ABIODUN NEJO observes the anticipation for a permanent solution to the boundary feud, transforming former allies, Eda Oniyo (Ekiti) and Obbo Aiyegunle (Kwara), into adversaries
In Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Walls”, written in 1914, two neighbours come together every year to rebuild the walls between them. When one of them contemplates an area that does not need a wall, the other replies, “Good fence makes good neighbours.”
The neighbour even emphasises the statement, “good fence makes good neighbours” by repeating it in another part of the poem.
Two erstwhile friendly communities, Eda Oniyo in the Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State and Obbo-Aiyegunle in Kwara State are today at daggers drawn against each other over their boundary, as the two communities are laying claim to the ownership of a parcel of land between them.
Each of the communities is telling its story in favourable ways to establish its ownership of the land in dispute while countering the position of the other, claiming that its forebears gave the disputed land to the people of the other to farm.
The no-love-lost relationship over the boundary between two neighbouring communities became more pronounced in April, when the Eda Oniyo community accused the Obbo Aiyegunle people of invading its community, vandalising the local government secretariat, vehicles, and houses and as well injuring a farmer.
The Obbo Aiyegunle community was quick to debunk it, saying the Ekiti State neighbours were the aggressors and that despite provocations; the Kwara community had been able to rein in its youths, thus preventing them from any retaliatory attack.
The loss of life at Eda Oniyo, Ekiti State, on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in the course of a clash between the two communities has, however, changed the course of the boundary dispute.
Just as the Obbo Aiyegunle and the Eda Oniyo communities have discordant claims over ownership of the land and attacks, they are not on the same page as well on the circumstances surrounding the death of the 32-year-old Bayo Agbetoke from the Ekiti community.
Tension over killing
There is tension in the Eda Oniyo community over the killing of Agbetoke during the clash between people of the community and youths of Obbo Aiyegunle, although the two communities have different stories to tell about the circumstances leading to the casualty.
The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, saddened by the killing, urged security agencies to investigate and fish out the killers of the Ekiti indigene.
The Deputy Governor, Mrs Monisade Afuye, who represented Oyebanji during a sympathy visit to the Eleda of Eda Oniyo, Oba Julius Awolola and the family of the deceased, on Monday, May 20, 2024, said, “This killing was highly devastating and uncalled for.
“The government of Governor Oyebanji places high value on the security of lives and property and under no guise would he allow anyone to kill any Ekiti indigene and go scot-free. I assure you, the killers will be brought to book.
“I really sympathise with you on the death of one of you. But I want to appeal to you not to take a reprisal action. Continue to maintain peace, no matter the level of provocation. The government is on top of the situation, we are with you.”
The state government, on Sunday, May 19, stated, “Available information indicated that the boundary dispute between the Eda Oniyo and the Obbo Ayegunle communities escalated when armed men from Obbo Ayegunle attacked Eda Oniyo on Saturday. One person from the community (Eda Oniyo) was reportedly killed in the fracas.”
Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, who appealed to residents of the Eda Oniyo community to remain calm, said, “Soldiers, police and members of the Amotekun Corps had already moved to the area to protect the community.”
Olatunbosun said that “the Army formation in Kwara State has been contacted to deploy troops along the Kwara side of the border, to curtail further attack from both sides.”
Relating how the Saturday attack took place, the Eleda, Oba Awolola, said, “The Obbo people came armed into our town. They could not attack the secretariat because some policemen were there.
“They came into the town to attack us. They vandalised the windows of no fewer than two buildings and they, in the process, killed one of our men. It was when they were resisted by our people that they retreated to Obbo Ayegunle,” the monarch said.
But the President of Obbo Aiyegunle Descendants’ Union, Enoch Ade Ogun, who said that Obbo youths neither invaded nor attacked Eda Oniyo that Saturday, however, said, “We offer our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.”
Ogun, while explaining what happened in a statement, said, “Three Obbo men, namely: Adewale Fatiroti, Bode Osasona and Sola Omotoso, returning home that Saturday from a social function at Isan-Ekiti on a bike, were accosted by the Eda people in a bus. You have to pass through Eda from Obbo, going to or returning from Isan-Ekiti.
“The Obbo men were attacked, but the one riding the bike managed to escape from the scene. As he was racing home, he observed from a distance how they were manhandling and stabbing Osasona with a machete. He got home and raised the alarm that the Eda people might have killed the two men.
“This was why some Obbo men mobilised to Eda with the desperation to rescue the men in Eda’s captivity. But the men met soldiers on the fringes of Eda town, who questioned them about their mission. They explained that they were not there for trouble but for the return of two Obbo men in Eda people’s custody.
“With the soldiers’ intervention, the two men were released to them and, contrary to the impression created; they (Obbo people) didn’t attack anywhere. They couldn’t have attacked anywhere with the soldiers’ presence.
“They were returning home after the two men were released to them, but, unknown to them, the Eda youths had mobilised and they ambushed the Obbo men on the way, firing at them. The men had to defend themselves and it became a free-for-all. It was in the process that the casualty was recorded,” Ogun said.
Responsibility for violence
As the case has been, each community is blaming the other for the violence.
The Eleda accused the Obbo Aiyegunle people of barging into the town with weapons and vandalising properties, injuring people and even killing a native, but the OADU president, speaking on behalf of the Obbo Oniyo community, described the Eda people as the aggressors.
