….condemns killings, destruction of property over farm cluster.

The traditional ruler of Omor Community in Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State HRH Igwe Dr. Oranu Chris Chidume, Eze Ana-Ukwu, Eze Igulube of Omor has condemned the abduction, killings, and destruction of properties in a clash between farmers in Clusters E71, E72, E8, E9 and E10 at Lower Anambra Irrigation Project in the community.

He said that the people of Omor and Umumbo communities are not in any war  as reported in the media but the crisis arose from farmers at the clusters who were contesting over allocations of farmland.

As noted by the traditional ruler, “The crisis was between farmers from Omor and Umumbo extractions. These farmers were at the clusters of the developed areas of the Lower Anambra Irrigation Project (LAIP) who had issues over farm land allocations at the cluster”

“This matter came to my knowledge on January 2019. I personally took it upon myself to ensure the problem was nipped in the bud by raising a committee from Omor Royal Cabinet to mediate in the matter and ensure the issue did not snowball into major crisis. With that and other preventive measures we took, we were confident the matter had been resolved”

Unfortunately, I only got to know that the matter was still on when, on May 5th 2020, we received reports of fresh crisis resulting in abduction, killings and destruction of properties. Sadly, lives have been lost, some people are still missing while some sustained different degrees of injuries and properties destroyed during the skirmishes.

The revered monarch who maintained that human life is sacred admonished the indigenes of Omor and Umumbo to  desist from any further action that will  breach  law and order in the communities. He asked the people to always seek redress for any grievances using appropriate channels and legal process rather than resort to self help.

APPEAL

The monarch appealed to the Government of Anambra State to look into the root cause of the matter to determine the issues surrounding the allocations, streamline the relationship between the host communities and the Lower Anambra Irrigation Project (LAIP) and find a lasting sustainable solution to the crisis.