Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has waded into the lingering boundary dispute between the people of Eleme and Okrika within the precinct of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
President General of the Eleme socio-cultural organization, (O’Ela Obo Eleme), Chief Israel Abbey, who disclosed this in an interview, said the governor had ordered that the status quo should be maintained, pending the final resolution of the dispute.
Abbey said the governor had summoned Okrika and Eleme leaders to the Government House, Port Harcourt, based on the complaint by Okrika people, that Eleme people were obstructing their road construction through the disputed areas.
He said the Okrika people had claimed that a Supreme Court judgment of 1957, had declared them as owners of the land and awarded £250, 000 against Eleme people, and therefore asked the governor to prevail on Eleme people to pay the money, and the accruing interest.
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However, Abbey said Eleme people presented their position, deflating all the claims made by the Okrika indigenes, informing the governor that Okrika people are serial encroachers who have flouted all previous resolutions, and recommendations by different commissions, and bodies which had mediated into the conflict.
He said that the governor had affirmed that the land in question had been acquired by the immediate past state government, and compensation paid to the Eleme people.
“The governor ordered that all projects must halt, until a lasting solution is reached on the impasse.
The governor said he will summon another meeting to resolve the issues, but until then no project should be carried out in the affected areas,” the president general stated.
