The Bayelsa State government has resolved the festering land dispute between the Ofoni and Lalagbene communities with a call on both parties to resume and strengthen their longstanding cordial relationship.
The government also restated its position barring communities in the state from signing memoranda of understanding without making recourse to the office of the state attorney general and commissioner for justice.
The Deputy Governor, Peter Akpe, stated this at a meeting with representatives of the Ofoni and Lalagbene communities as well as Renaissance African Energy Company Limited at the Government House, Yenagoa, on Tuesday.
Akpe, urged communities to always channel their grievances to appropriate government agencies for settlement, rather than engage in actions capable of causing hostilities and destruction of lives and property.
He stressed the need for government’s guidance in the drafting and signing of memorandum of understanding to forestall the short-changing of communities and unnecessary communal conflicts in the future.
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According to him, most disputes between communities emanated from memorandum of understanding and stressed the need for people to be properly guided with facts and the right information to avoid unnecessary conflicts and divisions.
On the Ofoni-Lalagbene conflict, the deputy governor said available evidence clearly indicates that the parcel of land where the Renaissance Company is sited belongs to Lalagbene Community.
Calling on both communities to maintain their cordial relations, Akpe, however, urged the Renaissance Africa Energy Company to accord Ofoni Community its rights and benefits as the landlord of Location One in Iseni Oilfield.
General Manager, Community and Government Relations of Renaissance, Mr. Evans Krukrubo and its Land Adviser, Mr. Ojie Amejayo, respectively, clarified that Location One was acquired in 1972 from Ofoni in Sagbama Local Government Area, while Location Two was acquired in 1973 from Lalagbene Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area.
The representatives of the Ofoni Community, and those of Lalagbene, all expressed appreciation to the state government for its timely intervention and accepted to abide by the truce reached at the meeting.
