The Chairman of Emohua Local Government Council, Hon. Allen Nma says his peace initiative has begun to yield fruits as nearly 100 youths from Egbeda community returned their arms and ammunition and pledged to turn a new leaf.

The EMOLGA boss who disclosed this in an interview with The Tide in his office identified security as a serious challenge facing the local government but expressed satisfaction with the feat recorded at Egbeda.

“What we did was to identify the people involved and talked them out of it, not by force. Last month, the council granted nearly 100 youths of Egbeda what we described as local amnesty, where they brought arms and ammunition they used for robbery and kidnapping, and today, the place is calm. The villagers sleep very well”, he said.

Hon. Nma also stated that normalcy was gradually returning to Rumuekpe community which was engulfed in communal crisis and called on every well-meaning person in the area to appeal to those benefiting from the crisis to embrace peace.

“I am begging you journalists and well-meaning persons in the area to see how they can advise those who benefit from the crisis at Rumuekpe.

“You see whenever there is crisis, one or two persons benefit from the crisis. Those ones won’t allow peace to reign.

However, Rumuekpe of today is not Rumuekpe of before I assumed office. We have done a lot of work there. People are going home. The only thing is that they don’t have accommodation”, he said.

Hon. Nma noted that his administration had embarked on a number of people-oriented projects such as roads, classroom blocks, housing units, water and power supply.

He said that arrangements had been concluded for the training of youths from the LGA on Information and Communication technology (ICT) while the market built by his predecessor would be put into use in no distant time.

He reiterated the need for peace and assured that his administration would maximize the limted resources at its disposal for the benefit of the people.

Reward Akwu