No further relief materials for intracommunal crisis victims – Umahi

Following incessant intra-communal crises, the Ebonyi State government has said it will henceforth not give out relief materials to victims.

Governor David Umahi said this yesterday while giving out relied materials worth over N200 million to victims of communal crisis in Okporojo and Ogiri in Idima community of Afipko South Local Government Area compromising women, children, and aged men.

He said a committee set up by the state executive council revealed that intracrises recorded in communities like Ikwo, Izzi, Ishielu and Afikpo south could easily have been avoided or managed from escalating.

“This should mark the end, and on that note, the state has resolved not to give further relief materials to any victims of intra-communal crisis when we know that this could have been nipped in the bud by leaders of the communities,” he stressed.

Governor Umahi who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, said the state would henceforth hold community leaders and traditional rulers accountable for any crisis in their respective domains.

He said persistent crisis in different parts had cost the state billions of naira and would divert the state from development efforts if not checked.

The council chairman, Barr Enyi Uduma Chima told journalists that 121 households comprising 2,000 people affected by the crisis would benefit from the relief materials provided by the state emergency management agency (SEMA).

Items distributed to the victims by SEMA were foams, bags of rice, cartons of Indomie and wrappers.