The Odo-Owa community in Oke-Ero Local Government area, Kwara State, has reacted to a story, "Chaos in the Cathedral," published in Daily Sun on February 13, 2012. Sir S A Ogunsanmi, president, Odo-Owa Welfare Association, spoke on behalf of the community. Excerpts from the statement he issued: "I, and many people read your story on page 17 of Daily Sun of February 13, 2012. There is need to state the causes and effects of the war that occurred between Odo-Owa and Iloffa on December 16, 2011 and on January 16, 2012.

"The problem had its root in the age long land/boundary dispute between certain individuals in Odo-Owa and Iloffa on a plot of land north of Egbere River from 1935-1937 which Iloffa extrapolated to cover the lands subsequently wholly donated by Odo-Owa for projects of common use of the two communities, and the lands donated 50-50 by the two communities for similar projects. St. Peter’s Cathedral, Iloffa/Odo-Owa, which infact, is in Odo-Owa falls into the first category.

"Iloffa had been using the unpublished reports of the land dispute from certain ancient courts to terrorize Odo-Owa for decades until the futility and irrelevance of the case was laid bare when Iloffa with bravado approached Ilorin High Court, headed by the late Justice S.A. Olagunju, from 1989 to 1998. The erudite judge in his 1998 judgment rejected all the ancient judgments and the attached sketch maps as nullities, describing them as "fake," "unsigned," "unauthenticated" "irrelevant" and "not suitable for adjudication in any tribunal." He dismissed Iloffa’s claims on the platform of pleadings and for lack of merit and awarded a cost N5,000 against Iloffa (the plaintiff) in favour of Odo-Owa.

"Iloffa attempted to appeal against this judgment but retracted. What followed was that Iloffa petitioned the Boundary Committee in 2004 which Odo-Owa adequately responded to with copious evidence. By 2009, the committee’s fundings after three inspection visits to hear the claims of both communities ruled on before the representatives of the two communities and Odo-Owa provided copious evidences that they own the land in dispute while Iloffa presented none. But the committee said any land in dispute was always shared to the disputants in the proportion of the weight of evidences provided by each. They started demarcation but the demarcation was stalled by the committee itself for lack of consistency in the method of demarcating the boundary.

"During the pendancy of the matter before the Boundary Committee, the Ekiti Kwara Diocese of the Anglican Communion was created on the basis of memorandum of understanding ordered by the immediate past Primate of the Nigerian Anglican Communion and signed and sealed by the nine archdeaconries which formed the Diocese (Iloffa and Odo-Owa inclusive). The MoU inter alia stated that St. Peter’s church should be named The Cathedral of St. Peter’s Iloffa/Odo-Owa.

"The Cathedral bore that name until October 2010 when the sitting Bishop wanted to change the name to Iloffa only which was strongly resisted by Odo-Owa. This set stage for the conflict. The immediate cause of the conflict was the planned burial of Chief N.O. Ogunbiyi at the Cathedral premises.

"For over 10 years, Odo-Owa had resisted using the Cathedral which is right inside Odo-Owa as cemetery whereby dead people from Iloffa, which is two kilometers away, were dumped in Odo-Owa which is capable of causing health hazards to the people of Odo-Owa who live around the Cathedral. The sitting Bishop too realized this and set a committee to look into the matter. The committee with a majority of 3:1 ruled in favour of Odo-Owa’s stand. This informed the Bishop to rule in October 2011 that corpses should be buried in cemetery and no more in church premises and inside towns.

"Therefore in November 2011 the Bishop, contrary to his October synod directive said he would bury the remains of Ogunbiyi in the premises of the Cathedral. Iloffa started to dig his grave infront of the Cathedral while Odo-Owa youths were covering the grave. The then Divisional Police Officer in charge of Oke-Ero intervened. He intimated the two Obas, Alofa of Iloffa and Olota of Odo-Owa of his directive.

"However, the Alofa petitioned against the DPO who was instantly transferred. Since the matter failed to abate, the Area Commander Omu-Aran waded into the matter. But he could not solve the problem. The state Police Commissioner subsequently met with the representatives of the two communities and those of the Anglican Communion on December 13, 2011. The CP directed that since the land around the Cathedral is in dispute Ogunbiyi should not be buried there. He equally directed that representatives of Iloffa and Odo-Owa should sign undertaking towards this. This was done. The Oke-Ero council chairman immediately sent a circular to all concerned to comply with the police directive.

"Surprisingly, the Alofa, without the knowledge of Olota claimed to have held a meeting with the state Deputy Governor on 15/12/2011 and got permission to bury Ogunbiyi at the Cathedral premises. With this, Iloffa started digging a grave at the premises of the Cathedral on December 16, with their armed youths supervising the exercise.

"The trigger of war was first pulled by these Iloffa armed youths who attacked and macheted an Odo-Owa youth who was passing through the Cathedral. He was bleeding profusely, fell down and pretended he was dead. He later escaped to Odo-Owa. He was taken to hospital in a neighbouring town in Ekiti State. Youths from Odo-Owa conter-attacked. Eexchange of gunshots and missiles went on till the middle of the night with the result that the cathedral was damaged.

"Surprisingly, the security outfits in Oke-Ero did not bother to check or stop the war until late in the night after some Odo-Owa elders in Ilorin had run to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) for government intervention. The governor immediately directed that Ogunbiyi should not be buried at the Cathedral premises and ordered a squad of mobile policemen be dispatched to Odo-Owa and Iloffa to stop the carnage. But then Iloffa youths had shot a man resident in Odo-Owa who was passing through Iloffa on a motor bike from his town, Arandun.

"This ugly episode was unilaterally replicated by Iloffa armed youths who invaded Egbere farms of Odo-Owa, shot at a farmer, harassed others and damaged a CAC church and its vicarage where Pastor Ademola is the vicar on January 16, 2012. A reprisal attack from Odo-Owa youths was prevented by elders of the community. The CP directed the DPO and Area Commander to send a squad of mobile police to arrest the situation.

"From this account, it is evident that Odo-Owa was just defending itself and its rights to the Cathedral which land it donated in June 1960 and which was jointly built by both communities. Some one wonders why the crocodile tears being shed by some individuals from Iloffa?
"Why are accusing fingers being pointed at Odo-Owa on the damage of the Cathedral when the armed youths from both sides engaged in a war in and around the Cathedral for hours? What about the CAC church destroyed by Iloffa youths on January 16, 2012 without any provocation or counter attack from Odo-Owa? Is that not a serious criminal action deserving investigation by security agents?

"With respect to peace between the two communities, presently, there are social interactions between the citizens of both towns. For example, the joint market is being attended by traders from both communities. Iloffa people have been coming to Odo-Owa freely and vice-versa. As far as Odo-Owa is concerned, the people had returned to peaceful interaction and relationships with Iloffa i.e. the status quo before the war. It therefore behooves on any skeptical person from Iloffa to forget the bitterness created by the war and continue to pray leaving the state government and security agents to evolve a permanent solution to the impasse while the youths and elders of both communities should come together to find solutions to all the issues that caused conflicts between them in the past.
"I believe the responsibility for restitution rests on the aggressor who caused the breach of the MoU on which the diocese was built; who violated the police directive not to bury Ogunbiyi at the premises of the Cathedral; who first attacked an Odo-Owa man passing through the Cathedral when they were digging the grave; and who invaded Egbere River area, and without provocation shot and harassed people and damaged a CAC church and its vicarage. The Oke-Ero Local Government which precipitated the crises with its conflicting and unauthorized circulars is culpable. Therefore, the council is vicariously liable for all restitutions. The Bible says, 'He who sows the wind must reap the whirlwind."