Wednesday,
October 16, 2024 - One person has been killed and a farm settlement
burnt as the people of Akaibiri and Bumoundi communities in Yenagoa Local
Government Area of Bayelsa clashed with Anam farmers doing commercial farming
in the area.
The Anam people from Anambra State have been operating farm settlements
in most places in Bayelsa State to cultivate crops for commercial purposes.
According to Daily Trust, the problem started on October 6, when one Mr
Apah Abel, from the Bumoundi community, was allegedly murdered on allegation of
stealing at the farm settlement.
The indigenes of Akaibiri and Bumoundi were said to have launched a
reprisal, setting the farm settlement on fire.
The Bayelsa State Police Command said that two persons were already in
custody over Abel’s k!lling and warned the people of Akaibiri and Bumoundi
communities, as well as Anam farmers against taking the law into their own
hands.
The Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Alonyenu Idu, represented by
the Deputy Commissioner of Police, in charge of the State Criminal
Investigation Department, Gabriel Elaigwu, while speaking during a meeting with
the state deputy governor and the stakeholders from the two communities and
farmers on Tuesday, confirmed that the two suspects allegedly involved in the
m8rder of Apah were already in police custody and promised that a thorough
investigation would be conducted.
Meanwhile, the state government has called on non-indigenes to respect
constituted authority wherever they reside in order to maintain the prevailing
peace, law and order in the state.
The state Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, who stated this
during a meeting with the people of Akaibiri and Bumoundi communities as well
as Anam farmers, urged the farmers to exercise restraint.
Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on
Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, underscored the need for non-indigenes to take
into cognisance the laws and traditional practices of host communities to
foster peaceful co-existence.
He noted that henceforth visitors must be properly introduced to
community leadership by their landlords as part of efforts to enhance the
identification and arrest of criminals who perpetrate crime in the state.
He also cautioned community leaders to reside in their various domains
and be alive to their responsibilities to consolidate the peace and stability
in the state.
"I want to appeal that all our communities in Ekpetiama should
maintain the peace. CP should also liaise with other security agencies and
maintain some security presence in the area until this matter is properly laid
to rest," he said.
“We encourage all our communities to have vigilantes so that this
idea of self-help will be minimised. Because if the vigilantes were doing their
job, this would not happen. And to the Anam people, you don’t have the right to
kill a thief. You only have the right to catch a thief and hand the person over
to law enforcement agents.
“If they are stealing your property, don’t resort to self-help,
report to the police and your host communities. You need to communicate this to
all your people wherever they are in Ijawland.”
The Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Clan, HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo (Agada IV),
thanked the state government for quickly intervening in the matter to forestall
a breakdown of law and order.
King Dakolo, while urging the police to ensure that those behind the killing of the deceased and burning of the Anam farm settlements face the full weight of the law, called on the Anam farmers to respect the existing culture and traditions, as well as recognise the hierarchy of leadership in their host communities.
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