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| Comrade Awogu KSC |
APGA House of representatives candidate for Ogbaru federal constituency Comrade Arinzechkwu Awogu has given a strong panacea for peace to reign in Ogbaru communities of Ogwu Ikpele and Ogwu Aniocha.
Awogu was reacting to yet another killing of two people in renewed communal crisis in the community.
Awogu who as LGA chairman of Ogbaru made several efforts to stop the unending patricidal hostilities has written a piece titled Yet another disturbing situation from Ogwu, Awogu wrote:
"First, my sincere condolences to the Emordi family of Umunkwokocha village and Emezie family of Umungashi village and the President General of Ogwu-Ikpele community over the loss of their two promising young men in the skirmishes that ensued over minor and resolvable squabbles. I pray for the quick recovery of those injured.
Violence in my view, has never solved any situation or resolved any problem nor proffered solution to heated disagreements and opposing belief systems world over. Rather, dialogue has over time proved a reliable mechanism with lasting touch to resolving all human disputes and disagreements.
Having said this, the time to stop being in the news for the wrong reasons is now for Ogwu-if only words of caution and wisdom could matter anymore; fratricidal bloodletting will always give rise to vicious cycle, it has to be avoided like plague. A little restraint and anger management on the side of all the parties involved could have saved us from this ugly situation.
*HOWEVER :*
The Problem of Ogwu; the two Ogwus (Ogwu-Ikpele and Ogwu-Aniocha) is not security or the absence of peace but the absence of development.
As a former Council Chairman, familiar with the trappings of far flung areas of the Council, with first hand understanding of their peculiarities, the case of the Ogwus is more of *Developmental Issues than Security.* Bring development to Ogwu and Ogwu will regenerate into a model of some sort.
Let us open up Ogwu to civilization and watch its inhabitants shed off extreme reflexes. Let's construct road to Ogwu-Ikpele linking Ase-Ndoni (in Rivers State); Let us construct road from Umunankwo/Mputu to Ogwu-Aniocha (with a bridge over Ulasi River) linking the road to Umudara upto Ihiala. The availability of access road will primarily make Ogwu accessible to many by road including swift movement of security operatives. Security agents will at the slightest impulse move in to arrest ugly situations and will create no hiding place for internal wrong dowers. Access road to Ogwu will bring more people into Ogwu and pull more Ogwu people to environments other than theirs, leading to mixed behavioural pattern and new orientation. One may be tempted to ask: How many non-natives are in Ogwu? Probably none. The way we rate a progressive and livable city by the number of foreign residents-real whites (Anglo-Saxon whites) is how we rate a community by the number of non-natives resident in her; as no community develops without the preponderance of non-natives, if you like-you call them quality residents (visitors)-as they come in they are coming with their different ways of life and social-intros all of which have become elusive at the moment.
Aside access road, comes social amenities and services that represent the social, cultural and economic development of Ogwu such as electricity, healthcare, drinking water, schools, housing, communication, jetties, trading centres and so on. Let's take electricity to Ogwu; Let's take hospital to Ogwu alongside health workers that will reside in Ogwu. Let's bring Federal Government presence to Ogwu- A campus of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (Effurun, Warri, Delta State) won't be bad in Ogwu-an oil reach community. Let Agro-based industries be sited in Ogwu.
Let Ogwu drive Ogbaru's industrialization effort. We cannot at this stage of human advancement allow Ogwu to wallow in self-destruction when a simple commitment to her development could trigger off an eldorado right in our backyard.
A special attention that is developmental based will be given to Ogwu under my representation. For us as Ndi-Ogbahu, we are as weak as our weakest link and until we help our weakest link to get up, we will ourselves be held to the ground.
Ogwu should be our collective concern.
I call for restraint on all parties to the dispute, while urging men and women of goodwill in Ogwu-Ikpele and beyond to intervene and work assiduously to lower the heightened tension and calm frayed nerves. I will be very much willing to assist in the effort at resolving this unfortunate situation.
Peaceful approach is a panacea to all difficulties.
Many thanks,
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