A legal practitoner and member of Ezza Ezekuna in Diaspora, Oroke James Chibuike has condemned the recent attack on facilities belonging to Ibeto Group of Companies in the warring area of Effium Community. He debunked the allegations that Ezza people resident in Effium Community of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State attacked the facilities belonging to Ibeto company at Okporo.
Oroke in a press statement was reacting to the recent release from the office of the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Kelechi Igwe who visited the war ridden area and unveiled that Ibeto facility in the area had been attacked.
A statement endorsed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor, Dr. Monday Uzor reported the Deputy Governor to have frowned at the attack on the facility of Ibeto; someone the statement said doesn't live or belong to either of the warring clans in the area and vowed that the state government would fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
Oroke in his reaction to the statement alleged that the attack was carried out by Efiium warriors in order to decimate Ezza people and attract the sympathy of the state government and that of Ibeto. He however accused that Ibeto had been sponsorship Effium people secretly to wage war against Ezza people so that they (Ezza) would be wiped away to enable him (Ibeto) have access to the mineral deposit found in the community.
The legal practitioner further related in allegations that there was a secret deal between Ibeto and Effium indigenous people to join force to totally annihilate and wipe away Ezza people from Effium Community because of his sheer interest in mineral deposit in the area.
He revealed that Ezza people are being killed in thousands in the area through the sponsorship of Ibeto and the Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government Area, Mr. Clement Odah who he accused of using monthly allocations to the council to sponsor the ongoing porgrom and genocide against Ezza people in Effium Community.
He however wondered why Ezza people would be linked to the attack on Ibeto facility when Ezza people are no longer in the area. He said, Ezza people have been chased to the neighbouring Benue State where they are taking refuge following the daily killing masterminded by the Effiumites against them after helping them some year back.
He therefore called on the state government to investigate the secret deals of Ibeto with the Effiumites and some suspected actions towards the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Ezza people in Effium community. He equally called on the EFCC to investigate, the Ohaukwu Council Chairman, Mr. Odah for using statutory allocations meant for development in the area to sponsor and wage war against Ezza people who are part of the council.
"Yes, in any place where war is going on like Effium, it is not in doubt that people's property could be destroyed, whether it belongs to either of the parties directly involved in the war or people not from the area.
"It's quite unfortunate if Ibeto's facility is attacked but the attack would have come from the Effiumite warriors, not the Ezza people as is being speculated.
"Before now, because of the mineral deposit in the area which Ibeto has interest in harnessing, there has been secret and close deals with him and the Effiumites.
"He had given the Effiumites 10million Naira and could not recourse to Ezza people whose places of settlement were also affected by the mineral deposit which Ibeto found in the area.
"Their reasons for attacking the facility could be to attract the sympathy of the business mogul (Ibeto) to continue to doll out fund to the Effiumites to continue the massacre of Ezza people in the area.
"As I speak with you, you cannot find any Ezza person in Okporo or in the main Effium metropolis; so, there would be no how the attack would have come from Ezza people apart from the Effiumites who currently have Okporo and the metropolis as their bases.
"What borders me is that the state government is closing their eyes and impunity is overriding the entirety of Effium community. The state government is closing their eyes and Mr. Clement Odah is using the statutory allocations of Ohaukwu Local Government Area to be sponsoring his Effium indigenous people against the Ezza people with the aim of wiping them out of the area.
"The government of the state has done much to return normalcy to the area, but more proactive approach should be taken this time around because shooting and killing have not ended in Effium community", he noted.
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