Effium natives in Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State have said they were not in support of creating any autonomous community for their tenants identified as the Ezza-Effium people in Effuim community by the State Governor, Francis Nwifuru.
Dr. James Agena, the President General of Effium Community Town Union disclosed this in a press release which he endorsed and made available to journalists in Abakaliki on Friday.
Agena said, "Yesterday, the governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru came to Effium and made a pronouncement that part of Effium's land had 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.
"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 taken from 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 letter. 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 and 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 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 burning fire. We have also continued to reiterate that anything short of the implementation of the recommendation of the peace committee headed by Emeritus Bishop Okoro is totally unacceptable to the people of Effium.
"We can never accept the report of the committee chaired by Franklyn Ogbuewu who is an inlaw to the Ezza people, hence, he is an interested party in the crisis in Effium. He is biased, unfair and unjust in his decisions."
