Over 100 aged women from Onicha LGA of Ebonyi State on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Abakaliki and faulted the ongoing land demarcation exercise between the Ishinkwo and Abeomege communities by the state government.
Itumo appreciated Governor Nwifuru's commitment to ending the age-long dispute between the Ishinkwo people and the third sister community, Abaomege.
She said Ishinkwo people felt relief when the land demarcation began on Monday, 17th February 2025, knowing that the end had come to the hitherto perennial armageddon that had characterized the dispute, which in her words, made them break into a paroxysm of celebration and praise of the state governor.
"Sadly, however, Your Excellency, our joy was short-lived; it got cut short by our sad and sudden realization that the demarcation process was without regard for the White Paper, the legal framework of the Terms of Settlement, as it were.
"We also noticed that the process was characterized by fraud and corruption and conducted in a manner calculated to favour Abaomege over our Community.
"We cried to the world through the press media. However, it would seem as though no one cared about us, even as the skewed demarcation has continued without mitigation. This is why we are here, Your Excellency. We are here to cry to you, believing that as a father, you will listen to our cry and save our land."
Speaking on the particulars of the women's complaints, the Secretary said: "The demarcation is being executed without reference to the White Paper, the legal basis of the exercise, which renders the exercise illegal, null, and void, as no one can place something on nothing and expect it to stand.
"The Survey Map, which is a critical component of the White Paper, has also been disregarded by the Deputy Surveyor-General of the State, Mr. Ekeroku. Despite all our entreaties, Mr. Ekeroku has blatantly refused to make the map available to guide the demarcation, choosing instead to rely on intuition.
"If Mr. Ekeroku decided to hide the map from both communities, we would not have bothered much. However, Mr. Ikechukwu Ogbofia, Chairman of Onicha Local Government Area, an Abaomege, is indisputably in possession of the said Map. But, not even our Traditional Ruler has the document! If this is not partiality, we wonder what is.
"The six(6) swamplands in dispute are captured in the White Paper with their names mentioned therein. However, the demarcation has been extended to our uplands, ancient buildings, ancient landmarks, and Old Primary Schools, all of which have been fraudulently ceded to Abaomege by Ekeroku in conspiracy and active connivance with the Onicha Local Government Chairman, Mr. Ikechukwu Ogbofia.
"The Onicha Local Government Chairman, Mr. Ikechukwu Ogbofia, occasionally goes to the site to arbitrarily decree the boundary locations. It was on one such occasion that he and Mr. Ekeroku drove into our interior and marked our old Primary School and the Military Pin-down we built with our community resources in our Efiom village for allocation to his Abaomege community."
She appreciated Ogbofia's gospel of peace but noted that the Ishinkwo community has remained cut off from the National Grid allegedly by his Abaomege people for years now.
She said the Ishinkwo people requested that the survey map as captured by the White Paper be produced for both communities to eliminate doubts about the demarcation and to enable us to monitor compliance, demanding the leader of the Demarcation Committee, Mr. Ekeroku, be replaced for transparency and credibility and to restore our confidence in the demarcation process.
"That our ancient buildings and landmarks, Primary School, and the location of the Military Pin-down ceded to Abaomege, possibly in error, be reversed and the Local Government Chairman be prevailed upon to be impartial in his supervision of the exercise going forward. That Mr Ogbofia should advise his people to reconnect us to the National Grid if he is sincere with his gospel of peace," Mrs Itumo added.
Reacting, both the State Commissioner for Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, Mr Donatus Ilang and Chairman of Onicha LGA, Mr Ikechukwu Ogbuoffa, urged the women to embrace peace, noting that many lives and properties worth billions of Naira had been lost following the war between the Ishinkwo and Abeomege communities since 1912.
The duo denied every allegation levelled against them by the women and assured them of taking all necessary steps to address their demands urgently.
