Benue LG Denies Attack On Ebonyi Communities

The chairman of Ado Local Government Area of Benue State, James Oche, has described as “hasty” comments credited to the Ebonyi State commissioner for internal security that the people of Agila were responsible for attacks on communities in the state.

The Ebonyi State commissioner, Stanley Okoro Emegha, in a statement on Monday accused Agila people of attacking the Ngbo community in Ebonyi.

He had said: “We suspect that the attackers were not herdsmen but Agila people from Benue, and you know that our people have been having boundary dispute with them. “

Reacting to the statement by the commissioner, Oche distanced the people of Agila from the Monday morning attack on Ngbo communities, describing the allegation as “fallacy of hasty conclusion…”

In a statement at Igumale, the LG headquarters on Monday, the chairman said, “the victims themselves had said the attack was from herders and wondered why the Ebonyi State Government was bent on accusing his people even in the face of rumours making the rounds that the attack was a reprisal for the alleged killing of their cows”.

Oche explained that the people of Agila are peace loving and have since embraced the recommendations of the Otse Otokpa/Cyril Obazi Agila/Ngbo Intercommunity Peace and Security Committee formed by the governments of Ebonyi and Benue States and have been cooperating with the National Boundary Commission on the planned delimitation and rebeaconing exercise scheduled to hold within the axis.

Oche added that falsehood was not the solution to the problem as it would deteriorate the already tensed situation.

He urged the warring factions to sheath their swords & fully embrace the ongoing intercommunity peace initiative of Benue & Ebonyi States Government in the interest of peace, security and development of the area.