Two killed, many injured in Kogi communal clash

The Police Command in Kogi on Thursday said two persons were killed and many injured in a renewed hostility between Egbira and Bassa-Kwomu tribes in the state.

Spokesman of the command, Mr Williams Aya, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, who made this known in Lokoja, however, said that the situation was under control.

Aya confirmed that the clash was between the returning Egbira people who were exiled from their ancestral homes and the Bassa-Kwomu tribe, which had been at loggerheads for months.

He said that the command had drafted a team of mobile and conventional policemen led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations) and Area Commanders, supported by the Army to the area.

Trouble was said to have started when, following the intervention of elders from the area, the Egbira people who left their homes in the wake of the crises were asked to return by the State Government.

The move, according to sources, was to pave way for and foster amicable and lasting peace among the two ethnic groups.

The Egbiras were said to have been accompanied by security operatives and political appointees, including Bassa Local Government Area Administrator, Mr Samuel Alumka, to Oguma, the headquarters of the council.

They were expected to go back to their various villages and communities from Oguma.

It was alleged that an uncomplimentary remark from the paramount ruler of Bassa-Kwomu ethnic group, the Aguma of Bassa, Chief William Keke, sparked the crisis.

He was said to have asked the returning Egbiras to go back to Lokoja or where they had taken refuge.

In the process, the sources said that fight ensued between the tribes, leaving a trail of casualties as some other persons were said to have lost their lives in the fracas.