After 20 years of abandoning their homes, the people of Iphuigwe in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and Ukele in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State, who hitherto engaged in a boundary clash, have resolved to give peace a chance and expressed willingness to allow displaced persons to return to their homes.
This decision was made in a peace negotiation with stakeholders of both communities, held in Ipollo, in Yala local government area of Cross River State, and championed by the Ebonyi/Cross River Youth Peace Development Movement led by Prince Pascal Nwenyi.
Both clans have lived peacefully for ages and shared common values in farming, schools, and ceremonies, as well as being said to be friends who intermarry, until the outbreak of the crisis in 2005 due to obvious disagreements.
A business mogul, Uchenna Zeal Igwe told our correspondent that the war happened when he was still a kid but it’s so sad that after 20 years, he can’t still go back to his home in Mfuma because of the crisis.
He pleaded with the government and relevant stakeholders to help out in making sure that peace is returned Mfuma.
Also, the President of the Ebonyi Cross River Youth Peace Development Movement, Barrister Pascal Nwenyi, while commending the people for resolving to live peacefully as they did before 2005 when the crisis broke out, observed that there has been relative peace among them and hence the need to return to the status quo.
He appealed to the two local government chairmen to prioritise the security of the lives of their people, urging them to step in to aid development in the communities, particularly in terms of mechanised agriculture, which would improve economic activities as peace has returned to the area.
Lending his voice, His Royal Highness, Eze Clement Eze, Eze Udo 1 of the Iphuigwe autonomous community, expressed gladness over the development and commended the Ukele people for accepting the Izzi back to their settlement and re-emphasised the importance of peace for the development of the people, among other things.
Chief Fidelis Ebi, a Ukele man who noted that both clans have lived peacefully for ages, regretted the prolonged crisis, saying that he is confident of the return to status quo in unity and peace, urging the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, the President General of the Iphuigwe community, Comrade Obeji Linus, who doubles as the chairman of the Abakaliki Rice Mill Industry, has noted that the peace agreement has been his priority ever since he assumed the office of PG and commended the people for agreeing to give peace a chance while urging them to abide by the terms of the agreement.
“We have agreed to settle for peace; if an Izzi person erred, the Izzi people should bring the person to book, and likewise for the Ukele people. All we are resolute about is that peace should return so long as the two communities have agreed,” he said.
However, at the end of the meeting, letters were signed by both community stakeholders which will be distributed to both local government chairmen to attend another meeting, scheduled to be held on the 17th of April 2025 at Mfuma, the crisis area, as a display of their sincere resolution to live peacefully.
