The Association of Effium Indigenous Clan Chairmen in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has vowed to oppose the state government’s proposed land demarcation and creation of an autonomous community for non-Ezza residents in Effium by Governor Francis Nwifuru.

This is even as they condemned the approval of the bill by the State House of Assembly and called on the governor to decline assent.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the association, Chief Emmanuel Egbe, and Secretary, Elom Ocho, the group insisted that the renaming of parts of Effium land with non-native names and creating autonomous communities for the Ezza people contradicts the 1976 edict on the creation of new Autonomous Communities as related to Ezza-Effium.

They further contended that this action flagrantly violates the report and recommendations of the committee led by Most Rev. Michael Nnachi Okoro, which was personally constituted by Governor Nwifuru.

The association insisted that any such move would be met with fierce opposition, emphasising their determination to protect the rights and heritage of the Effium people.

“This bill, to say the least, is dead on arrival! Because a sojourner can never be ‘rewarded’ with the creation of his Autonomous Community in another man’s land simply because he took arms against his host community,” the statement read.

“When Governor Nwifuru assumed office in 2023, he constituted a peace and resolution committee under the chairmanship of an elder statesman, a sage—Most Rev. Michael Nnachi Okoro—to look into the lingering crisis between Effium and Ezza-Effium and come up with their report and recommendations. This committee painstakingly did their job and came up with their report and recommendations, which were submitted to the Governor on Dec. 22nd, 2023. The Governor assured that he would implement this report to the letter.

“This report and recommendations were submitted to the government on 22nd Dec. 2023. The government thereby constituted a 7-man implementation committee led by the Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Ben Odoh. This implementation committee swung into action to enforce Most Rev. Michael Nnachi Okoro’s led committee report. On 14th March 2024, the two warring parties were invited to sign a peace pact agreement, which 25 members from each party came and endorsed.

“Surprisingly, by June 2024, this same Governor who set up Dr. Odoh’s implementation committee suddenly made a U-turn and tactically removed Odoh as the chairman and brought in Frank Nchita Ogbuewu as the new chairman of the same implementation committee to achieve his skewed target. This time, the Frank Nchita Ogbuewu-led implementation committee invited both Effium and Ezza-Effium to sign a different peace pact agreement. When the Frank Nchita Ogbuewu-led peace pact agreement was read to us, we observed that the Most Rev. Michael Nnachi Okoro-led committee report had been changed. So, Effium representatives refused to sign this Frank Nchita Ogbuewu’s peace pact agreement because it goes contrary to the Most Rev. Michael Nnachi Okoro-led committee report, which the governor had earlier vowed to implement to the letter.”