It was a historic moment last Saturday, 18th November 2023 as the people of Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and their neighbouring Community, Agila in Ado Local Government Area of Benue State jointly took a practical dimensional approach towards ending their age-long war that has claimed uncountable lives and destroyed properties worth billions of naira. The two communities in swift action decided to mend fences, clear their link road and simultaneously visit each other en masse.
Over one thousand Ngbo people were sited in Agila, Ado Local Government Area of Benue State and the same number from Agila visited Ngbo and were hosted at the ancestral home of Ngbo (Ekwashi playground) in a manner that surprised even the two clans. The Agila people were also sighted as buying and selling goods in the popular Okwo Ngbo market unmolested. The visits turned carnival both in Agila and Ngbo as the visitors who were predominantly youths moved around the Communities chanting songs of peace and unity.
The Ngbo people who visited Agila were led by the Secretary of the apex leadership in Ngbo, the Ngbo Leaders Council, Dr Emmanuel Etu-Odo while the Agila people were led by their President General, Mr Oteokpa.
Agila people at Ekwashi Ngbo.The events attracted government functionaries and other stakeholders from both sides who were in a joyous mood.
It would be recalled that the Ngbo-Agila war which started in 1921 over a vast land has defiled all efforts by governments both at Local, State and Federal levels. Attempts made in the past for the National Boundary Commission to put boundaries between and demarcate the land could not yield any meaningful result. Children, women and youths have been the major casualties of the war, just as the economic base of both communities (farming) has crumbled.
Addressing the Agila and Ngbo people at Ekwashi Ngbo playground after visiting Agila, the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State represented by the State Commissioner for Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, Dr Donatus Ilang thanked the people for accepting to end the war and embrace peace in line with the efforts of the government.
He said that the government is committed to ensuring that the nascent peace is sustained and would throw up programs and policies that would make it enduring.
The Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Mr Ikechukwu Odono, the member representing Ebonyi/Ohaukwu Federal Constituency, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu Eze and the Ebonyi State Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chinedu Onah as well as the State Commissioner for Power and Energy, Chief Peter Oge-Ali expressed joy over the development and assured of their readiness to work with their Agila political counterparts to cement the new ground of peace.
The President General of Ngbo Leaders Council, Dr. Okeh C. Okeh and his Agila counterpart, Mr Otseh assured that the achieved peace has come to stay. While thanking God that the peace came during their time of leadership, the two leaders requested the government at all levels, to among other things construct the road that linked the two interstate communities which they said would become the shortest route to the northern part of Nigeria if constructed.
Some youth leaders including Barr. Michael Odo, Comrade Samuel Okpor and Mr Kelechi Onyeoma from Ngbo axis as well as Philip Ogazi and John Odey from Agila axis harped on the economic need of the achieved peace and vowed to sustain it.
