SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, the Police Public Relations Officer for Abia command, said on Thursday that the command did not have any record of renewed hostilities between two boundary communities in Abia and Cross River.
Ogbonna was speaking on the heels of the alleged attack on Isu clan in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia by their neighbouring Utuma community in Cross River.
He told the News Agency of Nigeriathat the only report that was incidented at the Arochukwu Divisional Police Station “had to do with a fatal motorcycle accident that claimed three lives”.
Former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Donatus Okorie, who hails from Isu, had alleged that unidentified people from Utuma attacked and killed a prominent son of the area on Friday, February 15.
Speaking to newsmen in Umuahia, Okorie, along with other prominent community leaders, said that the deceased, Chief Okoro Ukwaa, was allegedly waylaid and murdered in cold blood, while returning from his farm.
He said: “On Friday, February 15, when Nigerians were preparing for the general elections, we received the devastating news that one of our illustrious sons had been murdered in cold blood by the people of Utuma and their cronies.
“This latest cold-blooded murder is the most dastardly, atrocious, devastating and tragic.
“As I speak, the entire Isu clan has been thrown into serious mourning.”
The community leaders traced the hostilities between the two neighbours to the discovery and exploration of huge limestone deposit in Isu land.
They said that five communities in Isu, namely Ihosu, Aba-Isu, Amachi-Isu, Ndiugbu, and Aliosu, were first attacked on April 18, 2018, allegedly by Utuma people over the ownership of the land bearing the limestone deposit.
They said that at least 30 natives of the affected communities were killed in the bloody clashes that ensued.
They also claimed that no fewer than 15,000 people of the area had fled their homes to neighbouring Arochukwu villages for safety.
Okorie said: “Our people are being murdered and slaughtered like chicken. They have become refugees in other neighbouring villages in Arochukwu, since April 2018, when they fled their homes.
“More decisive actions should be taken to prevent further waste of human lives and property,” he said, adding that the state government had not done enough to protect the lives and property of their people in the wake of the attacks.
“If government had taken urgent and decisive action before now, the latest killing of our illustrious son could have been averted.”
The community leaders feared that the renewed hostility could degenerate, should government fail to do the needful.
They said that as the Chief Security Officer of the state, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu should take a more decisive action to arrest the situation.
They, therefore, called for the deployment of adequate security in the area to forestall further external invasion and wanton destruction of lives of the people.
They said that the situation was beyond the mere intervention of the Boundries and Conflict Resolution Committee, headed by Deputy Governor Udo Oko-Chukwu.
He said: “There is an urgent need for a permanent security post for Mobile Police in the area.”
They said that security became porous in the area, following the withdrawal of the military operatives, one month after they were posted to quell the uprising in 2018.
We have no record of renewed hostilities between Abia, Cross River communities – PPRO
