By Charles Pemu 
WARRI, DELTA STATE – Prominent Itsekiri filmmaker, community leader, and journalist, Mr. Alex Eyengho, has raised a grave alarm, alleging a direct threat to his life by Gbaramatu-Ijaws in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State. Eyengho, who claimed his phone line is bugged and his activities monitored, released a press statement widely syndicated on Wednesday, June 18, detailing the alleged threats.
Eyengho’s alarm follows public statements by High Chief Godspower Gbenekama, spokesman of the Gbaramatu kingdom. The Itsekiri chieftain refuted claims that Ijaghala community leadership invited Gbaramatu-Ijaws for a recent press conference. Instead, Eyengho asserted, the Gbaramatu-Ijaws “stormed the community by force of arms,” with “over 95 percent” of participants mobilized from Gbabor (now Oporoza) and a “manifestly fake” community letterhead used for a newspaper advertorial. He stressed that no genuine Ijaghala community executive or elder was present at the event.
“If anything bad should happen to me, please don’t look elsewhere, but Gbaramatu-Ijaw clan,” Eyengho stated in his press release, confirming he has received “direct and indirect calls with warnings to watch his back.” Despite this, he declared his refusal to be intimidated, vowing to “continue to speak the truth with the facts known to me.”
Eyengho reiterated his appeal to President Bola Tinubu and Nigerian security agencies to intervene, urging them to halt alleged attempts by Mr. Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo (popularly known as Tompolo) and his “gang” to “torment” Itsekiri communities like Ijaghala and Kantu with threats of forceful evacuation. He controversially linked these actions to the monopoly Tompolo’s TANTITA Company allegedly enjoys in the Federal Government’s pipeline surveillance contract. Eyengho claimed that the “humongous money” from this contract is being used to “intimidate the Itsekiri in their homeland…by forcefully annexing their lands, terrorizing and harassing them on a daily basis.” He urged President Tinubu to critically review this “undeserved monopoly” for the sake of equity, justice, and peace in the Warri Federal Constituency.
The longstanding dispute over land ownership, particularly regarding Ijaghala, remains a flashpoint between the Itsekiri and Gbaramatu-Ijaw ethnic groups. Eyengho maintains that court judgments have long affirmed Ugborodo Community (Itsekiri) ownership of Ijaghala land, with Itsekiri being the community’s official language, culture, and tradition, despite a mixed population. Sources