Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Mr. Clement Odah, on Wednesday accused the people of neighbouring Agila community in Adọ LGA of Benue State for Tuesday’s surprise attack, in which he said nine persons were killed.

Mr Odah also called on the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to hasten up with the boundary demarcation to forestall further loss of lives.

He told newsmen: “I received a call from the Coordinator of Ngbo West Development Centre, Barr. Stephen Igwe Ogenyi, informing me of the brutal attack from Agila people, which left many of the natives, numbering nine dead, with many houses burnt, bans of yams set on fire and people displaced.

“It is a thing of worry and shock that in spite of the efforts put so far, this magnitude of injury will be done to our people. We feel very bad about it. We condemn the killings.

“We use this opportunity to call on the federal government and specifically, call on the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to hasten up and do the needful.

“We have attended several meetings in Abuja at the instance of NBC. We have attended several other peace meetings in Enugu, Benue and Ebonyi states. All these meetings we geared toward restoring lasting peace.

“We have reached several peace pacts. But unfortunately, the peace agreement we have reached which we believed will give us peace have been breached by our neighbors from Agila. This is very unfortunate.

“So, we call on the NBC to move in quickly to put in place a permanent solution to Ebonyi/Benue boundary dispute, by way of permanent demarcation.

“We believe that when the boundary is demarcated, police station and Army unit, schools, tertiary institutions, hospitals, etc, are put in place, and there are human and vehicular activities around the boundary areas, it will bring permanent end to these hostilities.”

A source from the community who spoke to newsmen also alleged that the attack was carried out by Agila people at about 1:00 p.m.

The source said the attackers had emerged from the buffer zone into the community wearing military camouflage and this made the people to think they were military men.

Some military personnel had been to the community recently in search of a Naval officer who had gone missing over a week ago in the area.

The source said that when the attackers emerged from the disputed land into the community, some community members who saw them felt they were part of the team that has earlier visited the community not knowing they are Agila warlords.

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