A member of House of Representatives Francis Ottah Agbo has raised the alarm that currently a clash is raging between the Ezza and Effiom people in Ulayi District, of Ado LGA of Benue State.
Agbo who revealed this on the floor of the House Tuesday when he moved a motion of urgent national importance, said “the development has led to the spiral of killings, with thousands rendered homeless, as well as, the destruction of property and businesses running into billions of naira in the popular Inikiri market.”
The lawmaker who represents Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu recalled that on May 30, this year, unknown gun men invaded Izzi communities in Ekile and Ijigban Wards in Ado LGA, Benue State and ‘butchered about 130 innocent Izzi people’.
He listed the communities invaded to include Ndobasi, Ataloga, Odoke, Ndigwe, Ekpufu, all in Ekile Ward, adding that many Izzi people were also murdered in Obakotor village, in Ijigban Ward.
He claimed that 130 people were murdered by suspected Fulani gunmen and have since been buried while several people are still receiving treatment in the neighboring hospitals! The multi-billion Ndobasi market was razed down.
Agbo said the latest “Ulayi crisis emanated from Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State, where the Effiom and Ezza people took arms against one another over a mere National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) election, but spilled to Ado LGA where we also have a sizeable population of Ezza and Effiom people as my beloved constituents.
“Fulani-induced carnage and the Effiom/ Ezza crisis have left in their wake, gory tales of woes, agonies of refugees, spilling of innocent blood and avoidable humanitarian crisis. Consequently, several IDP camps have been created in Ado LGA, to provide temporary shelter to the refugees!”
He therefore, urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently supply relief materials to the affected Izzi communities in Ado LGA, Benue State as well as pleaded with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and Social Development to offset the medical bills of the surviving victims and grant them Covid-19 loans or grants to pick the pieces of their lives.
Rep Agbo called on the Inspector General of Police to establish Mobile Police Post in all the border wards of Ado LGA, namely Ekile, Ijigban, Ulayi and Akpoge- Ogbilolo Wards as these wards currently do not have police post.
