One Person Shot As Land Dispute Escalates Between Delta Communities

A chaotic situation and an alleged shooting occurred between the Sapele Okpe community in Sapele Local Government Area and the Abigborodo community in Warri North Local Government Area, Delta State, due to a land dispute.

SaharaReporters further learned that the clash between the two communities, which resulted in the shooting of a Sapele Okpe resident, Patrick Gageche, took place on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, in Sapele town, representatives of the Sapele Okpe community, including Onoriode Temiagin, Godwin Atose, Austin Arieja, and others, addressed journalists, condemning the incident. 

They alleged that the attack was orchestrated by an Abigborodo youth leader, Ephraim Mebradu, acting on instructions from their leadership.

Sapele Okpe community leaders claimed that the shooting of Gageche, who was fishing at the time, was a deliberate attempt to intimidate their people and forcefully seize disputed lands. 

The ongoing crisis is attributed to a long-standing ownership conflict over the Otonyasere and Ugbekoko lands. 

Sapele Okpe leaders maintain that these lands historically belong to the Okpe Kingdom. They accused a prominent Abigborodo figure, Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan, of exacerbating the dispute by allegedly presenting falsified documents and misleading government agencies to support Abigborodo’s territorial claims.

Referencing historical records, the Sapele Okpe community argued that colonial-era land documents, including the Okpe-Sobo Forest Reserve Ordinance of 1933, reaffirm their ownership. 

They assert that recent efforts by Abigborodo to claim the land are fraudulent and a deliberate misrepresentation of historical facts.

 

The community also rejected claims that a judicial panel of inquiry had awarded the disputed land to Abigborodo, describing such assertions as "false and misleading." 

The community insisted that the panel found no credible evidence supporting Abigborodo’s claims and urged the public not to be deceived by "desperate attempts to rewrite history." 

The Sapele Okpe community leaders expressed concerns about what they described as a pattern of harassment and intimidation. 

They alleged that since 2019, several of their members have been targeted with criminal charges, including allegations of murder and kidnapping, as part of a broader effort to suppress their resistance.

According to the leaders, rather than using violence as a means of settling disputes, "we call for a legal resolution”. 

SARAHA REPORTERS