Jos, Rivers boil again •8 people killed, women raped; houses burnt

Crises have again broken out in Jos, the Plateau State capital and two communities in Rivers State, leaving about eight people dead.

About five people were reported killed, with several others injured and about 200 houses burnt in an attack on Kegbara Dere, also known as K-Dere, in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, just as three persons were feared dead in a renewed hostility in Jos, Plateau State.

It was gathered that men suspected to be from a neighbouring community, B-Dere, chased men and women of K-Dere, who were working on their farms back to their village after which they started burning houses and attacking villagers.

Sources said the attack was a reprisal for an earlier clash about a month ago, in which people of K-Dere destroyed property and wounded several people.

It will be recalled that the clash about a month ago was triggered off by a disagreement over a British Premiership football match, but the situation snowballed into a communal clash, which rendered several people homeless.

However, the latest crisis, which started about 2.00 p.m. on Monday has claimed more than five lives and hundreds of persons were said to have been rendered homeless.

An indigene of K-Dere, who spoke to the news men in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Mene Gbarabe, said reports he got from home put the figure of death at five, adding that several others had been wounded, many women raped and numerous houses burnt.

“Up till now that I am talking, they are still burning houses. My father, about 120 years old, was just rescued from the place by my younger brother. These people have continued to burn houses, killing and raping women. Now five people had been recorded dead, the last time I got in touch with my home. Several other persons have been seriously injured,” Gbarabe said.

But Patrick Naagbanton, Coordinator of the Eleme, Rivers State-based Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), said the number of people killed between Monday and the time he was talking on Tuesday had risen above 15.

He blamed the situation on the “hypocrisy of both the state and local governments,” saying they had failed to nip the crisis in the bud, adding that if the appropriate agencies, including the security, failed to take the right step now, the last might not have been heard of the K-Dere/B-Dere rivalry, which has claimed lives over the years.

“More than 15 people have been killed and the guns are still booming as I am talking to you. Unless appropriate agencies do something, this will not be the end of it because the K-Dere people will also want to go for a reprisal,” Naagbanton warned.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Victor Giadom, who spoke in K-Dere, said the situation had been brought under control.

Asked what the council was doing about the situation, the council boss said efforts were still at the level of peace-building in order to avert a further breakdown of law and order in the area, adding that the police were working on bringing the culprits to book.

Efforts to get him again to confirm casualty figure were unsuccessful as he no longer answered his calls and had not responded to a text message sent to that effect at the time of filing this report.

Reached for further reports on the crisis, the spokesperson for the Rivers State police command, Dr Rita Inoma-Abbey (SP), said she was yet to get briefing from the Divisional Police Officer of the area.

On the casualty figure, the police spokesperson said she was not informed of any death, adding that it might be a “mere insinuation.”

Meanwhile, following another Fulani attack on Gongohong village in K-Vom in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, leading to the death of three people, the special task force (STF) in charge of security in the state has arrested 19 people in connection with the invasion.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after the suspects were handed over to the police, STF Public Relations Officer, Captain Charles Okocha, said at about 8.30 a.m on Monday, there was an attack by some people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on Gongohong village.

According to him, in the attack, three people were shot by the marauders, before men of the STF arrived at the scene of the incident.

The spokesman of STF said his men, stationed at K-Vom, moved into the affected village in time and combed the entire vicinity, adding that with a distance of about three kilometres to the village, the corpse of a yet-to-be identified man was found beside a bicycle.

Captain Okocha said close to the area, STF men also intercepted a Toyota bus with registration number Plateau XC 203 BUU, driven by one James Adamu.

He said various weapons were found with the 19 people in the vehicle, including two locally-made revolvers, two swords, two machetes, one dagger, two sharp iron rods, among others.

A source close to the village revealed that in the attack, which lasted for close to two hours, some people sustained varying degrees of injury, while three people were alleged to have died on the spot.

The source further revealed that the resistance put up by the villagers made the number of casualties to be minimal.

Though the STF confirmed one person dead,   the villagers put the number of the casualties at three, while those who sustained injuries were receiving treatment at the Air Force Military Hospital, Jos.