‘K-Dere Owns Three Quarter Of B-Dere’

As both communities continue to make claims and counter-claims at the Justice Gerogewill Panel of Inquiry, a cleric from K-Dere, midweek, tendered an Appeal Court judgement that gave three-quarter of B-Dere land to the community in 1998.

Pastor Tonubari Zia-Bonu, who is also a lawyer, during his cross examination by the panel tendered volumes of documents which was admitted as KD 11, K-D 12, and K-D 13.

The cleric, who denied sponsoring his community in fighting B-Dere, said prior to the violence that erupted between both communities in October, last year, there had been legal tussles going on between the two sister communities since 1989.

Zia-Bonu, who claimed to be the Legal Advisor to K-Dere community, said majority of the land being claimed by B-Dere people today were as a result of age long land transactions between families in K-Dere to B-Dere, while backing his claims with huge volumes of land agreement admitted as K-D 10 by the panel.

He related that before the violence broke out, a quiet land dispute had simmered between the two communities on a fish pond and evil forest in the area.

Earlier in his testimony, a member of the Rivers State Scholarship Board, Pastor David Laka denied claims by the B-Dere people that he was one of the sponsors of the mayhem.

Pastor Laka stated that since 2006, after his mother’s burial in the community, he has not visited or attended any K-Dere community meetings.

The former Special Adviser to Dr. Peter Odili on Water Resources, while condemning the killing and violence that erupted between both between communities, noted that he has always used his position to seek the advancement of the people.

Meanwhile, Justice Georgewill has called on both communities to remain calm as the panel continues, its probe and public hearing.

He remarked that it was only through peace that justice and equity could be gotten, while assuring that the four-man panel would restore lasting peace to the warring communities.