At least four persons have been killed in a renewed boundary dispute between the Ogwor community in Ishiagu and the Umuobor Community in Akaeze, both in the Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The first three persons killed were said to be part of a contingent that entered the disputed land to harvest yams on Wednesday, while a woman was killed on Monday.

The two communities have been having a dispute over a fertile piece of land known as Elueke lands for many decades.

The dispute had been adjudicated to the Supreme Court, with Umuobor being declared the rightful owner of the land by the courts.

However, successive state governments have refused to enforce the Supreme Court ruling on the disputed land.

Despite the 1991 ruling, the dispute has persisted, with many lives lost as both sides periodically carry out attacks and reprisal attacks against each other.

The crisis intensified late last year, with many people on both sides killed, forcing the state government to declare the disputed land a buffer zone.

It also set up a committee to mediate and find lasting solutions to the dispute.

Despite placing an embargo on residents from entering the disputed lands, the killings have continued.

Reports say a woman was killed on the land on Monday.

The woman was said to be from Okwue, another community not involved in the dispute.

She was, however, allegedly working on the disputed land in the company of persons from Ogwor when they were allegedly attacked by gunmen believed to be from Umuobor.

On Wednesday, three persons from Umuobor were also killed in what is believed to be a reprisal for the Monday attack.

A source from Umuobor lamented that the residents of the community have been hard hit with severe hunger due to the ban on entering the land and when they could no longer endure it, entered the land to harvest yams.


https://punchng.com/four-killed-in-fresh-ebonyi-communal-land-dispute/