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Following the assertion of Professor Otokpa Agada, claiming ownership of Ogyoma Akpa land, Otukpo LGA of Benue State, the people of Ojenyo community in Utonkon District of Ado LGA, have openly dissociated themselves from Prof Agada’s publication.
Both Okpudu Ojenyo, Ado LGA and Ogyoma Akpa, Otukpo LGA share common boundary.
In a letter signed by the National President, Ojenyo Community Development Association, Okpave I. Omenka, the Secretary, Ageh O. Christopher, the clan and village heads, as well as other community leaders, Ojenyo people are not in any contestation of land with Ogyoma.
The Ojenyo critical stakeholders also said the Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, his deputy, Engr. Benson Abounu; Speaker, House of Assembly, Engr. Titus Uba, the heads of security and various stakeholders in Benue State, had been adequately informed that the community was not a part of any publication or moves by any individual, to undermine the age-long peace and tranquility enjoyed with the Ogyoma people.
“Our noble association has no direct dealings with any group recognised and addressed as Ufia Okpotimili or such other group by whatever name so called. Rather, Ojenyo Community Development Association (OCDA) is an affiliate of Ufia Development Association (UDA) to which Chief Vincent Eje Uloko, who is also an indigene of Ojenyo, is its current president”.
“In the light of the forgoing, we members of Ojenyo Community Development Association, Utonkon, unequivocally disassociate ourselves, both as individuals and corporate entity, from the postulations, projections or insinuations by Prof. Otokpa Agada regarding the boundary between Ogyoma Akpa in Otukpo LGA and Okpudu, Ojenyo, Utonkon in Ado LGA respectively.
“As a responsible and responsive organisation representing the corporate interest of Ojenyo community, to which Okpudu settlement belongs, we do not and will not associate ourselves with any individual or group that may incite public disturbance through verbal or written materials such as the ones under reference,” the letter reads.
“We wish to passionately appeal to Your Excellency to utterly disregard all the insinuations contained in the said books authored and published by Prof. Otokpa Agada, as all the issues raised merely represent his personal opinions to which he is entitled to but should be discarded with the wave of the hand….
“Our community shall always remain supportive of the peace-building processes and commitment of your administration to provide security to Benue communities and the environs,” they added
It would be recalled that, Prof. Otokpa Agada, an indigene of Ojenyo in Utonkon district, had in a publication addressed to the Governor in 2022, titled, “Land Use Act And Ownership in Ufia: The Green Valley of Idoma and Ufia Okpotimili (Ufia Union) A Kingdom and its Existence,” attempted to lay claim to Ogyoma land which the Ojenyo community considered could “incite public disturbance.”
Irked by the said publication, the people of Ogyoma in Akpa district, Otukpo LGA, had reportedly petitioned Governor Ortom via a complaint letter dated 19th March, 2022, raising concerns about boundary projections and other unfriendly postulations contained in Prof. Agada’s publication.
In a swift reaction and in order to forestall communal clash with the Akpa people who bound the Ufia community through Okpudu village, the Ojenyo community, on the 30th April, 2022, wrote to Governor Ortom, to disassociate themselves from the said publication, while assuring the Ogyoma people of continued peace, harmony and coexistence without boundary issues.
