One Dead, Scores Injured, Over 40 Houses Burnt In Benue Clash

One person was feared dead, scores injured, and about 40 houses set ablaze during a communal clash that ensued on Tuesday in Mbayion, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.

Property worth millions of naira was also destroyed in the mayhem that was sparked off by land tussle.

INDEPENDENT gathered that the clash which was between the natives in Mbayion and the Mbatiav people who are believed to be visitors in the land displaced several hundreds of people.

A source in the community told INDEPENDENT that it was resolved that those on the Mbatiav side were to leave the area for their ancestral abode.

Following the agreement, the Mbatiav people started selling out parcels of the land to unsuspecting buyers, a situation which caused the ripples that led to the clash.

INDEPENDENT also gathered that in the course of the fight, graves were destroyed, corpses exhumed, cash crops, economic trees and farmlands worth millions of naira were destroyed.

It was further learnt that the incident took place when a family from Mbaasakera, Mbayion (names withheld), discovered that the grave of their late father who was recently buried was destroyed, his body exhumed and taken to an unknown destination.

It was during the skirmish that one person lost his life and scores injured.

The police spokesman in the state, Moses Yamu, could not be reached for comments on the incident as at the time of going to press.