The founder of PEACE LEGEND AWARDS INTERNATIONAL, Mr Jesse Osero Amiri felicitates with Deltans as the state clocks 33 on the 27th of August 2024. He also expresses gratitude to His Excellency, Rt Hon.Sheriff Oborevwori, the Governor of Delta state for hosting the 13th edition of the event titled celebrating 50 LEGENDS/BRANDS TRANSFORMING DELTA STATE.
The award ceremony is a grand event which will take place on the 25th of August, 2024 at the South end event centre, Asaba , Delta State
The awardees of this grand event are drawn from all walks of life , including entertainment, academia, business, banking, media, politics, professional groups and organized labour.
The organizers have emphasized that the list of awardees does not translate to Who is Who in Delta. The Award category has a defined and definite scope .
To qualify for the award, one must have distinguished self in the selfless development in the state over a given period, especially in the area of peace building.
The Founder, Mr Jesse Amiri who spoke to newsmen recently revealed that after successfully organizing the programme in different states in Nigeria he decided to embark on home coming by marking Delta state at 33, celebrating 50 sons and daughters of Delta State extraction who have been the drivers of sustainable peace and development in the State.
Amiri took us memory lane to 1991 when the state was created in order for us to properly assess the developmental process that several drivers had taken the state.
He emphasized that at inception Delta state was not this United. There was mutual distrust amongst the ethnic components of Delta state. The Itsekiris were pitched against the Ijaws, the Urhobos were pitched against the Itsekiris while the Urhobos bickered over the choice of Asaba as the capital city. The choice of Asaba as capital was so offensive to the Urhobos that the first Executive Governor of the state, Olorogun Felix Ibru of blessed memory was reported to have literally Governed the state from his hometown Agbara -Otor.
In the most part of the James Ibori Administration, the Itsekiris and the Ijaws were at each others jugular over the relocation of the headquarters of Warri South west from Ogbe-Ijo to Ogidigben.The altercation that followed led to killings , burning of houses with insecurity so rife that most oil majors together with several oil service companies left Warri for other more peaceful areas of Nigeria and even out of the shores of the country.
The administration of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan inherited this state of insecurity which took other turns like kidnappings and militancy struggle in the creeks .These militant agitations in the creeks nearly crippled the National economy to a halt due to organized pipelines vandalization, outright closure of oil well operations and disruption of pipelines flow of crude to oil refineries.
Today, however the story is different. The Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Isokos and the Anioma people now live in peace.
Apart from Government effort, there are some eminent Deltans who sacrificed their time, their resources and their expertise to contribute to state building process. They contributed to the peace we now enjoy in the State. There is no better time to honour these peace ambassadors of the state than the 33rd Anniversary of the state creation.
The event is also geared towards encouraging other people in the state to contribute their quota in fostering peace and unity in Delta State, the big heart
By this event the awardees have become peace ambassadors and therefore are expected to be role models to the youths and society in general
Unlike in past events of similar nature that are always male dominated, the organizers have carefully selected women who have distinguished themselves in their chosen careers to ensure that the event is gender friendly
Finally we must pay special tribute to the present Governor of Delta State for his M.O.R.E agenda which places high premium on peace and security. The Governor has deliberately driven an enduring process that would galvanize the different ethnic nationalities of the state under one thinking cap
We are particularly grateful to the Governor for reducing inter-ethnic conflict, tensions and bickering in the state to its barest minimum.
As we progress towards attaining full statehood we believe that all Deltans will imbibe the culture of peaceful coexistence, good neighborliness and respect for one another