Communal Clash Claims 42 In Benue

No fewer than 45 people have been feared killed in a communal clash that erupted at the weekend between Ologba and Egba communities of Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State.
The incident came barely a month after Egba village lost some 82 people in an invasion carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
According to the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Hycinth Dagala, the villages have been having a running battle over a fish pond, and attributed the renewed crisis to the suspicion by the Egba community that the recent Fulani invasion against its people might have been orchestrated by leaders of Ologba village.
Sources within the village claimed that, at least, 45 persons had been killed in the renewed crisis, while fighting continued to raging into early yesterday.
Dagala confirmed that the crisis had claimed the lives of 23 people in Ologba community alone.
But he, however, claimed that calm had late Saturday been restored to the affected communities.
Commenting on the incident, deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded election, John Ngbede, who hails from the area, said the communities in dispute had a long standing matter.
He disclosed that many people were injured in the crisis which started on Friday evening, and that those displaced were now taking refuge in Ogbagaji, the headquarters of the Agatu Local Government Area.