Reps seek security deployment and boundary survey after Ondo clashes

The House of Representatives has called for urgent intervention following reported attacks, arson and injuries in parts of Ondo State’s Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency. The resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Donald Ojogo at Tuesday’s resumed plenary. Ojogo alleged that armed youths from the Itsekiri community in Delta State’s Warri North Local Government Area had attacked residents of Odun-Ebighan, Eke and neighbouring communities.

He said the affected areas had experienced a series of attacks over four weeks, including the burning of houses and injuries to residents. He warned that the violence threatened longstanding relations between the Ilaje and Itsekiri peoples. According to Ojogo, the dispute was linked largely to competing claims over territory believed to contain oil and gas resources.

He urged the House to act before the situation developed into a wider communal conflict. The House mandated its Committee on Special Duties to work with the National Boundary Commission to determine the ownership and status of disputed areas along the Ondo–Delta boundary. Lawmakers also sought the deployment of security personnel, including the Nigerian Army, Navy and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, to restore order and prevent further attacks.

The Committees on Emergency and Disaster Management and the Niger Delta Development Commission were asked to provide immediate assistance to people displaced by the reported violence. The proposed boundary exercise is intended to establish an institutional basis for resolving the territorial disagreement. For residents, however, the immediate priorities identified in the motion are protection of lives and property, restoration of security and help for those forced from their homes.