Magnus Eze, Enugu
Two boundary communities of Amaeze Ishiagu in Ivo Local Government Area, Ebonyi state and their neighbours of Uru-Lokpanta in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia state are presently at each other’s throat. They bicker over the actual ownership of a granite quarry site located within their environment.
The tussle has snowballed into accusations and counter accusations of killing, kidnap and other forms of crimes on both sides. In fact, palpable tension enveloped the whole area at the weekend, when our correspondent visited.
The situation has led to a ‘Save Our Soul’ (SOS) cry by the people of Amaeze Ishiagu to the Federal Government and the security agencies to halt their alleged unlawful intimidation by miscreants from Uru-Lokpanta community.
They among other atrocities pointed accusing fingers on Uru-Lokpanta for abducting of one of their sons, Mr Paul Ossi, from his farm on March 28, this year, beating him to stupor before abandoning him on thought that he was dead. But miraculously, Ossi came back to life and was resuscitated by a Good Samaritan.
Chairman of Amaeze Development Union (ADU), Mr. Chief Paulinus Osita, who addressed newsmen in Enugu said: “As though to make an already bad situation worse, these youths assaulted the Amaeze-Ishiagu women caught in their illegal roadblock such as 67-year old Mrs. Maria Aroh who had earlier discovered the Uru-Lokpanta youths while lying in ambush and proceeded to kidnap indigenes of Amaeze-Ishiagu such as Mr. Christian Okechukwu and many others”.
Secretary of ADU, Mr Ukah Chukwuma corroborated the Osita’s claim, while alleging instances of snatching of motorcycles, harassment and seizure of commodities of their people by thugs and miscreants, allegedly from Uru-Lokpanta.
The Ebonyi community further dismissed allegation of brutality against the Nigerian Army team in the area as baseless, unfounded, puerile and provocative, noting that it was promoted by a renegade faction of the people of Uru-Lokpanta bent on instigating crisis in the otherwise peaceful mineral-rich area, for its selfish interest.
According to them, the said site of the granite quarry currently operated by Yiter Quarry Nigeria Ltd and its environs are exclusively within Amaeze community. The delineation of the boundaries between Abia State and Ebonyi State, they said, further corroborated this fact, even as they claimed the executives of Uru Improvement Union and the ADU had after a meeting on February 5, 2003, jointly issued a memorandum wherein the leaders of Uru-Lokpanta stated that the land whereon Setraco Nig. Ltd operated its granite quarry belonged exclusively to Amaeze-Ishiagu.
They alleged that an agreement was duly executed by officials of Setraco Nig. Ltd and the leaders and the accredited representatives of the Uru-Lokpanta community where it was expressly conceded that the agreement was limited to a section of the access road belonging to Uru-Lokpanta community.
The Ebonyi community stated that “Upon the execution of this agreement, copies of the agreement were stamped, filed and registered at the Magistrates Court of Abia State, Umunneochi on the 27th day of October 2008.
“From these documents and more that support Amaeze-Ishiagu’s sole ownership of the land hosting the quarry site, we are surprised by the claim of certain individuals in Uru-Lokpanta community to the quarry. The only reasonable explanation we can conjecture is the handiwork of fifth columnists sponsored by a renegade faction of the leadership of Uru-Lokpanta community who are bent to cause crisis with a view to benefitting therefrom”.
On their part, a group operating under the platform of ‘Uru Improvement Union’ accused their Ebonyi neighbours of stoking crisis in the area, claiming to be the authentic owners of the quarry site.
Secretary General, Uru Improvement Union, Mr Chukwudi Ikwu, through their counsel, E. Emeka Anosike and Associates, accused Amaeze-Ishiagu community of truncating the embargo placed on the sale of granite from the supposedly controversial quarry.
They said that the killing of a youth from the community, Ikedichukwu Egwu allegedly by a soldier on security mission at the disputed area was influenced by people from Amaeze Ishiagu; a claim that was swiftly debunked by the latter, who wondered where they got the power to control soldiers.
Egwu was reportedly shot on Sunday, June 16, 2019, while he was with other youths at the community square, and he eventually died the following day, after receiving treatment at a local clinic.
Just like their Ebonyi counterparts, the Uru-Lokpanta people appealed to the authorities to intervene, with a view to stopping further killings of their citizens with impunity.
Ikwu warned that if nothing was urgently done, the situation could degenerate to clannish war.
When contacted, spokesperson of Ebonyi State Police Command, DSP Loveth Odah said she was not aware of the issue even as she stated that it was not possible for police from Ebonyi to go and operate in Abia territory.