A 61-year-old retired naval officer, Chief Austin Modebe, has reportedly been brutalised with machetes by alleged Ukwu Oba youths who invaded the Isheagwu community, near Ogwashi Uku, in Aniocha South Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State.

Three other persons were also reportedly macheted in the community when about 20 unidentified Ukwu Oba youths allegedly invaded the area and started shooting sporadically to scare people off a disputed land between Isheagwu and Ukwu Oba communities.

The Guardian gathered that the incident happened last Monday, but no lives were lost as some residents of Isheagwu reportedly fled their homes to seek refuge in neighbouring communities for fear of being attacked.

The Guardian learned that the ex-naval officer, who is the Ozoma of Isheagwu, Chief Modebe, was macheted at the bush side of Aba-uno axis.

It was further learned that about five communities—Ewulu, Aba-uno, Osisa, Ukwuoba, and Isheagwu—have been fighting over land for years without proper demarcation of the disputed land.

Narrating his ordeal at the FMC, where he is currently receiving treatment for the severe injuries sustained, Chief Austin Modebe, the Ozoma of Isheagwu Kingdom, said the Ukwu Oba community attacked Isheagwu people during the surveying of their land boundaries.

He added that his Pontiac G6 GT car was destroyed and vandalised by the invaders in the presence of two police patrol vehicles manned by officers from the Nsukwa Police Division, after which his damaged car was towed from the scene of the incident by the alleged Ukwu Oba youths to their community.

He said: “Sometimes in October this year, the Surveyor General of the State sent a message to Isheagwu community, inviting us for a meeting in his office in Asaba in connection with the petition written against us by Ukwu Oba over land matters.”

He said the Surveyor General said the government was now ready to demarcate or delineate the boundary between the two communities, which was the reason for the meeting.

Modebe explained that, at the meeting, the SG advised them to meet and settle among themselves before the government committee for land dispute intervention.

He added that both communities had been having a series of meetings, including a recent one at Ogwashi Uku, calling on the government to supervise the boundary demarcation.

He said, “We obliged, and I took permission from the SG to survey our land first because the Ukwu Oba community had done theirs and sent it to the committee.”

According to him, the permission was granted, but as “we were going about it, it was observed that there was no security to protect the surveyors in the bush, and some persons were sent to the State Police Command to get security personnel to provide adequate security for those of us doing the job.”

He stated that they started the job from Aba-uno axis, but while the work was ongoing, “I saw two Hilux police vans sent by the DPO Nsukwa division. I thought the CP sent them, being the nearest police station in the area because I was expecting the deployment of police personnel from Asaba.

“They drove to Aba-uno and came back. But after about an hour, I received a call that there was no security in the bush, though the work was still ongoing.

“All of a sudden, I saw some of our chiefs and elders running away from the Ukwu Oba axis in droves, allegedly being pursued by Ukwu Oba youths who were armed to the teeth with guns and cutlasses.

“They are about 20, all fully armed with guns and machetes, and they started slaughtering us like animals, and that is all I know until I woke up in the hospital, where I found myself with bandages all over my body,” he lamented.

Eyewitnesses said he was immediately rushed to the hospital in Isheagwu before being later rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Asaba, the state capital. Others whose cases were not too serious were left behind at the Isheagwu hospital.

When contacted, the police image maker, Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident, saying, “There was a community crisis in the area and the police had restored peace, but we are not aware if anybody sustained injuries.”