President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed serious concern over the violence that has engulfed about four communities in Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State.
eyewitness accounts indicates that several lives have been lost in the crisis which broke out in the early hours of today.
President Buhari in a statement called for calm and the restoration of peace in the affected communities and villages, which are all border communities between Cross Rivers and Abia states. The president urged the people of the areas to give peace a chance and allow law and order to prevail.
“Our communities must be ready to live together in peace since no development can take place in an atmosphere of recurring violence,” Buhari said.
The President commended the state governor for the steps so far taken to restore peace in the area and also lauded the state police command for its prompt intervention and mobilising its officers to the affected communities to contain the crisis.
He urged all stakeholders to work together towards lasting peace in the area.
The violence which broke out on Monday has so far resulted in the death of dozens of people and has also lead to the displacement of several others in the affected communities in Urugbam, Egbor, Ipene, and Abanwan, four of the 10 communities that make up Erei clan, which are boreder communities between Cross River and Abia State. The renewed crisis has been traced to a land dispute which has lasted several decades.
