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By Zika Bobby
The Ishinkwo people of Ebonyi State have pulled out of the ongoing land demarcation exercise with the Abaomege Community, citing widespread irregularities and bias.
According to Chief Innocent Elum, a community leader in Ishinkwo, the exercise has been marred by “fraud, corruption, favouritism, brazen partiality, and lack of transparency.”
Elum alleged that ancient houses and landmarks belonging to Ishinkwo have been wrongly ceded to Abaomege, despite Governor Francis Nwifuru’s directive against such actions. This move, Elum claimed, violates the relevant White Paper and the legal framework guiding the land demarcation.
Furthermore, Elum questioned the integrity of the Deputy Surveyor-General of Ebonyi State, who is overseeing the exercise, alleging that he has refused to make the survey map available for cartographers’ interpretation, instead relying on intuition to determine boundary locations.
This development is the latest twist in the long-standing land dispute between Ishinkwo and Abaomege, which has spanned over 127 years. Despite efforts by the Ebonyi State government to resolve the issue, including a peace pact signing ceremony, the dispute remains unresolved.
The withdrawal of Ishinkwo from the land demarcation exercise raises concerns about the transparency and fairness of the process. It remains to be seen how this development will impact the ongoing efforts to resolve the dispute.
