The Delta State government on Tuesday released the White Paper on the resolution of the communal crisis between Ozoro and Oleh communities in Isoko North and Isoko South local government areas of the state, with approval to compensate families of victims.
Ifeanyi Okowa, the state governor disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen after inspecting ongoing projects at the Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro.
He said the state executive council had approved the White Paper on the crisis sequel to the recommendations of the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on the crisis.
According to him, we have looked into the Ozoro-Oleh crisis and we are already implementing the decisions of the Judicial Panel.
“The Judicial Panel of Enquiry has finished its work and submitted its report.
“The White Paper has also been released by the state’s executive council and the whole process to ensure the pace is being implemented by the office of the Secretary to the state government.
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“Unfortunately, we lost some people to the crisis. And, it’s unfortunate we cannot bring them back, but I am also aware that approvals have been given to compensate the families who lost loved ones during the crisis.
“The cheques will be released on Thursday this week, I just hope and pray that we do not go into that level of a communal crisis anymore,” the governor stated.
It would be recalled that on October 12, 2020, about 12 indigenes of Oleh were gruesomely murdered on their farmland by those suspected to be indigenes of Ozoro.
Following the ugly incident, the state government set up the judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the crisis.
The two Isoko communities had been at loggerheads over a lingering boundary dispute that had defied all efforts to resolve.
