Police convene Town Hall meeting in Umuahia to tackle communal clashes
Posted by admin | 9 years ago | 3,187 times
In a continuous effort to maintain peace among communities and ensure co-existence across the country, the Nigeria Police Force has held a two-day Town Hall meeting of communities in Abia State to address conflicts generated by increasing boundary interaction and ethno-religious crises.
The meeting which held at the Michael Okpara Auditorium, Umuahia was co-ordinated by the AIG, North West and Chairman of the Nigeria Police Force Committee on the Prevention and Management of Communal Clashes and Crises, AIG Mohammed Abubakar.
The AIG,who noted that the Committee was mandated by the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to meet with communities across the six geo-political zones with a view to talking, dialoguing and speaking peace; to understand the problems, give opportunities for reactions and make recommendations to the IG on areas of land disputes, revealed that Plateau, Nassarawa, Kaduna, Cross Rivers, Enugu and Anambra have had their shares of the meeting.
AIG Abubakar highlighted the objectives of the committee to include, mediation and settling of communal disputes to stem reported cases before it escalates; conduct investigations into incidents where necessary, conduct mediation meetings with aggrieved parties in a bid to peacefully resolve declared differences, to hold peace talks, conferences, and treaties in an effort to preach peace, among others.
Abia State Deputy Governor and Chairman, Abia State Boundary Commission, Chief Emeka Ananaba, represented by Navy.Capt. Osondu(rtd), stated that the essence of the meeting is to encourage traditional rulers and their people to speak up where they feel aggrieved and thanked the Inspector General for such an initiative.
Secretary of the State Boundary Commission, Ochu I.Ochu revealed that language barrier remains a major challenge. He added that boundary problems among neighbours are becoming pensive because of developmental strides, while calling on the team to liaise with the National Boundary Commission to quickly intervene to ensure peace between Abia and its neighbours.
Some communities in Abia State that have issues with their neighbours are -
- Ohuhu (Abia) versus Ihite Uboma (Imo)
- Umunneochi (Abia) versus Ivo Isiagu L.G.A (Ebonyi)
- Isukwuato (Abia) versus Amato Ivo L.G.A (Ebonyi)
- Ohafia (Abia) versus Akwa Ibom
- Bende (Abia) versus Ebonyi/ Akwa Ibom
- Akirika (Abia) versus Akwa Ibom
- Arochukwu (Abia) versus Akwa Ibom ( Aboo).
The Town Hall meeting had in attendance kings and traditional prime ministers of communities in the state, representatives of the Ministry of Lands and Survey and the Ministry of Justice.
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