JUSTICE DELAYED: UGBOHA'S PLEA FOR COMPENSATION CAUGHT IN EDO'S PEACE POLICY LIMBO

JUSTICE DELAYED: UGBOHA'S PLEA FOR COMPENSATION CAUGHT IN EDO'S PEACE POLICY LIMBO

BY ADMIN

In Ugboha,Edo State ,a farming community in Esan South-East, the familiar sound of cassava pounding for garri has long defined daily life. Today, however, that rhythm is broken. It is now interrupted by the silence of deserted farmlands and the anguished voices of women whose grief has spilled into the streets in a peaceful but urgent demonstration.

Led by Dr. Mrs. Louisa Eikhomun-Agbonkhese, scores of women marched to the palace of the Onojie of Ugboha, HRH Stephen Eidenojie Ukato II, bearing a list of demands born from desperation: protection from armed groups, recovery of seized ancestral farmlands, and immediate restitution for women who have suffered violence.

But while these women call for action to save their lives and livelihoods, a policy instrument that could directly address their plight remains unsigned in Benin City. 

As of April 2026, the State Action Plan (SAP) on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS)—Edo State’s domestication of UN Security Council Resolution 1325—still awaits Governor Monday Okpebholo’s signature

For Ugboha residents, the forest that once sustained them has become hostile ground, now described as “conquered territory” overrun by armed Fulani militants and killer herders. What began as farmer-herder disputes has escalated into widespread terror, leaving the community under economic and physical siege.

“Ugboha women are being turned into widows, children into orphans, and mothers into childless mourners,” Dr. Eikhomun-Agbonkhese said during the protest. She described a brutal pattern where ransom kidnappings have plunged families into crippling debt, while the threat of murder has kept farmers away from their fields as the new planting season begins.

To break this cycle, the women are calling for the creation of an Edo State Agency for Victims of Terror Attacks—an institution that would provide financial relief for destroyed crops, lost breadwinners, and shattered livelihoods

The crisis in Ugboha exposes a stark policy void. The unsigned WPS Action Plan is more than a bureaucratic formality; it is the bridge between the women’s trauma and meaningful state intervention.

Reports from the Journalists for Peace Network describe the situation as the “Edo Delay”—a missed chance to entrench stability across the state. If enacted, the WPS framework would deliver:

Neighbouring states, including Delta, Kogi, and Niger—where the plan was adopted on March 31, 2026—have already institutionalized these measures. Edo, by contrast, remains in a state of strategic inaction.

Governor Okpebholo’s administration has anchored its “Renewed Hope” agenda on visible infrastructure delivery, repeatedly condemning “unnecessary delays” in road projects. In January 2026, he warned contractors bluntly: “There is no time to waste.”

Yet the women of Ugboha are questioning why the same urgency has not been extended to their safety. The continued delay in signing the WPS Action Plan implies a governance priority that elevates concrete and asphalt above community welfare. As one member of the Journalists for Peace Network noted: “A promise without a deadline is just a platitude.”

The contradiction is striking. On March 4, 2026, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP-Nigeria) held high-level discussions with the Office of the First Lady, Mrs. Okpebholo Anani, who pledged to ensure the document would be signed into law.

Yet as April advances and Esan land’s crucial farming season slips away, the governor’s signature is still absent.

The Onojie of Ugboha assured the protesters that their message would be delivered to the state government. But for the widows staring at empty barns and mounting debts, “reaffirmations of commitment” are no longer enough.

The women of Edo are watching closely. They are demanding that Governor Okpebholo move beyond infrastructure rhetoric and sign the WPS Action Plan into effect.

 The people who use the roads deserve the same urgency as the roads themselves. Until that document is signed, the “Heartbeat of the Nation” risks flatlining in its rural communities.