Our correspondent learnt that the
incident happened at Ondo Ugboju in the Otukpo Local Government Area of
Benue State in the early hours of Thursday.
According to a source, the ex-PDP chieftain was killed and his body dumped in his car, which was then set ablaze.
Trouble, according to the source,
started when some loyalists of one Benjamin Ijachi, a member of the
PDP, attacked a group loyal to Udenyi Ijachi, a member of the All
Progressives Congress, and a former caretaker chairman of Otukpo Local
Government Area on Wednesday.
The attack was said to have left many people injured.
As a result of that, Udenyi, popularly
known as Kpem, was said to have in the early hours of Thursday mobilised
his loyalists and launched a reprisal on the community, shooting at
anybody on sight.
At the end of the day, eight persons were reported dead, including the ex-Bayelsa PDP Chairman, Ugbo.
When contacted, the state police
spokesman, ASP Moses Yamu, confirmed the incident but said only four
persons were killed while four persons were injured.
The police spokesman, who attributed the
incident to the persistent crisis between the two Ijachi brothers, said
one of them, Benjamin, was already in police custody, while his
sibling, Udenyi, had yet to be apprehended.
The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government
Area, George Alli, who also confirmed the incident, however,faulted the
claims in some quarters that the clash was political.
He said, “Several persons, including
Maj. Gen. Lawrence Ugbo, were killed and his body burnt to ashes. The
clash has nothing to do with politics; it was a land tussle that caused
the incident.”
Meanwhile, several residents of the affected community were said to have fled their homes for fear of further violence.
No comments: