Demarcate disputed land now, Ebonyi war victims demand

The war victims in the Azuofia Edda community in the Abakaliki local government area of Ebonyi have called for the demarcation of the disputed land between them and their neighbouring community in the Cross River State.

The Chairman of Zone Five Azuofia Edda community Mr Innocent Igwe made the call during the disbursement of the relief materials donated to the war victims by an Ebonyi-born businessman and philanthropist, Mr Monday Elom, to cushion the effects of the war during the Yuletide.

He urged the state and federal government authorities to intensify efforts to demarcate the disputed land to establish a lasting peace in the area.

Igwe, a retired Head Master, noted that the community’s basic social amenities, especially the schools, health centres, boreholes and roads, had gone moribund and urged urgent intervention by the government in power to alleviate the people’s suffering.

He commended Monday Elom, the Chief Executive Director of Molompet Nigeria Limited, for distributing the palliatives, including two cows, over one hundred 25-kg bags of rice, cartons of Maggi seasoning, salt, assorted drinks and cash gifts to the war victims at St Mary’s Primary School Azuofia Edda.

The Chairman noted that the beneficiaries of the gift items included 45 widows whose husbands were consumed by communal war and over 100 elders, orphans and other less privileged people in the Azuofia Edda community ravaged by war due to the boundary dispute that occurred in 2027.

The donor, Mr Monday Elom said that he donated gift items as a way to cushion the effects of hardship faced by Azuofia Edda people, due to the alleged government absence since after the end of communal crisis with their sister Cross River community in the area since 2017.

Elom, who is a native of the community, said that the event had been an annual programme meant to touch the lives of the downtrodden in the once war-ravaged area; he lamented that his people are suffering; hence, he donated the items to ameliorate their plights.

While commending the Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru, for his people’s oriented government, Elom appealed to the stakeholders, including federal lawmakers representing the zone, to intervene in the provision of social amenities to the Edda Community, adding that over 150 graduates from different fields of studies live currently in the community without jobs.

“I am calling on the stakeholders, especially our political leaders, the well-meaning individuals and organizations, to come and do more in assisting this war-ravaged community because they are dying of starvation and lack of essential social amenities. If you look at their faces, you know that they are suffering because 80 per cent of their farmlands are taken away, and some are being placed under embargo. For the sake of peace and justice, to avoid any other crisis, all of them were deprived of their farmlands, and some were homeless, about 500 houses were burnt down during the war, which resulted in many being displaced from this community.

“I appeal to His Excellency the governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Francis Nwifuru, the Senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Senator Peter Onyekachi Nwebonyi and the member representing Abakaliki/Izzi Federal Constituency, Chief Emmanuel Uguru and our own, the APC National Treasurer, Mr Matthew Uguru who know our predicament to come to assist these war victims.

“Imagine, in the nine communities, only one borehole is working. If you look around, you see moribund structures in our primary schools, the structures of the health centre are even the worst. Our children are schooling outside this community because some of our schools were burnt down during the war, and nobody attempted rebuilding them; there is no structure, no teachers in any school here, and even the government health personnel are nowhere to be found here. We know that education is the key, but these people have no environment for studies in this community.

“I appreciate our brother, who is the APC National Treasurer, for his contributions so far, but he has to do more, especially in the area of employment, because we have over 150 graduates from different fields of studies in this community without jobs,” he said.