May 09, (THEWILL) – The natives of Effium autonomous community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have said that they are not going to watch Governor Francis Nwifuru forcibly create autonomous communities for strangers in Effium land.
A statement issued and signed by the President-General of Effium Town Union, Dr Agena James, barely 24 hours after governor Nwifuru pronounced the creation of four autonomous communities in Effium, gave reasons why they boycotted the visit of the governor to Effium.
He said the Effium indigenes were going to employ all legal means to resist the creation of the autonomous communities.
According to him, the actions of governor Nwifuru were inimical to the restoration of peace in the crisis-ravaged Effium autonomous community that has been bedevilled with crisis for over four years with lives and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.
Agena said, “Yesterday, the governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, came to Effium and made a pronouncement that part of Effium land has been ceded to strangers.
“His coming yesterday to Effium was not welcomed. We did not welcome him to the event, that is why we boycotted his visit to our land. His decision was not welcomed.
“Therefore, we are going to employ every legal means to resist it. We are going to stop him from executing the decision and his order. We are going to resist it with all our effort and might.
He said such action was alien to the people of the area and was uncalled for.
“It is never heard anywhere in any part of the world where the land that belongs to the indigenes will be forcefully taken from them and given to strangers that lived in that land.
“So, it is uncalled for. Except he is forcefully taking the land that was given to us by God, that was left for us by our ancestors to the strangers.
“What he did today was evidently clear that he is using his power to collect what belongs to us and that we are going to resist with every sense of it. We are going to resist it to the later. There is a saying that he who goes to equity must come with clean hands.
“If he is going to mediate in this crisis, he must come with clean hands. He should be fair and just. But his decision is unfair, unjust and there is nothing like equity in his action. For that reason, we are going to resist it. We the Effium people will not allow it to stand.
“We are calling on the international community to come to our aid because the governor is using his power to collect from us what was given to us by God and Effium people will never allow it. We want the governor to get this message. It is never done anywhere. We want the governor to hear it. Effium people will never allow it to stand.
“He should go back to the drawing board and reconsider his decision. We are equally calling on the elders of Izzi to call their son to order to reconsider his decision on this matter. It is uncalled for and it can never bring peace in Effium land. It will rather aggravate the crisis.
“This is not how to make peace. This is bringing more flames into the buring fire. We have also continued to reiterate that anything short from the implementation of the recommendation of the peace committee headed by the Emiritus Bishop Okoro is totally not acceptable to the people of Effium.
“We can never accept the report of the committee chaired by Franklyn Ogbuewu, who is an in-law to the Ezza people, hence, he is an interest party in the crisis in Effium. He is biased, unfair and unjust in his decisions”, Agena noted.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
