Tunde Odesola
Water surged against the road and beheaded it, fiam! Headless, the road recoiled, rallied, and beheaded water in revenge. Both headless, water and road locked in a final battle, cutting each other into four equal parts! Thus, the Ifa verse, “Òyígíyigì, Ọta Omi,” echoes through this clash, evoking the pacifying refrain: no victor, no vanquished.
Yet, the croaky cock will not crow ‘no victor, no vanquished’ if caution was applied before, ‘Iffffffath overtook rationality, if dialogue was embra,ced where violence was e’dified, if leadership provided a level playing field where fairness and wisdom were sidelined.
At the sight of a behemoth, the white man parts his jaws and rolls his eyes in wonderment. At the sight of a behemoth, the black man claps his hands on his head. What shocks the white man as a beHowever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,oth is what the Yoruba man calls ‘òyígíyigì’. Broadly speaking, òyígíyigì is the colossus, mammoth, monster, giant, titan. In the Ifa corpus, however, ‘Òyígíyigì, ọta omi’ is the immoveable, enduring, and gigantic mountain in the depths of the sea. In a stretch of meaning, òyígíyigì symbolises longevity, calm, and endurance in the face of challenges.
I got the ‘Òyígíyigì, ọta omi’ Ifa verse from a viral online video by Oyinkansola Elebuibo n, the beautiful daughter of the Araba of Osogbo, Baba Ifayemi Elebuibon. As I’m not friends with Lady Oyinkansola, I called her father, who explained the verse to me.
According to the Araba, the verse holds a deeper meaning that exemplifies the fierce fight between water nd road. Pculture ’ impliesld be viewed with the inner eyes, otherwise called ‘ojú inú, and not the naked ‘korokoro’ eyes. Elebuibon said water and road in the Ifa verse also mean the names of two diviners who were consulted on a particular issue, and that both diviners, being equally yoked, later realised that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, with the contest ending in a ‘no victor, no vanquished’ verdict.
The Chairman, Edda Clan Committee on Resolution of Amasiri-Edda Crisis, Mr. George Ukpai, said that the protracted boundary crisis between the Amasiri and Edda communities of Ebonyi had become a monster, an ‘òyígíyigì’, created by the people of Amasiri. Ukpai said Edda, his community, had long suffered brutal killings in the hands of Amasiri, an allegation which makes Elebuibon’s second description of òyígíyigì as enduring, a fitting epithet for Edda.
Speaking with me on the phone, Ukpai traced the alleged killings of Edda people living in Okporojo to February 6, 2023, when Amasiri people supposedly launched an attack, killing and abducting some Edda people. Ukpai added that two persons were murdered in cold blood during another attack on January 20, 2025, even as one “Oduko Gabriel, was killed on the 5th of April, 2025, while some people were hacked to death in their sleep on April 5, 2025.” Ukpai, who maintained that the farm of a sitting Justice of the Appeal Court was destroyed on April 5, 2025, alleged that 46 persons had been killed, including those who suffered injuries.
He continued, “We, as the Edda community, documented and reported the activities of the Amasiri people to the state government. The government set up a committee to resolve the matter. The government paid visits with a view to demarcating the disputed areas, but as a result of the rains and rising water level, the demarcation was suspended. So, the government got both sides to sign a pact that peace would be upheld, pending the demarcation. It was during the wait that Amasiri went and killed five people, and burnt down the village on the 29th of January, 2026.
“So, we went back to complain to the government, and the governor visited on the 31st of January, 2026. Military chiefs had visited on January 30, 2026, and they also came back with the governor on January 31st, 2026. It was when the governor saw the level of carnage that he made the pronouncements. If the governor had not moved swiftly, there may likely have been reprisals. Buildings and schools have been destroyed in Okporojo, such that children in Okporojo are now going to school outside the community. We thank the governor for his intervention because it calmed frayed nerves.”
On the etymologies of Oso-Edda and Amasiri, Ukpai has this to say, “Oso means ‘be alert’ or ‘be prepared’. Edda means ‘warrior’ or ‘resilience’, ‘toughness’.” Drawing an inference from the explanation of Ukpai, it would not be out of place to say Oso-Edda means a prepared warrior. The community leader goes ahead to explain the meaning of Amasiri in these words, “Amasiri means ‘with permission’. Amasiri is derived from the permission granted to the settlers in Amasiri by one great hunter from Edda called Ama Uka Okporie, who told them, ‘If anybody bothers you, tell them, I, Ama, said (siri), you should settle here.’ Ama is the name of the grantor of the permission. ‘Siri’ means ‘said’. A combination of these words gives Ama-siri (Ama-said).
