The people of the embattled oil-bearing Aguleri Otu community in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State have pleaded with the Federal Government and those of Anambra and Kogi states to quickly ensure the quick resolution of the dispute between them and the people of Ibaji in Kogi State in other to ensure peace.

While receiving relief materials donated to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the people complained that they were still being harassed by the people of Ibaji almost on daily basis in their effort to claim Anambra land rich in oil deposits.

The people noted that many of them had to flee from their homes even as many lives have been lost during clashes that enveloped the community in the past. The IDP were victims of the June 2015 bloody clash between the border communities over claims for the ownership of farm lands in the area.

While expressing gratitude to the Federal Government for the donations, the President General of Enugu-Otu, Mr. Benjamin Onyenwife and his Nkpunando and Eziagulu-Otu counterparts, Messrs Edwin Chukwuemeka and Hyacinth Chika respectively, alleged that communities in Ibaji have been invading their farmlands and called for the posting of “impartial federal security operatives” to the disputed territories to maintain law and order.

They said: “In as much as we accept the relief materials, we want quick resolution of the dispute between our people and Ibaji. We also want the security operatives there to be changed because those presently there are biased.”

While distributing the relief materials to the IDP, the executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Chief Paul Odenigbo, harped on the state government’s efforts to help ameliorate the plight of the community. He assured the people that Anambra and Kogi state governments were making necessary efforts to find a lasting solution to the boundary dispute in the area.

The items, which included bags of cement, garri, sugar, salt, tomatoes, mats, mattresses, plastic buckets, among others, were distributed to the IDP by the SEMA boss on behalf of NEMA.

•Photo shows NEMA DG Sidi Ali.

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