Top elite from Edumoga District of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State have implored Benue State Governor Ortom to take immediate action to prevent escalation of violence in parts of the local government.
A communiqué issued at the end of a stakeholders meeting in Abuja declared that all the conditions for escalation are present in the spate of violence witnessed in the local government headquarters of recent, particularly the reprisal killing involving Edumoga and Okpoga districts in the local council.
Observing though that the violence is much deeper than conflict between two districts, the communiqué however, pointed out that bitterness from such revenge killings never fail to precipitate full scale violence.
The communiqué signed by Mr Joseph Adulugba, the National President of EDEMA, the umbrella organisation of the elite said only a clear and reassuring intervention of the government could create the condition for dialogue and understanding. This, it said, does not exist at the moment, thereby leaving room for all those with their own interpretation and agenda of what is at stake to fuel more violence even when the remote and immediate causes of the violence has more to do with clashes between criminal gangs from both communities.
Describing efforts by political representatives of the communities to reconcile the parties and douse the tension generated among the communities as grossly insufficient, the meeting called on all traditional rulers in the local government area to cooperate with the security agencies in their efforts at maintaining law and order in the area. While noting with concern, the roles played by the security operatives and the local government authorities in the crises, EDEMA, however, acknowledged the joint efforts of the Okpoga Development Community, its community development counterpart, towards resolving the crises, calling for further and stronger synergy between the two.
This, it argued, is because the recent violence across the two communities in the local Government area deserves to be condemned by all. It expressed its condolence to the bereaved families, appealing to both communities to remain calm as efforts are being made to ensure a lasting solution.
No less than eight persons have been killed on both sides of the two districts in the last one month in clashes symptomatic of gang wars but which are being variously interpreted and fuelled by different local actors.
EDEMA officials are understood to be launching a consultative tour to leading traditional rulers, personalities and key people in authority from the two areas with a view to bringing the situation under control. EDEMA’s analysis is that it is modernity gone astray rather than a conflict strictly between Okpoga and Edumoga districts.
