There appears to be no let-up to the hostilities between the people of Ukelle in the Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State and their neighbours in Igbe Agu, Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The communities clashed again on Friday, February 15, 2019. It was alleged that on that day, Izzi youths barricaded the Ebonyi-Ogoja highway and started shooting, which reportedly provoked the Ukelle youth, who responded.


The age-long animosity between the two communities over land has continued to fester despite the presence of military personnel drafted there after a bloody battle on Friday, June 22, 2018, between the two communities. The battle followed months of bickering over land.

At least 40 people were killed while 1,500 houses were set ablaze and 11,000 inhabitants of the communities displaced. Both communities recorded losses which included the destruction of farmlands and livestock. Normalcy was restored after the deployment of military personnel and riot policemen in the disputed boundary between the two communities. The presence of security forces has, however, not stopped the intermittent clashes between the warring neighbours with the attendant bloodshed on each occasion.


The boundary dispute between these communities dates back to 2005 when the two neighbours that had hitherto lived together peacefully and even inter-married, clashed over land. The land in contention was said to belong to the people of Ukelle, who along with their king, gave them freely to the Izzi people to farm several decades ago. But after some time, according to sources, the Izzi people allegedly decided to appropriate the land. A source said some villages in Izzi are on Ukelle land. The villages are lgbe Agu, Ndukwe, Okumenyi, Ndiakpararta and Ndiagwu.


On Monday, June 18, 2018, a woman was reportedly shot on her farm and on Wednesday, June 20, the same year, some youths in Ipuolo village in Ukelle community, who were returning from a meeting, were reportedly waylaid by their Izzi counterparts leaving many of them with gunshot wounds.

Two days later, Friday, June 22, 2018, about 13 persons were reportedly killed and two villages razed in the communal conflict. Last month, precisely on February 7, 2019, about three persons died, while eight others suffered bullet wounds in a renewed clash.


It was said that 98 people of the Igbe Agu community had lost their lives and another 160 persons were injured. This is outside the over 300 houses said to have been torched in the area by suspected Ukelle people.

Efforts to quell the clashes

After the 2005 conflict, a peace agreement between the two communities was brokered by the then governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, and his counterpart in Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu.


It didn’t take long before the agreement was breached, which has continued since then despite the interventions of top government delegations and officials of the National Boundary Commission. No year passes without conflict taking place on the disputed land.

Again, following the outbreak of war last year and after the deployment of security personnel, the Deputy Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ivara Esu, and his counterpart in Ebonyi State, Dr Kelechi Igwe, brokered peace between the communities. In attendance was the Chairman of the National Boundaries Commission, Mohammad Ahmad. They met with leaders of both communities at Mfuma in South Ukele, Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/constant-agony-as-criver-ebonyi-communities-continue-deadly-clashes-over-land/amp/

Ebonyi that's like a local government in Oyo state
When their fore father's were lazy and did not conquer land for them
They are trying to conquer it now
Lol

Ebonyi, ebonyi why? Ebonyi fighting over Land dispute from all angles ...ebonyi vs.Cross Rivers,ebonyi 's benue etc. na waoooo for una.