As tension rises in Yeghe communities Khana and Gokana Local Government Areas of Rivers State, over alleged plans by some cultists to invade the area, prominent Ogoni leader, High Chief Solomon Ndigbara, JP has urged Ogoni youths to be vigilant and shun all forms of cultism.
Chief Ndigbara who made the call while addressing journalists at his country home in Yeghe on the security situation in Ogoniland last weekend, said before now, Ogoni people had enjoyed peace and security, stating that the recent increase in violent crimes has been caused by cultists and some of their backers from outside Ogoniland.
Speaking about the alleged plan by some cultists to invade Yeghe communities in ‘official security uniforms’, Chief Ndigbara said reliable information available to him revealed that such planned attack has been confirmed and called for vigilance on the part of Yeghe and its neighbouring communities.
Tracing the current source of what he described as ‘the plight of Yeghe people’, Ndighara said that unlike some communities in Ogoni today, Yeghe with all its challenges has been able to maintain peace and order to the envy of those who hate peace and development in Ogoni.
This,he claimed, is why some people are planning to invade Yeghe under the cover of cultism to destroy lives and properties and even assassinate him, Chief Solomon Ndigbara.
While reacting to the recent dispute over boundaries between Ue-GwereBoue community in Khana LGA and Yeghe people, Ndigbara explained that one of the conditions he had with the federal government when he embraced the Presidential Amnesty, was to shun violent crime and be a peace ambassador to his community, state and Nigeria in general.
According to him, “There is no way I could have stirred trouble between Yeghe and Ue-GwereBoue, two Ogoni communities that have lived in peace even before I was born”. He therefore described the dispute between the two communities as one induced by some cultists who do not wish both communities well.
Asked about the way forward, the High Chief enjoined both communities to tread with caution and allow peace to prevail. His words, “I am appealing to the public to be calm, while the security officials conduct honest and thorough investigation into the Boue-Yeghe dispute and the plan to invade Yeghe also. I am also appealing to members of Ue-Gwara community to maintain a peaceful disposition, not allowing their youths to be used to create crisis between us. We are brothers and sisters and so shall we continue to be. God knows why he brought us together as communal neighbours”.
Chief Ndigbara also used the occasion to thank the Rivers State Governor, Chief (Barr) Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, for his development strides across the state and called on all Ogoni youths to shun cultism and violent crimes, in order to attract industries and the attendant job opportunities to Ogoniland.
