Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Crisis is currently brewing between Aku community and Ikolo community both in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, over a protracted land dispute.
This was revealed in a petition dated May 28, 2020, addressed to the director, State Security Services (SSS) by the Aku General Assembly entitled: “Notice of serious security threat of potential communal war between Aku and Ikolo communities over boundary dispute.”
The petition which was jointly signed by Osy Okanya, chairman, Aku Peace Committee, Chijioke Ogbobe, secretary and Fidelis Odo, president general, Aku General Assembly, detailed how the lingering boundary dispute, which dates back to 1942, has put the two communities on the brink of war.
Accordingly to the petitioners, the latest round of hostility was sparked off by the demolition of an uncompleted bungalow belonging to Ikechukwu Mbah, an indigene of Aku by hoodlums suspected to be from Ikolo community.
They said: “The situation is causing serious concern to Aku community because it has a high potential of degenerating into a communal conflict between the two sister communities with attendant blood shed.
“It is on the score of this great concern and the civilised nature of Aku community that we wish to bring this situation to the notice of your office with a view to partnering the state government and other security agencies to arrest any consequential possible breakdown of law and order and to seek an amicable solution to this lingering boundary dispute impasse between the two communities.”