COMMUNAL CLASH CLAIMS 14 LIVES, DESTROYS PROPERTIES IN BENUE STATE

In a tragic development, Fourteen (14) persons have been killed and property worth millions of naira destroyed following a communal crisis in the Oju Local Government Area of Benue State.

VOP News gathered that the dispute started on Sunday when youths of Ibilla and Oju communities engaged one another in a bloody fight over land.

Following the clash, a curfew was imposed on residents in a bid to stem the tide of violence in the area by the state government on Monday.

He said there were reports of reprisals leading to the loss of more lives on Tuesday.

The youth leader of Igede Youth Council, Andyson Egbodo told newsmen that calm had returned.

He explained, that some persons have died from both sides and property has been destroyed.

Governor Hyacinth Alia, on Monday, declared a curfew on the two communities from 6pm to 6am, saying when the government discovered that the measure wasn’t effective, the curfew was extended to 24 hours starting from Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a meeting was convened by elders of the warring communities with the Commissioner of Police at the local government council.

The Police warned that anyone caught fomenting trouble will be shot dead by the military.

Following the meeting, there has been no movement in the warring communities as everybody is indoors and soldiers are patrolling the area.

Reports claimed that the crisis started when youths took up arms against one another over the location of a private tertiary institution on a piece of land that both clans were laying claims to.

The immediate cause of the fight was an Australia-based professor from the Ibilla community who proposed to establish a university on a plot of land belonging to the community, stressing that the residents objected to the siting of the university on their land.

Catherine Anene, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, however, denied knowledge of the incident and the killings.