A Commission of Inquiry constituted by the Benue State Government to look into the recent crisis between Tiv and Jukun in Abinsi community of Guma local government area of the state on Tuesday held its inaugural sitting.
Daily Trust reports that the panel headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi at its inaugural sitting held in Court 5 at North bank in Makurdi would, also beyond the Abinsi crisis, look into the conflict between the two tribes at Fidi village in Makurdi local government area.
The Abinsi crisis happened in January 2019 while that of Fidi occurred over a year ago – during both clashes, lives were lost and property destroyed. This propelled the state governor, Samuel Ortom, to constitute a panel of Inquiry to look into the immediate and remote cause of the conflict.
The head of the commission, Kpochi, however at the inaugural sitting said the mandate of the commission include to ensure the restoration of peace amongst the warring parties.
He therefore urged parties to the conflicts to give the commission their maximum cooperation to succeed, stressing, that if in the course of proceedings, any party has misgivings, they should not hesitate to bring them forward so that such grievances will be adequately treated.
Commenting, the counsel to Jukun nationality, Barr. Dogara Douglas Aboshi, assured that he would not indulge in any form of frivolities to delay proceeding even as he raised concern of inadequate security at the court.
Aboshi who expressed confidence that justice would be served, emphasised that, “there is need to deploy more security personnel since this is a commission set up as a result of fight between two tribes in which several lives were lost, property worth millions of Naira destroyed and many have been rendered homeless.”
On his part, the counsel to State, Barr. Ejembi Enyikola, said the proceeding would commence by calling witnesses from the Jukun side.
