The chairman of Onicha Local Council of Ebonyi State, Mr Ikechukwu Ogboffia has said that the land dispute between Abaomege and Ishinkwo communities in the council has claimed lives of over 100 people within five years.
Briefing journalists in Abakaliki after Ishinkwo women protested against the demarcation of the disputed area by the state government, Ogboffia urged the warring factions to embrace peace.
The protesters had accused the Council and the Ministry of Lands of not following the White Paper recommendation.
The land dispute, which started in 1912, has left hundreds of people dead with properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
He appealed to the people of the two communities to sheath their swords and accept the government’s demarcation of the land, which would bring lasting peace.
Aged women from Ishinkwo had on Monday morning besieged the Government House Abakaliki, protesting what they called land grabbing from Abaomege people, who are in government, and called for transparency in the land demarcation.
The women alleged fraudulent activities by the Government officials involved in the ongoing land demarcation exercise.
The Ebonyi State government has in its efforts to permanently end the intractable land dispute between Ishinkwo and Abaomege communities in Onicha Council, commenced demarcation of the disputed land as part of terms of settlement contained in the released government white paper.
The women, who protested to register their displeasure over the alleged flawed demarcation exercise, carried placards with different inscriptions, such as: “Gov Nwifuru, father of the State, please, come to our aid”; “where is the map attached to the white paper?”; “enough is enough to land grabbing, follow the white paper”; “Ekeroku, stop taking sides and be neutral”; “return Ugwuekuma Primary School to Ishinkwo, it’s our ancient landmark”; “return Uda Iyiocha to Ishinkwo, it’s our land”; “Ogboffia is out to grab more lands to his community, it’s unfair”; “Ishinkwo military pin down ceded to Abaomege is an injustice”, among others.
The women also marched to the State House of Assembly complex in Nkaliki to register their complaints before the State Lawmakers.
They also accused the Council Chairman of colluding with the land demarcation committee, to allegedly grab Ishinkwo land for his Abaomege community.
In an open letter addressed to Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, signed by National President, Women Wing of Ishinkwo Community Development Union (ICDU), Mrs Fidelia Nworie and 12 others, which they made available to Journalists, the ongoing demarcation exercise is fundamentally flawed, totally skewed, and was capable of breaching the peace building efforts of government.
They called on the Governor to intervene.
They accused the deputy Surveyor General of the State of executing the demarcation exercise without reference to the white paper, the legal basis of the exercise, which according to them, renders the exercise illegal, null, and void.
“The Survey Map, which is a critical component of the White Paper, has also been disregarded by the Deputy Surveyor-General of the State. Despite all our entreaties, the Surveyor General has blatantly refused to make the Map available to guide the demarcation, choosing instead to rely on intuition.
