Akwa Ibom LG Chairman Raises the Alarm over Circulation of Arms

Akwa Ibom LG Chairman Raises the Alarm over Circulation of Arms

By Okon Bassey

Following series of attacks occasioned by protracted boundary conflict, indigenes of Ini Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State are now openly parading their communities and farms with weapons, the Chairman of Ini LGA, Mr. Isreal Idaisin, has alleged.

Worried by the development, he has cried out to the federal and state governments to intervene in the protracted Nkari boundary crisis.

Idaisin lamented the age-long attack on the people of Nkari community by the neighbouring Usaka Uko community in Ikwuano LGA of Abia State.

He maintained that the crisis has over the years conditioned the minds of the indigenes to resort to self-protection.

Idaisin in an interview yesterday noted that even women and children from Nkari community now go to farm with either short or long riffles.

He warned that the situation, if not nipped in the bud, would breed a future generation of bandits who may become thorns in the flesh of the government.

“The daily crisis we have in Ini LGA is the Nkari crisis. The people there, including women and children, now go about with weapons to protect themselves.

“Everyone there is either with a long or short riffle to protect themselves from the Ikwanno people.

“The people of Ikwanno in Abia State usually stay in the bush, using gorilla warfare’s approach to ambush, shoot and kill our people.

“That is why we are appealing to the federal government to take over the disputed land or do proper demarcation to forestall further loss of lives. Thousands of people have over the years lost their lives to this same crisis,” he lamented.

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