December 30, 2011
Oil discovery tears Ute-Ohenze apart, many villagers killed
By Kelvin Ideh
The once quiet and peaceful agrarian community, Ute-Ohenze, in Edo State, has been torn apart following series of crises that have engulfed the community since oil(petrol) was discovered in the area. Indeed, trouble started in early 2011 when Pan Ocean Oil Company visited the community and announced the discovery of crude oil. The news of the discovery threw the government abandoned community into joy, having put into consideration the huge gains accrued to host community. Unfortunately, reverse became the case as Ute-Ohenze Community rather than enjoy oil benefits as a host community was engulfed by serious internal wars.
A prominent indigene of the war ravaged community and strong stakeholder who spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity revealed by saying, " Ute-Ohenze is burning at the moment, our palace has been burnt down with fire. Many of our houses have been set on fire and farms destroyed. Everyone in our community has ran away to seek for safety somewhere. I managed to escape by the whiskers and as I speak with journalists right now I do not know the whereabouts of my wife and children."
He further disclosed," that the highest victims of the ugly incident were his elder brother's wife and children who were all trapped in their building and fire was set on them. He stated that the only member of the family who survived the evil attack was Okwuesi Monday but he later disappeared from the community owing to multiple threats on his life.
He noted, " We were living peacefully in our community,Ute- Ohenze, in Edo State until Oil was discovered. The oil prospecting company, PAN Ocean at the beginning created avenue for such ugly incident to happen. The community was totally abandoned by the company which was sharing money to few persons in the community, including the King. The cat was let out of the bag after the king of the community alongside some of his Chief embezzled the two hundred million naira (200,000,000) from Pan Ocean. Attempts to collect the money from the king and his cohorts triggered the war which unfortunately led to the death of almost one hundred persons with many injured. The worst affected was the Okwuesi family where only Okwuesi Monday survived the deadly attack.
When contacted, Nigeria Police, Edo State Command confirmed the report of the crisis and vowed to prosecute all members of the community who war against their King. The command listed Okwuesi Monday, Okafor Dunkwu, Ewere George, Ndidi Okoh, Imafidon Jacob, Jerry Iweka, among other youths in the community as wanted men by police. He promised that the command will prosecute all the aforementioned persons anywhere they are caught.
When journalists visited the crisis ridden Ute-Ohenze Community recently, it was completely empty as all the villagers had ran away to different locations.
