Ethnic Conflict: 4 killed, others injured in Adamawa
Story from Abdulaziz JAURO, Yola
A violent communal clash between Lunguda and Hausa tribes left no fewer than four persons dead in Lafiya, Lamurde local government of Adamawa state.
According to reports, the conflict emanated from misunderstanding over farmlands.
The council chairman of Lamurde, Mr Bulus Daniel, confirmed via a telephone interview that four people have been killed in the violent confrontation.
“Right now I’m not in town but I’m on my way back to the town. I want you to disregard fake news emanating from the area as even security personnel are not in the full picture of the situation.
“I can confirm to you that approximately four people have been killed but we do not have the full statistics of the casualties as at now,” he added.
However, a resident of the area who insisted his name be withheld, confirmed that the violence emanated as a result of pent up anger following ceaseless attacks on innocent residents.
“I want to tell you that sometimes back our people came under heavy attack when they visited their farms as some of them were inflicted with matchete cuts. We told the authorities but nothing was done.
“The same thing happened today while our people were in the farm, some Lunguda people attacked them and killed one man called Sani while two others were killed in the outskirts of the town leading to the escalation of the conflict.
“The Lunguda people have been coming to Dan-Isa to threaten us to vacate the land claiming that its their ancestral land and we have paid dues on the same piece of land. All our complaints for redress fell into deaf ears,” he concluded.
Confirming the incident, Adamawa State police command said presence of security operatives has calmed frayed nerves.
Spokesperson of the command SP Sulaiman Yahya Nguroje said mass deployment of mobile police to the troubled area has been effected.
“The DPO of the area has sent a report to the effect that there was a communal conflict. The Commissioner of Police immediately sent a team of mobile policemen to the area and I can assure you that the violence has been nipped in the bud,” he said.
He clarified that as at the time of filing this report, the police has not compiled statistics of those killed or injured.
