Governor Emmanuel stated this in his office while playing host to the Director General of the National Boundary Commission Dr Mohammed Ahmad, Surveyor General of the Federation Ebisinstei Awudu and others in his office.
“we have gathered some intelligence report and also the soldiers and the police have made some arrests, all the criminals we arrested in those boundaries are not indigenes of those communities and come from even outside those local government areas.”
Governor Emmanuel disclosed that explosives, guns and other dangerous weapons have been recovered following some arrests by men of the Two Brigade and wondered how a farming community would acquire such weapons.
He said Akwa Ibom people are generally peaceful, hospitable and do everything possible to be at peace with their neighbours.
Governor Emmanuel said the peaceful disposition of the people does not equal conceding the boundaries of their ancestors
He described the boundary crises between some parts of the state and Cross River state as unwarranted, saying, “if we go back to history we have been living together over the years in peace…only that nobody saw that there would be a creation of another state.”
While urging the commission to find lasting solution to the protracted crisis, he promised to sustain his campaign against violence especially land disputes, positing that “the world has enough space for people to operate.”
“It is absurd in Africa, in Nigeria in particular where somebody would be trying to pick something from the river and another person would be angry. How many fish can you catch you can finish a fish since you won’t let the other person.”
He said it was outright wickedness for people to go to the river and start shooting others who went there to fish, maintaining that no responsible government like his, can stand by and watch such anomaly.
He said further that aside Cross River State, he had to deploy soldiers last weekend to Ika Local government because of another boundary dispute with Abia State.
He said the crisis affected the siting of a constituency project of the Senate Minority Leader, as rampaging youths came out to protest that the project was trespassing on their land.
“The people there said Akwa Ibom people are coming to work on their own road, I wonder what they stand to lose if Akwa Ibom people are working on their own road for them to be able to drive well, when they even have roads, it shows the extent to how we do things in Africa.”
He said he was surprise because those same people did not complain when he constructed a road to link them with Obot Akara where they could easily access which can easily access the Akwa Ibom Airport.
Speaking, the Director General of the National Boundary Commission, Dr Mohammed Ahmad and Surveyor General of the Federation Ebisinstei Awudu had recounted the previous meeting initiated by the Acting President and commended Governor Emmanuel for his impressive presentation and his resolve to embrace peaceful resolution of the impasse.
They said they were in the state in line with the directive of the Acting President for a final demarcation of the boundary between Akwa Ibom and Cross River State and commended the Government and people of the state for the warm hospitality shown their team.
No comments: