Communal clash rages in C’ River sister communities
Two communities in central Cross River State, Ochon in Obubra local Government Area and their Ofutop neighbours in Ikom Local Government Area are currently engaged in a raging communal conflict.
The conflict, which started in the wee hours of Tuesday, has already left many people dead and others with severe injuries while some villages in two communities have since been deserted as the villagers have fled to other villages for safety.
A community leader in the area, Chief Asoebi, attributed the conflict to longstanding land dispute which has been allowed to escalate leading to loss of lives and destruction of property by both sides.
Said he: “The matter is squabble for land when one side tries to remove the marks and boundaries in the land of their neighbours, the other side is bound to react. That is what has been happening between the people of Ochon and Ofutop.”
Currently, he said, youths from both sides are in the bush where the fighting is going on. He therefore called on the authorities to intervene to stop further loss of lives.
Meanwhile, armed robbers have invaded the building materials shop located at 20 Mount Zion Road, close to the Mount Zion Church in Calabar and held the director and staff of the company at gunpoint and carted away the sales made in the shop.
The hoodlums who are four in number invaded the place at about 11 am during the rainfall and took advantage of the lax security situation in the city following the down pour while the security men took shelter from the rain. “They came around 11 am when train was falling and held the owner of the place and his staff at gun point and took away the sales they have made since Friday” an eye witness said.
Before leaving the place, the hoodlums reportedly robbed a customer who came to make some purchases of his SUV vehicle and abandoned their car and fled in the man’s car while shooting sporadically into the air.
