THISDAYonline

It is heartwarming that the peace plan enunciated recently by Governor James Ibori in search of a lasting solution to the protracted Warri crisis is receiving favourable responses from indigenes of the area. Tagged the Road Map to Peace, Ibori's proposal entails the creation of separate local government councils for each of the warring ethnic groups in Warri, namely the Urhobo, the Ijaw and Itshekiri. In the estimation of the Delta State government, this will be the panacea for peace in the troubled Warri axis.

Last week, governor Ibori took the proposal to the State House of Assembly which alone has the constitutional powers to effectuate the proposal. The house, which had to recall its members from vacation for the special session, is yet to commence debate on the proposal. Like all matters before any legislative House, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the debate. But there can be no doubt that members, irrespective of their ethnic interests, affiliations and roots, would embrace any plan that will find a lasting solution to the fratricidal crisis.

And, of course, Ibori's Road Map to Peace is one of such; if not, in the opinion of many, the best option. Fortunately, the Speaker of the state (Delta) House of Assembly, Hon. Young Daniel Igbrude, was recently reported as saying that if the creation of new local government councils would solve the problem for good, the House will not fail to do so. Almost simultaneously, a prominent Ijaw leader and former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, was also reported to have welcomed the Ibori proposal, describing it as appropriate and a bold step towards the restoraffon of peaceful co- existence amongst the feuding ethnic groups. According to reports, Clark believes that governor Ibori has done the right thing. Apart from the Ijaw, the Urhobo are also believed to have endorsed the proposal. But recent media reports on the reaction of Itsekiri leaders is not encouraging. They have reportedly rejected the Ibori peace plan. Represented by their chief spokesman, Gabriel Mabiaku, the Itsekiri have accused Ibori of trying to do something illegal with the proposed creation of new local councils. But this fear is unfounded and should be allayed immediately.

There is nothing suggestive of illegality in the government's plan. Ibori has taken the first step constitutionally required of him by taking the matter to the House of Assembly. And only the House, some of which members are obviously Itsekiri, can take a final decision of what to do with the proposal. However, the Itsekiri leaders' observation that there has not been adequate consultation on the matter should be noted by the government and appropriate steps taken. Besides, it is gladdening that the Itsekiri leaders have assured of their co-operation if due process is followed. They say they are ready to negotiate peace on a round table. This is what the rest of Nigeria expects of the able and highly expected leaders of Itsekiri. And they should be encouraged and assisted along this line. Indeed, many observers believe that after a measured study of the proposal, the Itsekiri will surely ernbrace it. Despite that the Itsekiri, rightly or wrongly, have been accused in several quarters as being the most aggressive of the three warring fachons, analysts believe that it is unlikely that they would want to be seen as the only obstacle before the current peace plan.

This is what should be expected of them. After all, it has, by some primordial circumstances, provided the traditional leadership of Warri, itself, in the Olu of Warri. This, in spite of the fact that it was the dispute over the proper nomenclature of the Warri Kinggship that laid the grounds for the perennial crisis. However, a more compelling reason why they, the Itsekiri, should embrace this option is that their history shows that they have, togemer with the Urhobo and the Ijaw, benefited from such arrangements in the past. Between the late nineteenth century and the mid 1940s, the three groups lived peacefully together. The major thing that made this possible was that the then colonial administrations and the subsequent immediate post independence ones adopted the principle of ethnic autonomy in structuring the local government administration system in the area. Thus, the then Warri Province had local government councils each for the Urhobo, the Isoko, the Ijaw, the Ukwuani and the Itsekiri themselves. Later, under the old Western Regional Government, the then Warri Province was split into seven local councils, three each for the Ijaw (Gbaramatu, Egbema and Ogbe-Ijoh); Itsekiri (Ugborodo, Benin River and Koko) and the Warri urban council where everybody was free to contest election.

Under this type of arrangement, which recognised the individual identities of all the constituent ethnic and language groups, peace and mutually beneficial co-existence reigned. It is pertinent to point out that it was the merger of these.seven local councils into one - the Warri Local Government - by the military in 1976, that sowed the seed for the crisis. Although the council was later again split into Warri North and Warri South, the arrangement could not carter for the aspirations of the constituent groups; to have separate identities of their own. This again led to the further splitting of the area into Warri South Local Council in Ogbeh Ijoh, Warri North, Koko and Warri Central with headquarters in Warri, following the recommendations of the Arthur Mbanefo Committee for the creation of councils in 1996. Initially, things appeared to be working until the wrongful relocation of the headquarters of the Warri South local council from Ogbeh Ijoh, an Ijaw enclave, to Ogidigbon, an Itsekiri stronghold and its renaming to Warri - South - West local council. Once this happened, the stage was set for the renewed violence that seems to defy every solution.

Obviously, the present arrangement lacks the necessary ingredients for balancing ethnic interests in the (Warri) area. Needless to say, only an "indigenous" administrative framework, in the Warri axis, can guarantee a fair, just and equitable co-existence. This is the bottom of Ibori's peace plan. As could be seen from the above, history is on Ibori's side. It was the type of arrangement the governor now envisages that made it possible in the past for the three ethnic groups - the Ijaw, the Itsekiri and the Urhobo - to not only mutually co-exist but also be able to present a common front before the European adventurists and traders who made the first contacts with Nigeria through the coastal region.

And collectively they prospered for a very long time, to the admiration of their immediate neighbours. Is it not, therefore, an irony that the same people are today destroying what they built together? But it is not too late. From the ashes of the ruins of Warri will surely emerge a stronger and peaceful people. This is the challenge for the leaders of the three ethnic groups. Of course, the rest of Nigeria has a duty to encourage them to work out an indigenous solution to the problem, one fashioned by themselves. We should bury the idea of American Marines. Not even the 900 armed policemen and soldiers can ensure lasting peace among a people for whom the principle of live and let live is not an abiding one. Ibori and the Delta State House of Assembly should be encouraged to see this plan through, as it appears to be the most feasible option.

On the whole, Deltans owe themselves a duty to restore lasting peace in this part of their state. The formula lies right there with them. They should not buy the idea that the matter cannot be resolved. It can. In the history of human existence, ethnic differences have been used as even unifying forces to give separate collectives of people a sense of community and strong group identity. This is exactly the formula to peace in Warri as well articulated in Ibori's road map to peace

Akpojevwa writes from Lagos