Crisis between Benue, Ebonyi border communities unfortunate – Ortom

Abiodun oba

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Saturday, lamented the unabated crisis between communities describing same “unfortunate”.

Ortom, who was speaking on the missing nine persons of Ado indigenes in Benue State, decried the fallout of the crisis which he said had led to the stoppage of academic and farming activities within the affected areas.

He therefore charged the warring communities on the border of Benue and Ebonyi states to sheathe their sword and allow peace to reign.

The Governor stated that the protracted dispute between communities was beyond the boundary line and called on them to give peace a chance and allow government of both sides to resolve the crisis.

Ortom said, “This is a problem I inherited. It is a really unfortunate challenge.

“This is a situation where you have people who speak the same language, have kinsmen in Ado and residence in Ebonyi; also people who are originally from Ebonyi but live in Ado LGA of Benue State.

“It is beyond boundary issue, but we are discussing with the national boundary commission to see what we can do.

“We must live as brothers and sisters because all the years of fighting, killing and destruction from both sides have not yielded anything.

“The children are not going to school, no business or farming activities is going on there because of the crisis.

“I want to appeal to both sides to sheath their sword and allow the two governments to come in and solve the problem.

“If you are an Ado indigenes but fall in Ebonyi State, please pay your allegiance to Ebonyi and if you are Ebonyi but fall in Benue, pay your allegiance to Benue.