Read Okowa's Message to Isoko People As Gbagi, Manager, Others Graced Funeral Ceremony of Ekoko
Delta State Governor, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa on Saturday, called on Isoko People specifically communities embroiled in boundary dispute, which has led to crises and loss of lives to embrace peace.
Okowa made the call on Saturday at the funeral of late Professor Abednego Ekoko at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Uzere in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
He said that no land was worth the life of any individual and urged Isoko people to embrace peace in honour of late Ekoko who was an accomplished boundary scholar.
Okowa said that Ekoko contributed immensely to the peaceful resolution of crises in many communities and therefore charge his people to end strife and tread the path of peace in memoryof the deceased peacemaker.
The governor recalled that Ekoko played vital role in the resolution of Aladja-Ogbe-Ijoh crisis and other boundary issues in the state and across the country when he served as National Commissioner, National Boundaries Commission.
“In everything he found himself doing he excelled and he taught my wife at the postgraduate level and has impacted directly on my family.
“In the community, he rose to achieve the highest honour in the land and beyond serving God, he served Nigeria at our national governance and through various appointments in the state.
“He was a special appointee of our state government as Executive Assistant (Boundary Matters).
“He was indeed a boundary scholar and I can attest to the fact that he contributed immensely to the peace we have in Aladja-Ogbe-Ijoh today.
“As Isoko people, let us honour Ekoko at his death by embracing peace. There are a lot of boundary disputes and communal crises in Isoko which ought not to be.
“In honour of the death of a boundary scholar that worked for peace in many communities, let us stop fighting and live peacefully.”
He counselled the people to eschew bitterness, especially over land matters, saying “when you fight because of land and for the sake of land destroy lives, those lives you destroyed you cannot recreate them when you settle.
“No land is worth the life of anyone and as leaders and elders, we ought to handover things that will connote peace and development and not crisis.
“I hope that the sermon spoken to us today will touch our lives for a change in honour of the late Ekoko.”
Okowa urged the leadership of Isoko Development Union and the Christian community to organise a collective prayer to rededicate Isokoland to God.
“It is a time for us to examine our faith, a time for self-introspection and reconciliation, and we must realise that it’s only in love the Isoko nation can be built to a greater nation.
“The charge from Christ is for us to reexamine ourselves and it is not too late to start,” he added.
Earlier in his sermon, Bishop of Oleh Diocese (Anglican Communion), Rt. Rev. John Aruakpor, said that late Professor Ekoko was a man who worked for peace across the country.
He described him as a man who was an addicted singer and worshipper of God, adding that his death was a great loss to christendom.
The bishop said that Ekoko worshipped God even through pains and sickness.
He urged Christians to live in peace and shun the spirit of bitterness and acrimony which had pervaded the land in recent years.
“As politicians, it is only when we are united that we can attract dividends of democracy to our land,” he said.
