The Ebom Community in Abi local government area of Cross River State has debunked media reports that they invaded their neighbours, the Usumtong Community, last week.
A Community Leader of Ebom, Chief Irem Enyim-Egu, who spoke with reporters in Calabar, said they were not part of the destruction of houses and loss of lives in a devastating attack on Usumutong.
He said people from the Ebom Community had been variously attacked and abducted by trespassers in recent times and they had reported the matter to the government and to the police.
According to him, some young men had attacked the Ebom Community last week Wednesday, and were repelled by the youths who chased them away.
The community leader said they were chased until they ran into Usumutong, where they retreated.
“There was an attack in the Ebom community. There was a reaction and because of the attack, we had to chase the people who attacked and discovered that they ran back to Usumutong community.
“We have continued to hold our peace. They went and reported that many villages attacked them and they included Ebom. We did not attack any community. There was no plan to attack them because having reported to government, we were still waiting for the government to act.
“We only defended ourselves when people came to our community and we had to defend our community and we chased them to Usumtong community and retreated. We did not chase them into their own community because elders had instructed our youths to be of good behaviour. All the reports that the Ebom people attacked Usumutong and attacked their community is a fabrication to buttress their position.”
Enyim-Egu urged the government as well as the security agencies look into the crisis in the area with a view to ensure lasting peace.
“There is no gain when people run into crisis. We lose a lot of things. As I talk to you now, we cannot visit our farmlands because of intimidation in our bushes,” he complained.
No comments:
Post a Comment