Blame military for S/East, S/South communities’ frequent boundary disputes – Reps member

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member of the House of Representatives, Uko Nkole, has blamed past military administrations in the country for the recurring boundary disputes between neighbouring communities in the South East and South South zones of the country.

Nkole, who is representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency of Abia State at the National Assembly, stated this in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in his constituency office in Ohafia, following a recent attack by the people of Ituma community in Cross River State on their neigbhours in Isu in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State.

The lawmaker said that the foundation for the dispute was laid when the Federal Government broke the defunct Eastern Region into three states in 1967, without considering historical antecedents and rivers as natural boundaries to landlocked Igbo communities in the now equally defunct East Central State.

 

Revisit the guidelines for the creation of states to find lasting solutions

 

According to him, the agenda which was also aimed at economically emasculating the Igbo, continued with the recommendations of the Justice Mamman Nasir Boundary Commission in the early 1970s and the subsequent creation of states in the defunct region.

Speaking further, Nkole regretted that through the exercises, several beach line communities in the South East zone and their farmlands were deliberately ceded to their neighbours across both Cross and Imo Rivers in the South South zone.

“Thus, were the neighbouring South South communities emboldened with impunity to come over here to not only settle, but also to attack and invade the original owners of the communities and their farmlands,” lamented the federal lawmaker.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to deploy security agents immediately to the black spots in the constituency to forestall future occurrence of such incidents, which have always claimed lives and property.

According to the Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker, the National Boundary Commission should, as a matter of urgent importance, revisit the guidelines for the creation of states to find lasting solutions to the disputes before it became worse.

Nkole, who lauded both the authorities of the 14 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Ohafia, for their quick intervention in the crisis, and Obieze and Ututu communities in the area for harbouring the displaced persons, sued for peace between the warring neighbours.

Nkole, who has been endorsed by various communities for reelection in 2019, had dispatched a truck load of relief materials and money to the displaced persons immediately, promising to continue to make life more meaningful for the constituents.