Landlords who say they are the original owners of Port Harcourt, have vowed to partner the Rivers State government to chase out the aborigines resident in all the waterfronts in the state capital.
This is on the heels of the resolve of those who call themselves Port Harcourt Aborigines to stay on at the waterfronts which had been marked for demolition by the former Governor Celestine Omehia administration.
Last week, the leader of the Aborigines, Darik Acheseomie, had told Daily Independent that the millions of people that live in the various waterfronts would not relocate to Oroigwe, the site prepared by the government for the waterfronts residents.
In fact, he claimed that the land belonged to them and that the Ikwerre people who are currenty in power, were plotting to sack them from their ancestral homes under the pretext of developing the area.
He had said that about one million people living in the 20 waterfronts spanning from the slaughter to Njemanze which he claimed to be a part of their ancestral home would not move to anywhere they would find difficult to fish.
“We cannot move to Oroigwe. We are typical fishermen.
“And where there is no water for our coastal fishing activities, there is nothing we can do in such a place.”
“We have to live where there is water. We cannot leave our ancestral homes. We have been here for over 50 years.
They want to move us to where life will be difficult for us. I don�t think we can go. It is not something you can just come and demolish the waterfronts after about four months notice.”
But 125 year-old John Dike, paramount ruler of Rumuwoji, who said he was present when the agreement for the establishment of Port Harcourt was signed with the British colonial masters countered the claims of the Aborigines, calling them unprintable names.
According to him, they were the ones who prevented previous governments from demolishing the structures at the waterfronts because before now, militants did not find the waterfronts as a safe haven.
Dike who is seen as the oldest man in Port Harcourt said through an interpreter, that “they must move by force. Whether they like it or not, they must move.
“There is nothing like Port Harcourt Aborigines.
“They are fools. They are looking for trouble. Since our forefathers� time, we have never heard of anything like Port Harcourt Aborigines. I am surprised that they are coming to look for our trouble.”
“I don�t know what they want. If it were before, I would say they want us to go to war with them. Let them not tempt us. Let them not provoke us. They must move out of the waterfronts. Do they have powers than the government?
“War is not good. Even as I am old like this, I can still go to war, but this is not the time. It is our father�s land.”