The lawmaker representing Khana/Gokana federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Honourable Dumnamene Robinson Dekor, has visited the feuding communities of Ogoniland; Luu-Sue and Zor-Sogho where he appealed for calm between members of the communities.
His move was based on claims and counterclaims of ‘unprovoked’ attacks against each other, the hostility between both communities in Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, which escalated on the night of Wednesday, February 3, with an alleged killing of five persons and destruction of properties worth several millions of naira.
The incident had left the areas deserted prompting the federal legislator to move in swiftly to forestall the situation degenerating into full scale communal war.
Accompanied on the visit by the chairman of Khana Local Government Area, Lahteh Loolo; lawmaker representing Khana Constituency I in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Honourable Bariene Deeyah; his counterpart in Khana Constituency 2, Honourable Prince Ngbor and the Bori divisional police officer, among others, Dekor charged the people to embrace peace and allow socio-economic activities back in the area.
At Zor-Sogho, where the equally traumatised villagers sat under a large tree to receive him, Hon. Dekor urged them to shelve their grievances as the Khana council chairman had summoned a security meeting to look into the matter.
He assured that government would be fair and unbiased in resolving the dispute, adding that their representatives at the local, state and national assembly would join the council chairman to look into the matter and ensure that the right things are done to bring the needed peace in the area.
Addressing journalists shortly after meeting with the people, Hon. Dekor said he came primarily to condole with the chairman and people of Sogho community, stressing that he and his team had visited the feuding communities and also heard from both sides.
“We observed that there are elements of cultism and long-standing animosity since 2012. But by the grace of God, we shall join the council chairman to resolve the disputes once and for all. A security meeting has been summoned to take a look at the issue,” he said.
Also speaking, the council chairman, Loolo, said that he got the news of the attacks on Thursday and waded into the crisis by visiting the affected communities to ascertain the root cause of the matter.
“Having now heard from the two communities, we shall return to take a decision on this. From what we heard, it has been an age long crisis between them. The crisis unfortunately degenerated into a cult clash. But as a government, we shall do everything to nip the crisis in the bud”, he said and urged the people to remain peaceful while the government comes up with a solution.
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