The killing of a young man, Mr. Pigha Zipamone amid lingering land dispute between two communities in the Creeks of River Forcados in Bomadi and Ughelli South Local Government Areas of Delta State has unsettled the communities.
The victim, Mr Zipamone, from Okoloba community was reportedly ambushed, killed and drowned by armed Okuama youths.
The Chairman of Okoloba Federated Community, Mr Clement Koki, addressing newsmen shortly after handing over the corpse of the victim to men of the Joint Task Force, (JTF), Bomadi Division, said the late Zipamone met his death went to work at his mother’s farm.
“On 5th March, 2024, Mr. Pigha Zipamone went to work in his mother’s farm and was kidnapped by Okuama people who have been laying ambush day and night to attack us.
“He was taken to Okuama community, beaten mercilessly with hands tied behind his back on daily basis in the village square and eventually killed him on 8th March, 2024.
“His lifeless body was thrown into River Forcados in the early hours of March 9, 2024. This was in keeping with their earlier promise that they were going to attack Okoloba,” Koki said.
He emphasized that the Okoloba community is a freeborn community and “unarguably the first fruit of Mein our progenitor, therefore, can never ever be slaves to settlers or any community for that matter.”
Koki warned that the community will not hesitate to enforce its God-given right to self-defense as expressly entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.
He recalled that the Okoloba community had been drawing public attention to the alleged criminal and diabolic activities of Okuama settlers but have been on the receiving end all these years.
“But, be it known that there is a limit to every human endurance, we have been pushed to the wall,” Koki stated
When contacted, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident.
