GRA ward was legally created and recognized ward in Warri South Local Government Area, which comprises most Ijaw areas in Warri main town.