Bayelsa: Community petitions Dickson over looming chieftaincy crisis

Unless something urgent is done to address the problems, the chieftaincy tussle between two warring groups in oil-rich Okoroma community, Nembe local government council of Bayelsa State, might lead to a breakdown of law and order.

Indigenes of the community, who started fleeing last Friday out of fear, appealed to Governor Seriake Dickson to intervene in the tussle, which has torn the clan apart.

The indigenes, under the aegis of Okoroma Patriotic Movement (OPM), contended that if urgent action was not taken to resolve the crisis, the area risked imminent implosion.

In a petition to Governor Dickson by its President, Mr. Nyenye Matthias, OPM said the crisis surrounding the stool of the Obanobhan of Okoroma had torn the clan apart.

He said Okoroma Clan of Chiefs, which is part of the traditional stool of the Okoroma clan in Nembe, had been engulfed in crisis fuelled by some disgruntled elements, allegedly acting on instructions from the office of the Deputy Governor of the state.