C’River Tasks Border Communities On Peace

The Cross River Government has called on border
communities in the state to embrace peace and shun tendencies capable of
engendering strife among them.

The Security Adviser to Gov.
Liyel Imoke, Mr Rekpene Bassey,  made the
call in an interview in Calabar.

Bassey spoke at the backdrop
of renewed communal hostilities over farmland between the Ndeagu-Amagu
community in Ikwo Local Government of Ebonyi and Adadama in Abi Local
Government Area of Cross River.

He decried the preponderance
of intra -state and inter-state communal clashes in the area, noting that it
was important that border communities learn to live together amicably, and
advised the warring communities to sheathe their swords and wait for
appropriate government intervention for final resolution of the issues causing
acrimony among them.

“The truth is that the
recourse to violence will not help matters. It will only bring us more sorrow,
sadness and, possibly, escalate the situation. It is not right for us kill to
and maim each time.

“The best approach to resolve
violent situation is to come together to find out the immediate and remote
causes of the crises , and articulate the way forward, instead, getting
involved in hostility,’’ he said.

The governor’s aide said that
the state government was making efforts to come up with measures to forestall
communal and social crises in the state.

He disclosed that the
government had deployed security agencies to the affected areas to prevent
further escalation, adding that investigation had begun into the matter.

“Investigations are ongoing on
the matter. The persons assigned and charged with responsibilities of carrying
out investigation will come up with a report which I believe will not only be
professional but also unbiased. “This, I believe will help in forestalling such
occurrences in future,’’ he said

According to him, most of the
issues are actually begging for resolutions by the National Boundary
Commission.

Bassey said that several
meetings had been held to resolve the land dispute between both communities,
adding that governments of both states had started taking steps to resolve the
issue.

He said that top government
officials from Cross River would visit the area to assess the extent of damage.

A member of Adadama community,
Mr John-Gaul Lebo, said the land dispute between the two contiguous communities
had lingered for decades.

He said the state
government had deployed “Operation Messa”, a joint security task force to keep
the peace after the clash which claimed lives and property on Monday.