On Friday, 30th January, 2026, the social media space was littered with reports of attack launched on Okporojo by “unknown assailants”.
Okporojo is a disputed land between Amasiri and Oso communities. While this article would not delve into the issue of ownership which by all indices favours Amasiri, it should be noted that the dispute has been there for decades but assumed a more troubling dimension in the early days of 2025 when an age grade group had gone to Akanta Primary School for a clean-up exercise in preparation for the resumption of teaching-learning activities in the school after 2024 December Holidays.
It was reported that Oso youths disrupted the clean-up activities and ended up abducting seven (7) men from Amasiri while others were wounded. The seven men are still in captivity up to the time of this report.
The immediate response to the above by Amasiri leadership was official report to the law enforcement agents and a series of “cries” to principal officers of Ebonyi State Government of Afikpo origin. These reports proved abortive as the killings, abductions and arsons continued unabated.
It got bad that the Oso militants blocked the federal road running through Afikpo–Amasiri–Oso–Okitankwo while hunting for indigenes of Amasiri that made use of the road on daily basis.
The same was done at farmlands against individuals who engaged in farming activities for their livelihoods. In one of such occasions, a retired military officer, of Amasiri origin, and his wife were abducted while they went to farm; an Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps was attacked and mercilessly wounded by Oso militants while performing his official duties; and many have been abducted and later found dead or not seen till date while the Governor making “political promises” that peace would be restored.
However, the event of 30th January, 2026 has continued to attract sympathies and blames from all over Nigeria and even “pushed” the Governor of Ebonyi State to Okporojo on 31st January, 2026. To the amazement of every discerning mind, the Governor unilaterally “sacked” all political appointees, traditional rulers and town union leadership of Amasiri while at Okporojo without investigation. This sounded funny but the Governor went ahead to promise that he will do more to prove that he was “in-charge”.
While the Governor may be right in his action, certain questions are begging for answers: why was the pronouncement made at the spot? Why was it only for Amasiri? Does it imply that the Governor is only for Oso? Why did it take the Governor a whole one year to visit the disputed land?
Was these pronouncements preplanned while the Governor waited for this opportunity? Who are your advisers regarding such issues because your swiftness to these “sacks” points to one thing–succumbing to pressure? While these questions wait to be answered, let it be known that the Governor unleashed overwhelming force on the people of Amasiri without recourse to the principles guiding the employment of its force.
One of the principles of overwhelming force states that before undertaken this, there should be clear objective and this force should be seen as the last resort. Now, to Governor Nwifuru, what is your objective in this path you have taken? In this 21st century, you declared a total war on a community ignoring the principles of a “just war”.
Your soldiers have engaged in unwarranted killings and arson (against men, women, children, the aged and the sick) including properties–which does not in any way encourage peace building.
Before doing this, did you exhaust all available means for dispute resolution? If the responses to these questions are “no”, you are simply being vindictive, partial and insensitive knowing that your actions are enough to escalate the tension beyond what you can imagine.
Addressing crisis of this nature involves a focus on independent enquiries or investigations into the root cause of the problem. If not, whatever you are doing is bound to achieve only cosmetic peace which can collapse at any given time. Work towards promoting peacemaking, peace building, and sustainable peacekeeping among the affected communities.
Prioritize community engagement, dialogue and reconciliation efforts involving traditional rulers of Amasiri, Oso and their neighboring communities, political appointees and other stake holders (including those of them that you “sacked” in Amasiri).
In all, the weakest peace is far better than a faint war.
Concerned Ebonyian