EARLY last month, two warring communities -Ababene in Adun and Iyamitit in Okum, both in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State – decided to bury the hatchet and live in peace after several years of hostilities.
Lives had been lost and property wasted on both sides.
The cause of the feud was a piece of land which both communities were laying claim to.
The peace process was facilitated by Mr. Chris Agara Agan, leading to the constitution of a seven-man peace and reconciliation committee.
The committee was able to settle the differences between both sides and thus began a new dawn that formally commenced at an elaborate ceremony in Apiapum community in Obubra.
Witnesses to the ceremony included the paramount ruler of Obubra, HRM Ovarr Clement Ewona; HRH Ovarr Patrick Erong Edom, the Kudidem (Clan Head) of Adun; and HRH Ovarr Robert Mbina Mbina Ajom III, Ohorodo I of Okum and Clan Head of Apiapum, as well as numerous chiefs, and other stakeholders from the area.
Both communities agreed that there would no longer be any skirmish between them as they await the government, through the Surveyor General of the state, to carry out a proper delineation of their boundaries especially the disputed area.
The disputed land is expected to be taken over by the state government.
Residents have expressed appreciation for the return of peace.
Some of them told The Nation that their lives are much better off now following the peace agreement, as they could move freely amongst themselves without any fear.
Commercial and farming activities, according to them, have also improved.
They pray and hope that the new found peace will endure, even as they promise to keep working hard to sustain it.
Ovarr Robert Mbina Mbina Ajom III, Ohorodo I of Okum and Clan Head of Apiapum, said: “We are so happy. Since the accord, we have been living fine. We now visit each other’s communities without any harassment.
“Recently, there were burial ceremonies in my kingdom and many of those people who died, their relations came from the Adun side and performed the burial ceremonies successfully and then paid me a courtesy call. We entertained them and they slept for two nights before they went home.
“During this period too, I have recorded about six weddings involving both communities. Of the six marriages, four were women from my side married to their people while two were women from their side marrying my people. That has been the cordial relationship we are enjoying.
“Farming activities have also improved except in the area in dispute; a small area about half kilometre, which our governor has done very well by setting up that panel and asking us to stay away from there until a proper demarcation line is mapped out. That is where we are now.
“I am happy because it has always been my cry that if I step into this office, I pray to God to bring back the peace between my people and Adun people; a lasting peace which even if I leave the world, our children will not come and suffer what we had suffered in the last 500 years.
“Let it go into the records that it was during my reign that I brought about this peace. That is why during the fracas, the thing would have escalated to Apiapum and beyond, but I stuck my neck out and worked tirelessly to see that it did not escalate. I cried to the governor and to every arm of security to come to my rescue.”
He expressed gratitude to Governor Ben Ayade and Barrister Chris Agara who initiated this peace.
He advised the governor to “create development centres in Cross River State, because the state is so vast in terms of land mass.”
He added: “In the whole of former Eastern Region, it is the largest land. The centres would help to stop this kind of infighting.”
Also speaking, Chief Philip Ikpan from Adun, said except for minor issues with some hooligans who had been reported to the security agencies, the people are now living in peace.
His words: “Farming activities have improved. Our people are beginning to return to their areas. I would advise that the people of both communities should accept the peace accord we have gone into.”
Chairman of the Peace and Reconciliation Committee, Chief Ernest Irek, gave a recap of how peace was achieved: “What led to the agreement were the skirmishes we had been having between the two communities.
“We were uncomfortable with what was going on, which spread to other areas. It was creating a friction among other communities in the two areas.
“These were people who spoke the same language and shared the same culture. There is nothing for them to fight over. There is enough land for all of us and we thought we should look at the root cause of the problem, stop the battle and talk to them peacefully.
“Mercifully, one of our Mbembe sons, Chris Agara, provided the logistics for us to discuss under very wonderful circumstances. We were brought together and I was made the chairman of the committee. And over a period of a month and a half, we had a dialogue with them.
“We dialogued with everyone and brought them all together and we made sure all the villages that were in the forefront of this battle were brought together. We spoke to them and we got a commitment from them that they were ready to make peace.
“What you saw on that day was the culmination of the efforts we had put in for about a month.
“Right now, we are at the stage of implementing that peace, the state government has come in mercifully to sort out matters. The state government is going do something.
“They have asked us to get all the documents and relevant papers together which we have done. We are monitoring the peace. Here and there, we have had some people trying to bend the rules, but we make sure they do not break them.
“Right now, everything is going on normally. We keep trying to see that nobody breaks that agreement. The next stage we want to get into is the stage of supervising visitations. We intend that this September, which is a joyful period, the new yam festival, we want to get together again. We have a programme where we must make sure that all of them come together.
“I am happy that their elites too have surrendered to the idea that there must be peace in that area. They are doing very well. On a daily basis, they are interacting with themselves, moving around.
“Everywhere is peaceful. The markets are being revived. People are going back. Initially, this crisis was affecting trade. If you recall, even the cost of food items shot up very astronomically. But that has gone down now because we have been able to sort out the problem.
“The skirmishes made it such that there was no food to eat. The people were not going to their farms. Even the ones they planted, they could not go to harvest. That had a direct impact on the economy of the local government and even the state because that is a garri producing area.
“At one point, the price of garri rose to as much as N15, 000 for one basin, because cassava was no longer coming from that area. So many foodstuffs could not come out because of the crisis.
“With this peace now, everything is going on well. We hope that we would be able to get a road from Ababene through Iyamitit. We are appealing to the state government to do that.
“We are also talking about a police post. All of this we have put down in a memo to the governor. He told us that once he has settled down, he would approve all those.
“Now, with the way things are going, they are harvesting what they planted the previous year. The price of garri has fallen, and I think it is reasonable now. The last time I went to the market, I heard it was N6,000 or so, and it would fall further. That has forced other people across the state to bring their prices down too because these are market forces.
“Once that boundary is demarcated and the area that should be given to the government is done, that would provide succour to the people. A proper demarcation of the area is what would help resolve the problems.
“Government would have to come in here. They have set up a committee of inquiry headed by a former deputy governor. We pray that with what we have achieved now, they can bring out their own report where a white paper can be brought out from.
“Once they bring the white paper out, we hope that we can work with government, because we are the ones on the ground. We know the people. So we can now use that and see how we can project a situation where we can be having friendly visitations, festivals, and so on.
“There are festivals for the various communities and there is a calendar for all of these and commit them. We would never get tired.
“We would like to talk to our benefactor too; the man who started this. Let it not be like a political thing. Let it be a humanitarian thing; something he did from the volition that he is an Mbembe man, so we can now make sure that we can let them grow and remove our hands. It should not be too long.
“The governor has directed that the team from the Surveyor General’s office should move in there and begin to demarcate the boundary, and once it is demarcated, it is okay.
“The two communities had said long ago, they want that portion to be donated to government. We pray that while this is going on, we will continue to talk with the people that we don’t want any skirmishes anymore. They have seen the folly of it. There is no victor or vanquished.”
