By Davies Iheamnachor

ALUU—TWO communities in Rivers State, Rumuekini in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and Umuchiolu-Aluu in Ikwerre Local Government Area, are locked in a fierce land dispute, which has left two people dead. Both communities play host to the prestigious University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, and the hostility between them is chancy, especially as the demarcation between Aluu and Rumuekini has been allegedly altered paving way for land speculators.

A source told Niger Delta Voice that the two communities have been a thorn on each other’s flesh over the years, saying tension heightened because of shortage of land in the two communities after they had sold off their lands. The source acknowledged that Aluu and Rumuekini share common boundary, but declined to be dragged into where the boundary is.

Rumuekini monarch fingers Aluu

 Paramount ruler of Rumuekini community, HRH, Eze Ogwu Jerome Akandu, who confirmed the conflict between both towns, accused Aluu of orchestrating the problem. Eze Akandu, who spoke through his son, Prince Patrick Ogwu-Akandu, said, “We do not know what we did to the Aluu people that they came and demolished the houses that our people were building.

“The place where they demolished these houses is not even the place we are having the land issue. They left the land in dispute and went to another place where we do not even have problem to demolish people’s houses.

Two murdered, buried

“It did not even end there; they killed and buried two young men whose sites are there. How will they kill two promising young men on a land issue that does not concern them? They also went as far as burying them in the bush, if not for somebody who saw the graves of the young men we would not have known. “Aluu community has been looking for our trouble. Few years ago, they summoned us to a strong juju at Ahoada still on this same boundary issue.

“The juju priest came and did a boundary adjustment. We have been maintaining that boundary but they started encroaching again. “We have reported to the juju priest that came to make the boundary, but they have refused to go and answer the summons. “I call them to drop their anger and come for peace. We are brothers so we do not need violence to settle our differences. There is no need for us to begin to create tension in the state.

“We know that their intention is to take what belongs to Rumuekini people. They demolished those houses maybe to claim it and sell the land. But things are not done that way.”

Gunmen invade Aluu

A dependable source in Aluu community told Niger Delta Voice that following the land dispute and alleged killing of the two young men, some gunmen allegedly sent by the Rumuekini people invaded Aluu community with heavy gunfire. He said the gunmen laid siege to the community for two days, which forced the residents of Umuchiolu-Aluu to flee their homes.

A respected chief in Umuchiolu- Aluu, who is also the second- in- command in the Council of Chiefs, Chief Wosu, confirmed the community was having a land case with the Rumuekini, but declined further comment. He said that thugs invaded his house and the whole of Umuchiolu village, but he managed to escape. Chief Wosu said the terrified villagers were waiting to see if the gunmen would return again before raising alarm. He said the paramount ruler of the community has not been around for a while, so said he would be circumspect in his comment.