In the April 16 incident, Oba Awolola had said that one of the farmers injured by the Obbo Aiyegunle people in the attack was rushed to hospital where he received medical attention.
The Eda Oniyo monarch said, “People from Obbo-Ayegunle, a Kwara State community, have been farming on our land, but the government of Ekiti State wants to use the land for youths and deployed equipment there, preparatory to the commencement of the work. That was what provoked them [the Obbo Aiyegunle people] to attack us.
“They came on bikes. I was even at my farm at that time, they went to vandalise our (Ilejemeje) local government secretariat and then attacked some of our people who were already at their farms. Cars parked at the roadside were vandalised, and three motorbikes were set ablaze. One of the farmers who were beaten has been hospitalised.”
The traditional ruler, who said tension was building up in the community at that time, said the Ekiti State government, following the incident, appealed for calm and advised residents against any reprisal.
But the Obbo Aiyegunle people gave a contrary report as the OADU president said the Eda Oniyo monarch was always provoking the Kwara community by siting projects at the Obbo end to grab their land.
Ogun said, “Following the same pattern as in the past during the reign of this Eleda, Eda youths invaded Obbo farmlands and destroyed hundreds of hectares of cashew trees, all executed at night and on Sunday (April 14).
“At the time of writing this report (mid-April), they are still cutting down cashew trees, destroying cassava and yam farms unabated. The Owa l’obbo and his high chiefs appealed and have continued to appeal to Obbo youths not to retaliate.
“Obbo youths have been restless because of the problem of kidnappers in one section of their land and another part, a series of attacks on farmlands by our brothers who we accommodated in 1957,” the Obbo people stated.
Land ownership claims
A crucial issue here is that both the Eda Oniyo and the Aiyegunle Obbo communities are claiming to have accommodated the other, as they both lay claim to the ownership of the disputed land.
The Eleda said it was saddening that some people from Obbo Aiyegunle had allegedly been invading his town, arresting people indiscriminately and clamping them in detention over a vast plot of land located between the two towns.
Oba Awolola said, “Obbo Aiyegunle farmers had been paying royalty to Eda Oniyo on the land for decades, only for them to stop and start making spirited efforts to forcibly take over the land from my people.
“The land under dispute belongs to Eda Oniyo, based on the National Boundary Commission resolution about the presence of Ondo State’s pillar on the land and backed by a document gazetted as legal Notice No 126 of 1954 under Western Region.
“Obbo Aiyegunle relocated to their present location in 1927, while Eda Oniyo Ekiti had settled in the town since the 14th Century, sharing boundaries with Etan and Eruku in Kwara State.
“In 2008, there was a meeting called by the NBC between the two communities where some resolutions were made in favour of Ekiti that the legal notice No 126 of 1954 should be allowed to stand because it remains the extant document and yet to be amended.
“They can’t use threat and violence to retrieve that land. That boundary can’t be changed orally. They don’t have anything to contradict the 1954 document. That land belongs to Eda Oniyo and what Obbo Ayegunle is doing is an attempt by the Kwara State to rob Ekiti of its inheritance.”
The OADU president, however, insisted that Obbo Aiyegunle owned the disputed land, saying, “Eda people’s original settlement is at Ajoke. During the inter-tribal war, Eda people moved to the Omisoro area, which belonged to Ishan Ekiti.
“They settled at Omisoro for about 100 years before an Ishan king (Oba Ayiti) drove them from Omisoro. They then scattered into various units in the bush until some of them approached our forefathers and requested to be allowed to settle on Obbo land.
“They were joyfully welcomed and treated as brothers. This group eventually relocated and settled between Obbo and Iludun Ekiti in 1957 and changed their name to Eda Oniyo. Olosoro River was set as the boundary between Obbo and Eda. They were also allowed to farm freely on any Obbo land,” he said.
Way forward
Although the incident which culminated in the killing of a resident of Eda Oniyo dealt the peace process in the boundary dispute a great blow, all hopes are not lost as it is believed that neither Kwara nor Ekiti state government will fold its arms and allow violence and killings.
The Ekiti State Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, said, “The Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale; the Commander of the Nigerian Army in Ekiti State, as well as the state government representatives have visited the scene to assess the situation and proffer lasting solution.”
Meanwhile, the two sides in the dispute had written to the Ekiti State government on the matter and the need for justice so that the area could have lasting peace.
Afuye, during a meeting with the Eda Oniyo delegates on the matter on Thursday, May 16, 2024, directed the Technical Committee on Boundary Dispute to visit the area to ascertain the veracity of the claims of the town about the ownership of the land under contention.
Afuye, who said the Kwara State government had been contacted on the matter, said, “We promised that this matter will be resolved officially with the Kwara State government… I have confidence that the Kwara State governor won’t be happy about the sordid turn of events between the two formerly friendly communities. How can we be killing ourselves over land?”
Also, the people of Obbo Aiyegunle confirmed peace moves before Saturday’s incident, as Ogun said, “There are already moves towards peace. Eda people had been to Ilorin, where their people being detained by the police were released to them amid a handshake.
“Obbo’s delegation also followed Eda’s representatives to Ado Ekiti, where Obbo people being detained by the police were also released to their people under a convivial atmosphere,” he said.
Ogun said Kwara and Ekiti state governments had intervened several times and later developed a Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by the two communities to jointly live in harmony on the farms.
The OADU president, while making a case for a lasting resolution of the boundary issue, said, “It is high time the governments of both states met to resolve this crisis once and for all.”
