Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano, has set up a 15-man panel of enquiry as the crisis between Umuleri and Aguleri escalates despite the three-day curfew imposed by the government on the communities.
The panel is headed by Air Vice Marshall Ben Chiobi, while the Permanent Secretary in the office of the Secretary to the State Government is the secretary.
Others members of the panel include the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Uju Nwogu; Commissioner for Lands, Mr. Bonaveture Enemeli among others.
According to a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Solo Chukwulobelu, the committee has the following terms of reference:
To establish the immediate causes of the dispute between the two communities, which occurred on January 16, 2021, between Aguleri and Umuleri.
The committee is also expected to invite and interview the families that own the lands in dispute, establish the boundaries between Aguleri and Umuleri as a whole, recommend other possible solutions that will guarantee lasting peace in the area. The panel has three weeks to complete its assignment.
The government’s intervention became necessary following reports of shootings in the area on Monday afternoon.
Although the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Mohammed Haruna, claimed that no life has been lost in the clashes, villagers have nonetheless been reportedly fleeing their as their homes were being torched by hoodlums.
So far, no fewer than six houses have been razed on either side, and there have been reported cases of influx of mercenaries from neighbouring communities to help execute the war.
Indeed the Umuleri –Aguleri land dispute has been festering for more than twenty years and the last communal war between 1998/1999 and 2000 took the intervention of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo before it was stopped.
But last week, the two communities returned to the trenches.