Ukpai also alleged that mineral deposits in the villages surrounding Amasiri and Amasiri’s purported small landmass were factors behind their quest for expansion.
However, the Deputy President-General of Amasiri Town Union, Chief Maduka Amadi, described Ukpai’s allegations as false, asking rhetorically why Amasiri possesses ancient traditional heritage and cultural sites far older than those of Edda if Edda was the one who gave Amasiri the land? “Can you compare the clap of thunder with the clap of the hands?” Amadi asked. On the etymology of Amasiri, Amadi said the name Amasiri predates what it is cal, led today. “The ancient and original name is Omasiri. It was the white man who came and changed it to Amasiri because he found Amasiri easier to pronounce. Omasiri means a people who wish to live according to their culture. ‘O’ means ‘we’, ‘ma’ means ‘wish’, ‘siri’ means ‘to live as our culture ’ implies,” Amadi said. Laying c,laim to the disputed area called Onwuru Ndukwe, Amadi said a borehole built by UNICEF for the Onwuru Ndukwe community bears Amasiri, a clear indication that the government knew who the land belonged to.
Debunking the allegation that Amasiri claimed it (Amasiri) had no boundary with the whole of Edda in Ebonyi, Amadi explained that his community never said so, adding that what Amasiri said was that it was the Edda autonomous community and the Idima autonomous community that had no boundaries with Amasiri because the two communities were built on Amasiri land. “We never said we do not have boundaries with the whole of Eddaland; it is the two communities of Oso-Edda and Idima that are causing problems. These two communities were built on Amasiri land,” Amadi said.
Amadi, who spoke with me in a telephone interview, likened the alleged plight of Amasiri in the hands of Edda to the case of the oppressed and the oppressor, the victim and the victimiser, the truth versus propaganda. “They are talking about the faceless January 29, 2026, attack, which I’ll come back to shortly. They have since detained two of our traditional rulers and 30 citizens. Instead of arraigning them before a high court, they first took them to a magistrates’ court. Who in Nigeria doesn’t know that magistrates’ courts lack the jurisdiction to try murder-related cases? They simply arraigned them before the magistrate’s court just to exhibit their executive lawlessness an,d keep our people in detention longer than the law stipulates. This shows that the government is complicit in the whole process of finding a lasting solution to the crisis.
“We have a catalogue of our people who have been killed and those who have been maimed and have their property destroyed. On Monday, January 20, 2025, our people went to clean up Akanto Primary School, located in Ndukwe Autonomous Community, which is our community. Armed assailants from Okporojo-Edda abducted six of them. Up to date, we do not know their whereabouts. The names of those kidnapped include Sunday Oko Akwa, Christian Enya, Oko Akpu Egele, and Agha Oko. The other two, Itoro Essien and Okon Abang, were Akwa Ibom indigenes working in Amasiri.
“On April 2, 2025, two of our indigenes were killed in Ozaraokangwu, a land in the Ndukwe Autonomous Community of Amasiri. They include Obinna Oko Eze and Okpara Emmanuel. On July 18, 2025, a retired soldier, Warrant Officer Charles Chukwu, his wife, Mrs Helen Charles Chukwu, and their employee, Mrs Okpara Gloria, were killed on the way to the warrant officer’s farm. In 2002, during a peace committee meeting, we called on the government to delineate the boundaries because these people are not indigenous to our land, and they have overstayed. We want peace. We believe in tradition and culture, we want the government to implement the peace committee report of 2023, done by the Governor David Umahi administration.”
Shedding light on the areas in dispute, Amadi said, and “Okporojand o is a farm hamlet under Edda Local Government Council, while Onwuru-Ndukwe is a farm hamlet under Amasiri. The troubled areas are located between Okporojo and Onwuru-Ndukwe, where there are lots of rice swamps.”
