By Festus Ahon & Ochuko Akuopha

ASABA—AFTER seven years of litigations, the people of Trofani in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and Ikpide-Irri and Onyah in Isoko South and Ndokwa East Local Government Areas of Delta State have settled their land dispute through Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism.

The resurgence of hostilities over land disputes between Onyah/Ikpide-Irri on the one hand and Trofani/Ikpide-Irri on the other, was triggered by the discovery of oil well between the boundaries of Ikpide-Irri and Canaan-Irri and the construction of a five kilometre road awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

At separate meetings held in Asaba with the representatives of the three communities, which was facilitated by the Delta  and Bayelsa States Conflict Management Alliance as an intervention process to find a lasting solution to the aged-long disputes, admitted that mediation was a better alternative as several efforts in time past failed to yield the desired results of reconciling the feuding communities.

Leaders of the peace delegations from the communities, Mr. Michael Omojefe (President General, Ikpide-Irri), Chief Bennard Onyenokwe ( Onyah ) and Abel Akemi ( Prime Minister, Trofani) acknowledged that the dispute had impacted negatively on the economic and social lives of the people.