FACTS ON THE ATTACK AND CRISIS BETWEEN NKO AND MKPANI

Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. Communities in Yakurr should therefore respect municipal and international laws providing protection for human lives, properties and the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development as necessary. Obol Lopon of Mkpani is a man of peace, and has played a fundamental role in the mutual peace and unity of Yakurr nation. But the warmongers of Nko who boast of high rank personnel in the army and in government and claimed to have been well sponsored and equiped do not want the land of Yakurr to remain in peace. 1. On June 2nd 2013, a group of Nko people stopped a timber dealer Mr. James Nkanu from Mkpani, at the Community Secondary School Nko, during the Oyeadama/Inyima crisis of that year. His vehicle was searched and nothing incriminating was found. Notwithstanding the fact that he was asked to go, he was still pursued when they realized that he is from Mkpani. They shot him from behind and he sustained serious injuries. But, even though he managed to escape to Mkpani, James is deformed to date. The incident caused uproar and pressure for combat with Nko, but the Obol Lopon of Mkpani prevailed on his people to remain calm. His people listened and they moved on even as that did not affect their relationship with Nko. 2. Carrying of arms to another sovereign land is in itself an act of belligerence even in international and municipal law. The people of Nko defied this code of conduct when on April 16, 2016, they pursued a driver who was conveying a corpse to Obubra all the way from Nko to Mkpani junction where they shot him at close range and left. The man was quickly rescued and treated here in Mkpani. If the man did not live to tell the story himself, the impression in the minds of the public would have been that Mkpani people killed him. Again HRM Obol Sunday Obono Okoi, the Obol Lopon of Mkpani took the path of honour by reporting to the relevant security agencies and the Obol Lopon of Nko was notified and implored to restraint his subjects on actions of that nature. 3. On the same day some sons and daughters of Mkpani who were in Nko to honour a burial invitation during the burial of Chief Obono Leko were harassed, intimidated and threatened with physical violence but they escaped unhurt. The story spread in Mkpani like a wide fire; again, Obol Sunday implored his people to understand that so long as no life was lost, they should take the incident in good faith. He called the Obol Lopon of Nko to place on record that occurrence even as he urged him to again restraint his subjects from taking the patience of Mkpani community for granted. 4. On April 22, 2016 information came to Mkpani from Ekom-Agoi that Nko people attempted to pass through their land to attack Lokpoi, a village under Mkpani, but they were refused passage. In spite of the tension this information generated, Obol Lopon of Mkpani managed the situation to forestall the rise of adverse tempers that may lead to the breakdown of law and order and breaching of the peace in the process. With the benefit of what happened since Friday, 29th April, 2016, it is without equivocation that the above conflict indicators, spanning over three years provide a clear insight into the terrorist agenda of Nko community against Mkpani. Thus, when people of Nko decided to implement that agenda, they left no one in doubt as to what they are out to achieve. They deliberately waylaid Mr. Bassey Obol Lekam, a Butcher on the Ikom/Calabar Highway, cruelly shot and killed him. Because God has recorded patience of Mkpani people, and shall not allow them to be put to shame, the victim commercial motor cycle rider who was transporting Mr. Bassey Obol Lekam, survived the attack to tell the story as altruistic as it happened. Meantime, before the Obol Lopon of Mkpani could ask for Bassey Obol Lekam’s body, Nko people escalated the crisis, attacking people right at Mkpani junction, looting and burning two filling stations, a private clinic, a welder’s workshop, and two private houses on the 30th of April, 2016. They did not stop there, the following day, Sunday, May 01, 2016, Nko people invaded Mkpani junction again with a combined team of both serving and retired soldiers and mobile police men. Again, they looted and burnt down the Secondary School Mkpani and two other nearby houses and also kidnapped one John Onen Oboma. To date, Mkpani people do not know his where about or what the Nko people have done to him. The same day, a corpse was swiftly paraded at Ugep with a very mischievous story to the effect that Mkpani people killed an Ugep man just in order to instigate and incite Ugep against Mkpani. Even at this point, Mkpani people had not even taken any retaliatory measures when a contingent of the Nigerian Army arrived Mkpani unannounced. They wreaked havoc from their approach with a high casualty rate in the process. What they probably thought or planned as a deterrent became bloody incident in internal peace keeping efforts of Nigerian soldiers as if Mkpani have had a face-off with soldiers before now. They also operated as if Mkpani is the aggressors in this conflict, whereas, throughout the foregoing, Mkpani never threw even a stone first. The direct involvement of the military and their application of excessive force in the killing of innocent children of Mkpani is against the Ethic of Peace Initiative in a particular communal conflict, and is highly condemnable. There is no doubt that somebody is directing and coordinating the activities of Nko people because they have resorted to inducing hunger as a strategy by destroying yam barns and uprooting crops belonging to Mkpani people on 4th of May, 2016. Obol Lopon of Mkpani clearly, and in unmistaken terms, restrained and pleaded with his subjects’ against combat poise or resort to declare war against Nko. At his coronation, he promised his people peace, progress, development and unity within and all Yakurr. He can never renege on this promise because of his progressive disposition from the outset. From the slow reaction/response of the security agencies to the distress calls of Obol Lopon of Mkpani immediately the details of Bassey Obol Lekams’ killing were obtained, the role of security agencies in all these leaves much to be desired.