By DENNIS AGBO, Abakaliki
It is the case of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth as land tears two communities in Ebonyi apart.
Sometime between 1928 and 1930, the Ezillo community, now the headquarters of Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, had a communal dispute with the neighboring community of Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.
According to Ezillo people, because the community would not shed the blood of Ngbo people, they decided to lay a complaint before Ezza which is generally agreed to be the eldest of all Abakaliki clans. The Ezillo said the Ezza came to make peace with Ngbo by accepting to live at the boundary with the Ngbo, which Ezillo said is in the present day Eguechara.
But the Ezza version of the story is that they were invited to fight and drive the Ngbo backwards and live in the land which is now claimed the present day disputed areas of Ishimkpume, Amalinze, Umuezikoha, among other hamlets.
The two communities had lived together peacefully even inter-marrying. Ezza people are nomadic and can be found in Wawa land in Enugu and Ebonyi States. The Ezza are also found in some parts of Benue, Kogi and Cross River State.
Wherever the Ezza occupied, they would name after themselves hence there are places like Ezza-Ezillo, Ezza-Effium, Ezza-Akpoga, etc.
The Ezillo community narrates that only 22 Ezza men were invited to come and live in Ezillo originally but that, as time went on, they started inviting their kin from Onueke, in Ezza-South Local Government Area and began to occupy the extra portions of land that made both the Ezillo and Ezza to live without clearly defined boundary. Problems ensued leading to the Ezillo asking for Ezza relocation to Eguechara, the place Ezillo maintained was the original place it agreed to give the Ezza. The matter was taken to an Abakaliki colonial customary court in 1955 when the court ruled in favour of Ezillo, mandating the Ezza to move to Eguechara.
The Ezza appealed the matter before an Abakaliki colonial district master called Mr. Gunning who affirmed the judgment of the customary court. The Ezillo claim that both judgments are still in their possession till date. Yet the Ezza remained in the land till May 10, 2008, when the dispute that led to February 19, 2010 mass killings in the area started.
The latest war actually started after a misunderstanding on where to erect a commercial pay phone booth. One Chukwuman Agbo, an Ezillo, was said to have insisted on erecting the booth on a portion he claimed was given to him by his uncle identified as Sunday Ideinyi. But an Ezza-Ezillo man reportedly disagreed on the siting of the booth, arguing that the land belonged to the Ezza. The disagreement led to the pulling down of the booth and consequent burning of motorcycles that belonged to both parties.
By the following day, the problem escalated to a full blown war with both sides burning houses that belonged to one another.
The military was deployed to the place to maintain the peace but the crisis degenerated with each side trading blames of guerrilla attack.
Ebonyi State government set up a panel to recommend appropriate solution to the matter. Government White Paper of October 2, 2008 on the panel report directed the Ezza to vacate a substantial portion of the disputed land to Eguecharra. The Ezzas protested that they had been shortchanged and swore never to relocate to the new land leaving their houses and cash crops. The Ezza also contended that there were other people occupying the place allocated to them.
In addition, the Ezza claimed that government made no effort at compensation or provide any amenity such as roads, water or electricity that could attract them to the new place. The Ezillo on their part maintained that they could no longer live with the Ezza who they (Ezillo) described as cantankerous, war mongers and land acquirers.
February 19, 2010 was bloody along the Enugu-Abakaliki highway known as Ezza-Ezillo. On that day, the minister of works and urban development, Alhaji Hassan Lawal, was scheduled for a working visit to Ebonyi State. He had already landed in Enugu airport en route Abakaliki but little did he know he would not get into Abakaliki, the Ebonyi capital city. Suspected hired militants fighting in the disputed land had taken over the area.
Three police vehicles that went to Enugu and were coming back to Abakaliki were caught in the crossfire. Five other police vans were set ablaze. While the police gave the number of dead policemen as two, many believe more cops would have lost their lives at the spot. A good number of commuters traveling along the road were also felled by the gunmen. Unconfirmed reports said 12 corpses were recovered from the scene after the gun battle.
An NTA reporter, who courageously went to get pictures of the scene shortly after the mayhem, narrated that he saw a woman carrying a baby that was trapped in between two lorries that collided during the crossfire. He also said he saw no less than three charred bodies whereas another man, believed to be a lorry driver, was trapped in between the collided lorries. The corpses of the woman, her child and the driver were left on the scene till three days after when the Ebonyi authorities came to clear the decomposed bodies.
As the battle raged, police armoured tanks deployed to quell the battle retreated.
The road became deserted while commuters were stranded at both Nkalagu and Ntezi, two neighbouring communities. Only courageous drivers still ply Enugu-Abakaliki road passing through Ezillo.
Ebonyi State government, last week, accused politicians from the state resident in Abuja of masterminding the renewed battle but Senator Julius Ucha, together with two other members of the House of Representatives from the state and of Ezza origin, in a press conference in Abuja, said the allegation amounted to one whose house is on fire but decides to cash rats.
Even though mobile police have been drafted to the war zone, the place remains a hot spot for commuters travelling from Enugu to Abakaliki.
Caught in the web of the crisis is Ebonyi State government that issued the White Paper, ordering the Ezza to relocate to Eguecharra.
Whereas the government may have acted based on the report of the panel it set up on the crisis, the Ezza accused Governor Martin Elechi of composing a panel headed by an Ngbo man, who they (Ezza people) alleged may have carried over the grudge of the olden days war against the Ngbo for Ezillo to produce a report against the Ezza.
The Ezillo, also speaking on the panel, said that whereas seven Ezza men were members, no single Ezillo man was there.
driver, was trapped in between the collided lorries. The corpses of the woman, her child and the driver were left on the scene till three days after when the Ebonyi authorities came to clear the decomposed bodies.
As the battle raged, police armoured tanks deployed to quell the battle retreated.
The road became deserted while commuters were stranded at both Nkalagu and Ntezi, two neighbouring communities. Only courageous drivers still ply Enugu-Abakaliki road passing through Ezillo.
Ebonyi State government, last week, accused politicians from the state resident in Abuja of masterminding the renewed battle but Senator Julius Ucha, together with two other members of the House of Representatives from the state and of Ezza origin, in a press conference in Abuja, said the allegation amounted to one whose house is on fire but decides to cash rats.
Even though mobile police have been drafted to the war zone, the place remains a hot spot for commuters travelling from Enugu to Abakaliki.
Caught in the web of the crisis is Ebonyi State government that issued the White Paper, ordering the Ezza to relocate to Eguecharra.
Whereas the government may have acted based on the report of the panel it set up on the crisis, the Ezza accused Governor Martin Elechi of composing a panel headed by an Ngbo man, who they (Ezza people) alleged may have carried over the grudge of the olden days war against the Ngbo for Ezillo to produce a report against the Ezza.
The Ezillo, also speaking on the panel, said that whereas seven Ezza men were members, no single Ezillo man was there.
