Metro
7 Killed In Clashes Over Farmland
Published By
PM NEWS Live
Date
16th January, 2013
Inter communal strife between the people of Adadama and Igbo Amabana in Abi local government area in the central part of Cross River State, southsouth Nigeria, has claimed at least seven lives. This followed two days of battle with guns and machetes.
The outbreak of hostilities between the two neighbouring communities, according to sources, started on Sunday night and raged through Monday as the two communities sought to show supremacy over the other, following a long standing dispute over the ownership of a parcel of farmland which borders both communities.
When P.M.NEWS visited the area on Tuesday afternoon, the bodies of three men were seen lying at Adadama along the Ugep-Abomege road which leads to Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria.
“Apart from these ones you are seeing along the road there are about four inside the villages which I have seen,” a mobile policeman deployed to the area to quell the hostilities told our reporter.
The conflict, which is taking place in Senator Liyel Imoke, the Cross River state governor’s local government area, is a common feature of frosty relationship between neighboiuring communities during this time of the year when farming commences.
Adadama, Igbo Amabana, Igbo Ekureku and Afagara have become ghost towns as the villagers have all fled to avoid arrest after anti-riot policemen stormed the warring communities to arrest the masterminds of the violence.
“Many of them have fled to Ugep and some to Abomege in Ebonyi State. Anyone seen around here would be taken to Calabar to explain why this senseless violence keeps occurring. The governor is from this local government area, yet they have no respect for him,” a source said.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the Cross River State Police Command, DSP John Umoh said a team of mobile policemen “has been dispatched to the warring area and from the reports I am receiving normalcy has been restored.”
By Emma Una/Calabar
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