4 killed in fresh Benue communal clash

A renewed rivalry between Okpudu and Ollo communities in Idomaspeaking Okpowku Local Government Area of Benue State on Sunday was said to have claimed four lives.

Both communities had consistently engaged in an age-long battle over the years.

It was learnt that fresh crisis occurred after a misunderstanding ensued between some youths of the two communities which resulted in the abduction of two young people from one of the affected villages.

Local sources said that the abduction sparked anger among the relatives of the victims who mobilised themselves to the suspected village.

Consequently, the four people were reportedly killed in the ensuing confrontation by the warring two communities while many were wounded.

The locals told our correspondent that normalcy was gradually returning on Tuesday as vigilantes had mounted major roads leading in and out of the two communities to forestall further trouble.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene, who dispelled the rumours of death, insisted that nobody was killed.

Anene said the family of a woman married into one of the communities went there to retrieve their daughter on ground that they were not in support of the union, adding however that the move was resisted by the husband’s relations who held back the wife’s relatives.

The PPRO said when the wife’s relatives were not seen, they abducted some persons from the husband’s village.

She stressed that the matter was later resolved peacefully and normalcy returned to the area.