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| Mr Igwe Kenor-Olom |
Igwe Austin Kenor-Olom|2 July 2017
For over two days now, there has been a free flow of blood spillage in the land of Ukelle Nation by descendants of two brothers according to historical claims.
The unity of Ukelle Nation has been threatened and its pride of cordial co-existence has been battered to an immeasurable low, no thanks to Wanikade and Wanihem communities, the very communities that have ceaselessly enmeshed themselves in a communal conflict that has resulted to innumerable loss of precious lives and wanton destruction of homes, property and other structures of good life.
As at yesterday evening, a thousand citizens have been rendered homeless from both communities, and most healthcare facilities and educational structures have been set ablaze in a mindless ravage of war. This bloody clash is the materialisation of a long grown bitterness over a parcel of land between two major communities known as Wanikade and Wanihem in North Ukelle, Yala LGA, Cross River State.
To appreciate this write up further, it will be necessary to evaluate in a sketchy content the Ukelle Nation itself and the Communities under consideration.
Ukelle Nation is a very large community that forms a better part of Yala LGA in Cross River State. They live in two separate regions called South Ukelle and North Ukelle, and because of its massive land mass and numerical strength, it has a separate constituency other than the general Yala, which makes Ukelle to be known as Yala Constituency ll, represented by an Honourable member at the State House of Assembly.
Now, in the northern extraction of Ukelle Nation, we have various communities, some are larger in sizes, while others are not too large. Some of these large communities include but not limited to Wanokom, Wanikade and Wanihem. These three communities co-exist side by side in a serial order, making it possible for Wanihem and Wanikade to share common boundaries.
Interestingly, according to historical claims, which are still subject to further empirical validations, Wanokom, Wanikade and Wanihem are descendants of 3 brothers from same parents. This means that,there were three brothers called Okom, Ikade and Ihem from the same parents. As they grew up, they came out of their father’s house, with each of them forming his own compound, and the compounds were established side by side in three separate places. They got married, bore children, and the three compounds became the three communities in Wanokom, Wanikade and Wanihem till date. Now,in typical Ukelle Language, “wan” means “child”.
So when we have Wanokom, it means, Okom’s child,just as Wanikade also means Ikade’s child as well as Wanihem. This, in literal sense, means that the three communities are descendants of the same heir,which makes it more damning to the heart to see how these two brothers have shed their own blood for a piece of land that exists between them.
Ukelle Nation is an integral part of Cross River State that has had its fair share of challenges. Whenever conflicts of this nature rears up,it is handled in the most modest way by way of intervention by all stakeholders,and everything gets under control,but not many had ever expected that of Wanikade and Wanihem to take such magnitude. It is shameful, mindless, barbaric,
I am so certain that scholars of history with specification in Ukelle settings will find an extreme shyness in the content of Ukelle history as it concerns the occurrence of that madness between Wanikade and Wanihem.
In my earlier post, I had hinged the blame of such a devilish act on the state government in my conversations with some officials of government, I never sounded nice at all, neither did I sound nice with the elite of those communities, nor the security agencies, but after some defences by some aids to the Governor, and the genuine reactions of the generality of Ukelle citizens, I felt convicted in my spirit that I might have accused wrongly. For Heaven’s sake,it is a sure failure on the two communities, Wanikade and Wanihem. It was poor management of the lingering crises by the stakeholders of both communities that has cost the lives of young and vibrant youths in those communities. The youths of those communities also went about it in the most timid sense of the word.
What happens to our collective efforts of Ukelle’s unity? What happens to our sweats? Where then is the sense of common heritage? It is is indeed unfortunate.
Reports had it that the toughness of the clash had defied the initial intervention by the state government, and the people have been left to their fate. Please, I appeal to the state Governor to do more in his efforts through the State Security Adviser to quell the clashes that have consumed everything that meant life for the people in those affected community.
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Igwe Austin Kenor-Olom
Is a Social Commentator
