The National President of the Obbo-Aiyegunle Descendants Union of Kwara State, Enoch Ade Ogun, has called on the governors of Kwara and Ekiti to address the ongoing communal dispute between the people of Obbo Aiyegunle in Kwara State and their neighbours in Eda Oniyo, Ekiti State.

In a statement on Monday, made available to Punch, Ogun refuted claims that the Obbo Aiyegunle people were the aggressors in the conflict. He dismissed allegations that residents from Obbo Aiyegunle had invaded the Eda Oniyo community in Ekiti State, resulting in the death of an Eda Oniyo resident on Saturday.

Ogun clarified that it was actually the Eda Oniyo residents who ambushed individuals from Obbo Aiyegunle as they were passing through the Ekiti community on their way to their palace in Kwara State.

This appeal for resolution comes amidst growing tension between the two communities.

The OADU President, who spoke on Monday in a statement titled, “Eda Oniyo youths ambushed our people – Obbo Aiyegunle,” however, expressed regrets at the turn of events at a time when peace process was on to resolve the dispute.

Ogun said, “We offer our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. It is high time the governments of both states met to resolve this crisis once and for all.”

Ogun, while explaining what happened on Saturday, said, “Three Obbo men, namely: Adewale Fatiroti, Bode Osasona and Sola Omotoso, returning home last Saturday from a social function from Isan-Ekiti (ex-Governor Kayode Feyemi's hometown) on a bike were accosted by Eda people riding a bus. You have to pass through Eda from Obbo going to or returning from Isan-Ekiti.

“The Obbo men were attacked, but the one riding the bike managed to escape from the scene. As he was racing home, he observed from a distance how they were manhandling and cutting Osasona (one of the two captured) with cutlasses. He got home and raised the alarm that the Eda people might have by then killed the two men!

“This was why some Obbo men mobilised and raced to Eda with the desperation to rescue the men in Eda's captivity. But the men met soldiers on the fringes of Eda town, who questioned them about their mission. They explained that they were not there for trouble but for the return of two Obbo men in Eda people's custody.

“With the soldiers' intervention, the two men were released to them and contrary to the impression created, they (Obbo people) didn't attack anywhere. They couldn't have attacked anywhere with the soldiers' presence.

“They were returning home after the two men were released to them, but unknown to them, Eda youths had mobilised and they ambushed the Obbo men on the way, firing at them. The men had to defend themselves and it became a free-for-all. It was in the process that the casualty was recorded.

“Obbo people are peace lovers. Eda people will always trigger crises, making it difficult to curb the mob actions that emanate from Obbo youths. Eda will then be the first to rush to the media without relating the whole story.

“This turn of events is highly unfortunate and regrettable by us in Obbo, because there are already moves towards peace. Eda people had been to Ilorin, Kwara State capital, where their people being detained by the police were released to them amid handshake.

“Obbo's delegation also followed Eda's representatives to Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, where Obbo people being detained by the police were also released to their people under a convivial atmosphere,” he said.

Ogun, who said that Obbo people were following the peace process through appropriate contacts, said, “There was absolutely no basis for us to launch any premeditated attack on Eda people as the Eleda of Eda Oniyo alleged. The above is the correct account of what really happened.”

Ekiti State Government had on Sunday stated that “available information indicated that the boundary dispute between Eda Oniyo Ekiti and Obbo Ayegunle in Kwara State escalated when armed men from Obbo Ayegunle attacked Eda Oniyo on Saturday.”

The government had said consequently, soldiers, police and Amotekun Corps operatives had moved in to curtail the dispute between Eda Oniyo in Ekiti State and neighbouring Obbo Ayegunle in Kwara State over land ownership.