Suspected warlords of Abaomege/Ishinkwo communities in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, have set ablaze an excavator belonging to the state government that was being used in the demarcation of a disputed piece of land.
It would be recalled that the two neighbouring communities have been at war since 1902, over a vast fertile piece of land with many lives lost and property worth billions of naira destroyed in the process.
Upon assumption of office, Governor Francis Nwifuru, set up a committee to resolve the crisis and the state government issued a white paper recommending the demarcation of the disputed land to ensure lasting peace.
The demarcation process has been on since this year until Tuesday this week, when one of the excavators carrying out the exercise was burnt by suspected warlords who were not comfortable with the terms of the peace initiative.
During on- the- spot visit to the war zone by journalists on Thursday amidst tight security, the local government Chairman, Ikechukwu Ogbofia, described the incident as unfortunate and a sabotage of government’s efforts.
He however, insisted that peace must prevail in the area.
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Ogbofia, who spoke through the Public Relations Officer of the local government, Omekannaya Orogwu, said it occurred one week after one of the warring communities threatened to destroy the equipment being used in the demarcation if it was not done according to their wishes.
He vowed that instead of the incident weakening the demarcation, it will rather strengthen the exercise for the interest of peace.
“There is no amount of threat, and there is no amount of sabotage that will stop the ongoing demarcation of the communities because to us as a government, that will bring permanent solutions to that age-old war,” he said.
Ogbofia said government would take another measure to ensure that the demarcation was completed.