From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The age-long communal clashes between border communities in Cross River State have continued to receive attention as non-governmental organisations and the royal fathers are now partnering to find lasting solutions to the conflicts.
For many decades, border communities have been engaged in fratricidal wars over land. These incessant outbreaks of violence across the state have claimed hundred of lives, with property worth millions of naira destroyed in the process. These man-made disasters have brought hardship to residents, making thousands of them refugees in their own communities.
The struggle over land has become such a perennial problem for border communities that, at the beginning of every planting season, families relocate their children to urban areas for fear of outbreak of violence. In almost all border communities, hardly any planting season passes by without land disputes, which always culminate in bloodshed.
The communities affected include Ikot Offiong, Odukpani Qua, New Netim, Agwagune, Erei, Adim, Ugep, Mkpani, Nko, Ediba, Usumutong, Ebom, Ebijakara, Afafanyi, Adun and Okum group of villages, Okosora, Ikom, Alesi, Ekukunela and Ochon and Nsadop.
Statistics available at the deputy governor’s office that is responsible for local government matters and land dispute showed that, as a result of communal clashes, the Ikot Offiong community of Odukpani Local Government Area (LGA) was stamped out and residents sent away from their ancestral home by their Itu brothers in Akwa Ibom in 1999 and have been refugees till date.
Again, the land tussle between the Ebom-Ebijakara communities in Abi got to a climax in 2006 when Ebijakar community was sacked by their Ebom brothers, who were accused of genocide. Today, Ebijakara is a waste land.
Furthermore, between October and December 2010, Kutia and Okworotong communities of Obudu LGA, as well as Boje and Nsadop communities of Boki LGA, went into full-blown war over land. Nko, Onyadama as well as Onyadama and Inyima communities have been at war since April 2016, just as Obubra and Owakande villages have been in conflict over the true ownership of ‘Crown Land.’
The statistics revealed that the protracted communal conflict between Mkpani and Nko, in Yakurr LGA, developed into full-scale war on April 30, 2016, leading to destruction of a secondary school, private clinic, filling station and residential buildings at Nko.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed the communal clashes have become intractable as the last eight years of Governor Ben Ayade recorded the worst carnage in Abi, Yakurr, Yala and Obubra, leading to community leaders and victims crying out for help.
Perhaps, it was in response to the outcry by affected communities that the NGO, Foundation for Partnership in the Niger Delta (PIND), in collaboration with Washington DC-based Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI), are partnering with traditional rulers in an the area of advocacy visits to various communities in six LGAs of Odukpani, Biase, Yakurr, Abi, Obubra and Ikom, engaging the affected community people in various talks, peace-building, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence with and neighbours alike. This the NGO did by setting up the Prevent Council.
The Foundation for Partnerships Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND Foundation), a non-profit foundation that promotes peace and equitable economic growth in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region through multi-stakeholder partnerships, also organised a workshop in collaboration with Chevron Corporation and other esteemed partners for over 100 royal fathers, leaders of thought, elders, chiefs, women and youth in search of peaceful resolution of communal conflicts. At the workshop, papers on alternative dispute resolution (ADR), conflict sensitivity and stakeholders’ relationship management and mainstreaming peace-building and conflict sensitivity were delivered.
Speaking at the workshop, the PIND consultant in Cross River, Dr. Raphael Offiong, said incessant communal crises in the state and the world over call for concern, thus, the need to reawaken the consciousness of peace mediation and advocacy all over the world to mitigate crises.
Offiong, an associate professor at the university of Calabar, said: “Societal progress can only thrive when there is peace, little wonder then the Catholic Church and other organizations, for instance, have always advocated for world peace. In short, the central message of the Papal’s Encyclicals focuses on world peace.
“In Cross River, we are not resting on our oars, because we all need peace, if we must make any meaningful progress, and that is why everyone is a partner. The voluntary organ of PIND, Partners 4 Peace, popularized as P4P, are also on the ground; in case you see them in your communities, these are Peace Actors also propagating the message of peace and cohabitation.
“And to achieve peace in the warring communities, we have inaugurated Peace Prevent Council. We have commenced work in earnest in six pilot local government areas and we have visited some pilot communities for peace mediation. These include New Netim, Odukpani Qua Town, Ikot Offiong, Agwagune, Usungutom, Erei, Adim, Ugep, Mkpani, Ebom, Ediba, Afafanye, Apiapum, Ochong, Aleisi, Adun, Nkum, Ogurude, Ntansene, Ikom Town, Alok and Okosora.
“Some of these communities are faced with age-long crises ranging from 10 years to 50 years, and beyond. Our collaboration with government and relevant stakeholders in addressing these crises has yielded positive results as peace has returned to these communities. The peace mediation has been very productive.”
On the efforts to settle some age-long conflicts, he said: “We have already got down to works and reconciliation meeting is on at the Odukpani Qua Town to see how thousands of displaced New Netim people can come back because they (New Netim) have been suffering and are crying to come back home. So, we would make use of the royal fathers, who are committed this time to restore peace. For the Ikot Offiong people, displaced 22 years ago, there is also an on-going peace talks to bring them back and integrate them with their brothers and sisters scattered across Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.”
Speaking at the workshop, a participant and a member of the Peace Prevent Council, the Paramount Ruler of Bakassi and the Chairman, Cross River State Traditional Rulers’ Council, His Royal Majesty Dr Etim Okon Edet, commended the initiative of using the traditional institution in the advocacy and peace mediation process.
Edet said: “The traditional rulers are the custodians of the laws and customs of the land, they know a lot and their contributions are important for meaningful progress to be made. So far, the achievement of the Prevent Council is commendable and we will accelerate every peace-building process in the state and the world over as peace is the only tonic for growth and development.
“The workshop was very educative and has though us basic issues on how to handle communal conflict and be proactive to prevent further loss of lives. We shall go home and practicalise some of things we have been thought.”
Obol Ofem Ubang Clement, Obol Lopon of Ugep and Paramount Ruler of Yakurr, said: “The idea of bringing together almost all the traditional rulers and leaders of various villages and clans affected by communal crisis is a wonderful one and the experience worth the while because it would help us to avoid some careless mistakes in handling community conflict.
“Besides, I have learnt how to be proactive just as I have been empowered me. I advise that this kind of workshop be expanded to accommodate other leaders at the grassroots. For me I am against any crisis because I stand for peace. There is no need for people to kill another person because of land. It brings down the community and the people. I believe that good leaders would always avoid crisis and that is what PIND is inculcating in us.”
Director General Cross River State Border Commission, Mr. Noel Ugbong, said: “Cross River has been enmeshed in communal conflicts. So, this type of workshop is needed to bring the international community to know the problem the state is facing and see how we can attract support towards nipping it in the bud.
“For the first, foundation for lasting peace has been established thorough this group. We have been educated and strengthened on how best to approach conflicts using sustainable methods. Truly, it has marked a complete turn around to conflict resolution. So, I advise the traditional rulers to make us of these approaches to resolve some of these issues.
“I can tell you that Cross River has the longest border lines in Nigeria. While one stretches to Cameroon, another stretches to Benue state. So, as a commission, we try to carry out senistisation especially during farming season to ensure that we don’t have conflicts. We sensitise the farmers more because during planting season, there are higher chances of conflicting erupting. We also advise government and departments on the type of activities that should go on at the border areas.
Other dignitaries present include Etinyin Otu Mesembe, paramount ruler of Odukpani, Onun Nicholas Odum, paramount ruler of Biase, and representative of police, Udofia Michael.