Eyumojock, Manyu Division

Ndepaya and Akwen
villages go to war over land
-DO brokers peace, calls for mutual tolerance
By Ekumtambe Eku in Eyumojock
The sub Divisional officer (DO) for Eyumojock sub-division, Malafa Johnson Mofa has suspended investigations into the recent bloody clash between the youths of Akwen and Ndepaya villages of Eyumojock sub-division. Malafa Johnson took the decision after a fact finding mission he led to the belligerent villages and a crisis meeting he convened in his office subsequently.
    The youthful but sage Malafa Johnson succeeded to broker peace between the warring villages and warned that any perpetrators of further acts of lawlessness would be punished according to the laws in force.
    Malafa’s decision came in the wake of peace talks he held in his office with the chiefs, notables, security men and other representatives from both villages. The D.O revealed that behind the unrest lurked a controversial 1991 Sub-Divisional Land Consultative Board Decision which gave Ndepaya village ownership rights over 97 percent of a disputed parcel of land and only 3 percent to Akwen.

    Malafa Johnson noted that the Land Consultative Board fell short of its assignment by not delimiting the land in question. He said in spite of the fact that Akwen village was acting on some verbal instructions from some wildlife officials in Mamfe and Yaoundé to curb illegal timber exploitation in the area, the underlying factor in the crisis remained the lapses in the Land Consultative Board Decision.
    Further more, the DO said Ndepaya forest Management committee is better placed to complain about the issue of illegal exploitation of the forest than Akwen because Ndepaya owns 97% of the forest by virtue of the LCB decision.
    Malafa however concluded that his office is bound to respect the spirit and letter of the land consultative Board Decision document and implement the delimitation process, unless new evidence is brought up to warrant a repeal of the decision.
    And even before the peace talks rounded-off at the DO’s office, a spokesperson for Akwen village hinted that Akwen will petition the authorities to revise the obnoxious LCB decision and organize fresh consultations. He added that in line with Ejagham traditional norms, Ndepaya and Akwen will in the near future perform traditional rites in the presence of notables from neighboring villages and pledge never to break the peace again in the clan.
    The resolutions of the peace talks were as follows: (1) That the people of Akwen and Ndepaya commit themselves to peace while awaiting the implementation of the Land Consultative Board Decision. (2) That Akwen and Ndepaya commit themselves to maintain their existing farmlands and that there should be no extension into the virgin forest without express permission from the competent administration authority. (3) That Ndepaya traditional council compensates Mr. Sampson Eta Mboh on whose farm the road to their sand pit passes and (4) That a Boundary Commission be constituted to delimit the disputed land according to the clauses in the LCB decision ie 97% for Ndepaya and 3% percent for Akwen respectively.