EBONYI State Government has said youths and other stakeholders of Effium community in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state were frustrating every effort it was making to ensure the restoration of peace in the area.

According to the state government, both the Effium and Ezza people, who were reportedly co-owners of the area, were not making efforts to ensure that peace reigned in the community.

Recall that the people of Effium and Ezza, in the Ohaukwu LGA of the state, had been enmeshed in a protracted communal clash, which had led to the killing of many innocent natives and destruction of property worth billions of naira.

But the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji, in a statement on Thursday, said it was worrisome that youths in the area, were still attacking security agencies deployed to secure peace in the community.

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The statement read, “The State Executive Council in its meeting of August 31, 2021, received a brief on the state of affairs in the communal dispute between Effium and  Ezza Effium in Ohaukwu LGA and noted with displeasure that their stakeholders and youths are not truly committed to peaceful co-existence despite the interventions by government and efforts of security agencies to bring to a halt all hostilities in that community.

“It is noteworthy to mention that the state government in considering the conditions of the people especially the aged and other vulnerable persons did set aside the sum of N100m in the first instance to rehabilitate these helpless people both at Effium and Ezza Effium with a view to mitigating the socio-economic conditions of the people.”