The Cross River State Government has blamed social media influencers for aggravating the lingering communal clashes between the Iso-Bendeghe and Boje communities in Boki Local Government Area.
The unrest, rooted in a protracted land dispute, has persisted for over a decade, with periodic flare-ups leaving scores dead, homes burnt, and families displaced.
Despite past peace accords and security deployments, the crisis has defied lasting resolution, creating a climate of fear in the agrarian communities.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Erasmus Ekpang, made the allegation on Thursday in Calabar while briefing journalists ahead of the Boki New Yam Festival scheduled for August 18, 2025.
He claimed that exaggerated and misleading posts by some online commentators had intensified tensions in the troubled communities, warning that such actions could undermine ongoing peace efforts.
“What you read on social media about the conflict is not 100 percent true to what is happening in the communities. Social media users are the ones escalating this conflict. They are fanning the embers of war,” Ekpang said.
He appealed to youths in both communities to sheath their swords and embrace peace, noting that “killing one another and taking lives you cannot create is not ideal.”
Ekpang also pledged to work with community leaders and the Ochibe Boki Traditional Council to ensure a full return to normalcy.
The decades-old dispute, which escalated in 2010, has claimed several lives, destroyed property, and displaced many residents.
Former Governor Liyel Imoke had intervened by seizing the disputed land in an effort to stem the violence, but hostilities have persisted.
