Soldiers in Ikom, Cross River State, are mourning the death of three of their colleagues killed in a fresh communal clash in Boki local government area. The soldiers were among the 13 persons killed, at the last count, as reported by the police.
Etim Dickson, the police public relations officer in the state, confirmed the casualties in a crisis that started last weekend and escalated by Sunday morning, as able bodied men on the two sides shunned church by heading for the trenches.
The three soldiers were among those drafted to the scene from the Reece Battalion, Edor, in Ikom local government, to halt hostilities between the warring communities of Nsadop and Bansan in Boki, but met their waterloo on Sunday morning when their truck was waylaid by the fighters.
This resurgence of hostilities between the two communities is on the heels of fresh squabbles over ownership of the oil palm plantation located between them, which was cultivated in the 1960’s by the Michael Okpara administration of the defunct Eastern Region.
Findings indicate that sophisticated weapons were allegedly used by retired military personnel on both sides to prosecute the fight, which sources in the areas said had claimed over 20 lives and properties.
Governor Liyel Imoke, and his deputy, Efiok Cobham, with Sunny Abang, Nigeria’s envoy to Mali, visited the warring communities on Sunday evening. Incidentally, Abang is from Boki.
Mr. Imoke called on the combatants to lay down their arms and return to their homes to pave way for the return of peace. He said he was not pleased with the atrocity committed by both sides and asked that the chiefs of both sides be arrested and taken to Calabar.
The intervention of the governor stopped the action of the soldiers who had cordoned off the area, ostensibly to avenge the killing of their colleagues by the villagers.
Communal conflict is a regular occurrence in some parts of the state as communities often quarrel over farming rights on the vast arable land which cover the state.