Stakeholders from Ojiegbe-Isu community in Onicha Local Government Area and Eguotu community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have disputed reports linking the two communities to a land dispute, insisting that the disagreement in question involves Ojiegbe-Isu and Obeagu-Isu communities.
The stakeholders called on the state government to correct the purported misrepresentation of the outcome of a peace meeting convened to address the dispute, warning that inaccurate reporting of sensitive communal matters could generate unnecessary tension between communities.
The controversy followed a directive by Governor Francis Nwifuru, represented by his deputy, Princess Patricia Onyemaechi Obila, at a high-level peace resolution meeting in Abakaliki, ordering the affected communities to withdraw from the disputed land pending the conclusion of a peace agreement.
The governor was also reported to have ordered the dissolution of existing leadership structures and standing committees in Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu communities, warning that anyone found threatening the peace or undermining the government's directives would face the full weight of the law.
However, a former president of the Ogboji United Improvement Union, Eguotu, Mr Simeon Ogbodo, faulted the statement issued by the Deputy Governor's Press Secretary, Comrade Ugochukwu Onwe, describing it as an inaccurate account of the meeting's resolutions.
Ogbodo maintained that there was no known land dispute or other disagreement between Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu communities, arguing that the directive to withdraw from the disputed land concerned Ojiegbe-Isu and Obeagu-Isu, both in Onicha LGA.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the directive concerning withdrawal from the disputed land was directed at the land dispute involving Ojiegbe-Isu and Obeagu-Isu communities in Onicha LGA, not Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu,” he said.
He added that the meeting established that Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu had no known land dispute, making it inappropriate to issue a directive requiring the two communities to vacate land over a disagreement that did not exist between them.
Ogbodo warned that substituting Eguotu for Obeagu-Isu in the official account could distort the substance of the meeting and create avoidable friction between communities that had no known dispute.
While acknowledging the efforts of Nwifuru and his deputy to promote peace and resolve communal disagreements across the state, he stressed the need for accuracy in official communications concerning sensitive land matters.
“Official communications concerning sensitive communal matters must accurately reflect the issues presented, the communities involved and the decisions actually taken,” he said.
He consequently urged the appropriate authorities to review and correct the directive and ensure that the public record reflected the actual proceedings and resolutions of the meeting.
Meanwhile, the President of Ojiegbe Development Association in Onicha LGA, Mr Nicholas Orogwu, accused the Commissioner for Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, Prof. Paul Nwobasi, of alleged financial impropriety, bias and actions he claimed could inflame tensions between Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu communities.
Orogwu alleged that a committee constituted by the commissioner to examine the land matter submitted a report following which Ojiegbe-Isu residents were asked to accept that they were tenants on the disputed land.
He further alleged that Nwobasi had demanded N5 million from the community, but that its representatives offered N1 million, adding that they were subsequently charged N20,000 as point-of-sale transaction fees for an account number allegedly provided to them.
According to Orogwu, the community rejected the purported characterisation of its people as tenants on their ancestral land and petitioned Governor Nwifuru over the matter.
He alleged that the commissioner subsequently revived an issue he claimed had been set aside by the governor in 2024, insisting that Ojiegbe-Isu and Eguotu were historically one indivisible people.
The allegations against the commissioner could not be independently verified as of the time of filing this report.
Efforts to reach Nwobasi for his reaction were unsuccessful, as calls and other attempts to contact him proved abortive.
The stakeholders urged the state government to clarify the communities involved in the land dispute and ensure that subsequent directives and official communications accurately reflected the issues presented at the peace meeting.
