Thebridgenewsonline No 1 News portal
Effium communal clash, pregnant woman, 16 persons killed.
A pregnant woman and not less than 16 persons in Effium community in Ohaukwu local government of Ebonyi state were yesterday killed in the ongoing communal clash in the community.
Trouble started when stakeholders of both warring clans, Ezza and Effium met and appointed members of the peace reconciliatory committee as allegedly directed by the state government.
A senior army officer name withheld who was recently deployed from Maiduguri to restore peace in the area but met with our Correspondent in Abakiliki on Thursday evening said that the incident happened around 8:00PM on Wednesday 24th, March, 2021.
The officer who is above the rank of leiutautant in the Nigeria army, added that the pregnant woman was butchered with axe on her forehead and hands.
“The problem started at about 20:00 hour when the leaders of the community met to form a reconciliatory Peace Committee members.
“The other clan argued that the other clan, (l don’t know which one) were higher in number than them that was what sparked yesterday’s killings.
“Even up till today’s morning some of the houses were still burning and I must tell you that leaders of the community have failed, they all need to be arrested and persecuted.
“And for the woman who was pregnant, my boys have to carry her in search of hospital and the only place they found one was about 5 kilometers away and it was near the Benue boundary but unfortunately she couldn’t make it, she gave up the ghost.
“So this is uncalled for, killing a pregnant woman like this one, and everybody condemned it. You need to see how corpses were littering in the community yesterday just because of motor pack leadership tussle”, he explained.
However, our Correspondent gathered that similarly incident happened at Nweke Ndiagu village in Effium community where not less than 200 houses were burnt including properties worth billions of naira were destroyed.
But according to the Commissioner for Information and state Orientation, Barr Uchenna Orji told Journalists on Wednesday that the state government would re-invite the Stakeholders in a fresh talk aimed at arresting the crisis which has led to lost of lives in the area.
The Wednesday attack came barely 24 hours when stakeholders from the community have signed a peace pact at government house, Abakiliki. END//
