FOUR persons from Aguleri, Anambra East local
government area were killed on Monday, while seven others
were seriously injured in a renewed clash between the
people of Aguleri and Echeno/Odeke in Ibaji local
government area of Kogi State. The two border communities have been laying claims to the
oil deposits on the Omambala River basin.
The clashes became more pronounced shortly after the
commissioning of Orient Petroleum Refinery at Aguleri Otu
in Anambra State by President Goodluck Jonathan last year. Casualty figures on the Kogi side could not be ascertained at
press time, although it was gathered that the people of
Aguleri were taken unawares by the Kogi fighters.
Vanguard gathered that the latest clash, which occurred at
about 3.00pm on Monday, involved the use of sophisticated
weapons, even in the presence of security operatives guarding the buffer zone created by the National Boundary
Commission in the area to forestall clashes between the
warring communities. It was also gathered that one of the mobile policemen
guarding the buffer zone had allegedly informed Kogi
people that Aguleri people were at the disputed area,
adding that shortly after, Kogi people came in large
numbers, armed with dangerous weapons, including
automatic rifles usually handled by security operatives. Monday’s attack came on the heels of a peace committee
meeting held between the communities last week at Idah in
Kogi State, where the people of Aguleri expressed surprise
yesterday that some people at Odeke were not prepared to
see peace return to the area. Anambra Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Emeka
Chukwuemeka, confirmed the incident, but declined to give
the casualty figures.
According to him, the matter is being investigated at the
highest level of security and will be premature for him to
make statement on the clash. Following the frequent clashes in the area, the National
Boundary Commission had met with the deputy governors of
the two states on many occasions for the purpose of finding
a lasting solution to the border problem. At the last meeting chaired by the Director General of the
National Boundary Commission, Dr. M.B. Ahmad, with the
deputy governors of the two states and a representative of
the surveyor general of the federation in attendance, it was
noted that the Anambra/Kogi interstate boundary was the
boundary of the former Northern and Eastern regions described in the legal notice No 126 of 1954. However, the people of Kogi were said to be insisting that
despite the demarcated boundary between the old Kabba
and old Onitsha provinces, the oil deposits in Omambala
River belong to them.
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