A former Attorney General of Akwa Ibom, Barr. Ekpenyong Ntekim, has urged warring parties involved in the Okopedi and Ammamong communal crises to sheath their swords and embrace peace for the overall development of the area.
Ntekim who gave the advice yesterday while addressing newsmen on the matter reminded the warring communities that no meaningful development can take place in a society in which there is no peace.
He maintained that it was saddening that few days after the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and only fourteen days into the new year, what the indigenes of the warring communities could offer to the people of Okobo is nothing but blood letting and wanton distraction of properties.
He sympathized with those who had lost their lives and those whose have been destroyed in the unfortunate crisis.
As a way forward, he appealed to the authorities of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and her sister agencies to ensure that they deploy their personnel to Okobo Local Government Area, as this would go a long way to forestalling further crisis in the area.
The chief also appealed to Governor Udom Emmanuel, The State House of Assembly, the SSA Ndiana-Abasi Nana Udom Donor Agency to come to the aid of the victims and to also ensure that something is done to avoid such an avoidable crisis from reoccurring in the area.
On his part, he maintained that he has been working with the traditional institution in the area to ensure that all the warring communities live in peace not just between themselves, but with all other communities in the Local Government Area.
The two communities of Okopedi and Ammamong in Okobo local government area of Akwa Ibom had been in deep crises over a piece of land for several years now.
Few days ago youths of the two communities took up arms against one another which led to killings and wanton distruction of properties worth millions of naira.
