INFANT SET ABLAZE ALONGSIDE SEVEN OTHERS IN A COMMUNAL CLASH
The police spokesperson said the incident happened on Saturday, adding that the toddler killed was three month old, while one of the victims is the wife of a police officer serving in the State but now on secondment to Bornu State.
“It is a longstanding dispute between Ndiagu Alike community in Ikwo Local Government Area and Enyibichiri community in Abakaliki Local Government Area that erupted the on Saturday. A vehicle was seen burning on the road allegedly set ablaze by ‘warriors’ from one of the communities’.
“The victims were coming from Abakaliki where they attended the matriculation of their son. Five of them were from the same family including a baby; one is a neighbour who joined them. Also three other persons were attacked, and two of them were killed. One of them, a woman was the wife of a police officer deployed to Bornu,” she said.
Penpushing further reports that, the Commissioner for Border Peace and Internal Security, Kenneth Ugbala, while speaking said some occupants of other cars behind the burnt bus were also injured by stray bullets, adding that, they are receiving treatment at the hospital in Abakaliki, as at the time of filing this report
The Commissioner expressed worry, why a land dispute”will spill into markets and road very far from the where the disputed land is”, explaining that the State Government has deployed more security operatives to the area to restore normalcy.
Penpushing recalled that, the communities have been at loggerhead on land tussle for decades while all attempts to settle the dispute by successive administrations in the State have proved abortive.
