We can authoritatively reveal that but for the timely intervention of the member representing Yala II State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Martins Achadu and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of CRS on Timber Control, North, Asegem Emmanuel, 40 members of the Wanibolor clan in Yala LGA, Cross River State, captured by Igede community of Benue State, may have lost their lives.
Sources in the area maintained to www.calitown.com that the 40 persons were captured when unarmed youths from Wanibolor, Yala, attempted to forcefully prevent the construction of a building by the Igede people on a piece of land the Wanibolor considered to be theirs. In the ensuing confrontation, the heavily armed Igede people, rounded up 40 Wanibolor persons and took them away.
When information of the abduction reached Achadu, he is said to have quickly contacted Asagem, who was on the ground in Yala, to wade in as tension mounted on both sides. Asagem immediately made contacts the other way and a peace meeting was convened.
At the meeting between both communities, Asagem emphasized the need for a peaceful coexistence between the two communities, stressing that because they both have family relationships that predate them, there must be deliberate efforts at all times to foster love and eschew all forms of misunderstanding between them.
Shortly after the meeting, the 40 abducted persons were released unhurt.