Like the ‘Òyígíyigì, ọta omi’ metaphor, killings, looting, and arson have become a behemoth wracking Amasiri and Edda communities of Ebonyi, with the longevity of the behemoth being fuelled by the government’s indecision, impunity, and boneheadedness.
A former Assistant Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Federal Capital Territory, Mrs Joy Idam, said it was wrong of the governor to sack two traditional rulers and all political appointees from Amasiri without conducting an independent investigation into the crisis. Idam, who hails from Amasiri, alleged while speaking with me on the phone that Governor Nwifuru visited the disputed area on 31st January, 2026, and went ahead to make pronouncements such as the dethronement of two traditional rulers, the sacking of Amasiri political appointees, and removal of a development centre from Amasiri.
“That is wrong,” Idam began. “How can you take such steps without conducting an investigation? Why should a state’s chief executive act on the spur of the moment? I know why, and I will tell you. It is because of Amasiri’s mineral deposits. Amasiri has uranium, gold, lithium, salt, and oil. The governor wants to use unconstitutional means to dispossess us of our God-given resources. Governor Nwifuru has closed down hospitals, schools, banks, unions, worship centres, markets, etc, but the 28 quarries in Amasiri remain open because each quarry generates N34 million to the state government monthly. This makes Amasiri one of the communities with the highest IGR generators in the state. Soldiers were deployed into Amsiri, using live ammunition, beating up women, the aged, and children, looting and burning foodstuffs, including rice. They torture our youths to confess to crimes they didn’t commit. They also stole our cultural artefacts. One child died in her mother’s womb, another child’s mother lost her life while the child lived.
“The international medical NGO, Doctors Without Borders, which went to Amasiri, was shocked at the level of dehumanisation and humanitarian crisis they witnessed. The governor has not been fair to Amasiri. He should remember the Child Rights Act. Children in my community did not take the common entrance examination in my community. Amasiri is not the only community that has border issues with Edda. Why pick on Amasiri alone? Amasiri has lost close to 100 persons and more than 50 people have been injured. Over a million people have fled,” Idam lamented.
In a statement issued on January 31, 2026, the Ebonyi State Government said the decision to close banks, schools, hospitals, markets and shops in Amasiri was taken for security reasons, adding that the sacking of two Amasiri rulers and the removal of a development centre from the town were taken for security reasons.
In an incongruous move, the state government, according to news reports, later ordered the destruction of community shrines and deities in Amasiri, leaving many people wondering what a people’s personal belief has to do with a boundary dispute. By meddling in a people’s religious affairs, the state government has clearly overstepped its bounds to play God.
The governor was, however, right in his outright condemnation of the beheading of four Okporojo persons. He said, “I think on the 30th of January, we were confronted with the Amasiri and Okporojo crisis. These crises, on many occasions, have been intervened (sic) and, (an) agreement was also reached. The previous government had already set up a committee that came up with a resolution, and parties agreed to implement…Quite unfortunately, the people of Amasiri have at all times proved stubborn, proved to be more than anybody, and proved that they can start killing and have beheaded four to five people. I visited Okporoju yesterday to see things for myself, and I agree with them and with their explanation. They killed an elderly woman and beheaded another woman.
“As I am talking to you now, security has taken over everywhere in Amasiri. We made a decision that, number one, no government facility can work again in Amasiri, including hospitals, schools, everything is closed down. We almost took a decision that they should not ply on government roads…”
To ensure justice in the Amasiri-Okporojo crisis, the government would be wrong to mete out justice on the January 29, 2026, killings alone. To do so is to scratch the issue on the surface while the ostrich buries its head in the sand. The Nwifuru administration needs to take a holistic look at all the killings, maiming and plundering in the region, with a view to finding a way to assuage the grievances of those affected.
Sadly, many who accuse the Nwifuru administration of siding with the Edda community in the land crisis said the governor bungled an opportunity to lay the ghost of the crisis to rest when he gave an undisputed land in Amasiri to the Nigerian Army to build a training depot, instead of giving them the disputed land.
“The Nigerian Army requested land in Ebonyi, and Amasiri showed interest in having the depot. But instead of the governor giving the Army the disputed land, he went ahead and gave them a land that is not in dispute,” an indigene of Amasiri, who does not want his name in print, stated.
If he gets to read this piece, I advise Nwifuru to take heed of this advice from Martin Luther King Jr, “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
• Concluded.
