The Committee on the Resolution of Ibagwa-Nike Communal Crisis in the Enugu State Assembly has called on the indigenes to surrender all weapons in their possession to the law enforcement agencies.

The Chairman of the committee and Leader of the assembly, Mr Sunday Ude-Okoye, who made the call on Tuesday when he presented the report of the committee during plenary, warned that those who failed to surrender their weapons would risk prosecution.

He also urged the people of the state to withdraw all related pending cases in the courts.

According to him, the committee has also recommended that the 1963 declaration on Ibagwa Nike land should be retained and respected by all indigenes.

“The committee hereby recommends as follows, Igwe Emma O. Ugwu should retain his position in the community as the traditional of Ibagwa Nike as he has been duly recognised by the Enugu state government and issued certificate of recognition.

“The amended 2010 constitution of Ibagwa Nike should be reviewed to accommodate all interests within the community. “The committee has mandated the chairman of Enugu East local government area, Hon. Cornelius Nnaji to nominate the members of the constitution review committee two from each of the five families that made-up Ibagwa Nike and the secretary of the committee should be appointed by the chairman from the local government council,” he said.

according to him, “Those that suffered losses through the damage of their properties or sustained considerable body injury and who submitted their damage claims and hospital bills to the special adhoc committee of the Enugu State House of Assembly, 70 per cent of their losses should be paid back by the Power of Attorney through the common fund of the community. “The following associations/groups should be banned in order to curtail their excesses-(a) Royal Youth Vanguard Ibagwa Nike. (b)Transparency Forum Ibagwa Nike, Enugu East local government area. “Be it submitted and it’s hereby submitted for your consideration.”

Ude-Okoye said that more than 12 persons and groups made written and oral submissions after which they identified the non-acceptance of the recognition of Igwe Emma Ugwu by the state government as their traditional ruler as part of the remote causes of the crisis.

Other issues identified as the remote causes of the crisis, according to the committee chairman, also include the defacing of already approved layouts created between 1999 and 2003 by a new team with Power of Attorney between 2008 and 2012 as well as revocation/reallocation of plots earlier allocated to some indigenes by the same team.

He said that the committee also identified the encroachment on the community land by Umuanekeode family, who claimed that two other families had taken such land earlier, as another problem that ignited the crisis.

Ude-Okoye said the committee also identified the alleged over-bearing influence of the community’s traditional ruler on land matters as another factor that sparked off the crisis.

The Speaker of the assembly, Mr. Eugene Odo, commended the committee for a” thorough job”. The report was adopted while the debate on it was deferred to a later date to be determined by the rules and business committee of the assembly.