A fresh communal clash has claimed the lives of at least four people in Ogobia community of Ugboju district in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.
Daily Trust reports that on September 14 this year, a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Major Lawrence Ugbor (rtd) and five others, including a retired police officer, were killed in a communal clash between two communities in the Ugboju district of Otukpo.
Our correspondent earlier reported that in February last year, three people lost their lives in a similar rivalry between the two villages of Ondo and Ogobia in the Ugboju district following an alleged land dispute which snowballed into crisis between suspected members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). It was also gathered that the crisis was allegedly caused by two fighting brothers of same parents, Ijachi Udeh and Benjamin Udeh who were said to belong to the rival political parties: PDP and APC.
Spokesman of the police in the state, Moses Joel Yamu, who confirmed the fresh killings to our correspondent in Makurdi yesterday, said that three people lost their lives on Saturday night while the fourth died yesterday morning from injuries sustained in the course of the fight.
Yamu said the police command was yet to establish the motive behind the killing but that it would be connected with the previous unrest in the area.
He however said the police had sent personnel to restore normalcy in the vicinity while the fresh clash was being investigated.
Already, some locals in the troubled community told our correspondent that the current crisis might be cult-related, against the previous crisis linked to the clash between the blood brothers. One of the locals alleged that those killed were known cultists who fought against one another.
