Communal crisis: Kwara community rejects govt boundary demarcation

The Offa Descendant Union (ODU), an umbrella body of all sons and daughters of Offa, at the weekend rejected the Unity Road constructed by the past administration in Kwara State.

The Unity Road was meant to serve as a boundary between Offa and Erin Ile towns as a solution to the protracted boundary dispute between the two communities.

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The over a four-decade communal dispute which has led to several loss of lives and destruction of properties worth millions of naira erupted recently over a disagreement in parking lots.

Speaking with journalists in Offa, some elders of the town, led by a retired justice olabanji Orilonise, on behalf of people of the ancient town, rejected the boundary demarcation between the two towns, claiming that it was a violation of section 8 (4) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

The indigenes who appealed for peaceful co-existence between the two communities, however, called on the state government to uphold the “Kere Ipinle” boundary resolutions established by the military administrations of Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo and Colonel Ogar, respectively, which he said was duly signed by the two communities.

They also advised the state government to take full possession of the Buffer Zone as defined in the Kwara state Legal Notices 1, 2, 3 & 4 of 1997.

While calling for historical consideration in finding a lasting solution to the age-long communal crisis, ODU appealed for absolute sincerity as the two rival communities awaited feedback from the committee recently set up by the state government on the matter.

Orilonise, who said that it was not a responsibility of the court or any personality to allocate land to anyone or any community, added that the issue of border demarcation was solely that of a trained surveyor.

Speaking on the two Supreme Court judgements on the dispute, Orilonise said the Erin-Ile community should understand that the Apex Court Judgments of 1973 and 2018 did not award any land to Erin-Ile as being erroneously propagated.