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Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Two major contenders to the stool of Edikwu District in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State have been suspended by the state government over their complicity in the chieftaincy tussle which claimed the lives of 13 persons in the community last Monday.
The State governor, Samuel Ortom who announced this in a chat with newsmen on Wednesday said government has ordered that security be beefed up in the area.
The suspended contenders; Chief Otokpa David Imoni and Ada Ochekwu, Daily Sun gathered, had been engaged in war of words since the latest attack on the community last Monday.
Sources from the area have continued to point accusing fingers at one of the contenders as the masterminds of the heinous attack which also reportedly claimed the life of a centenarian.
One of our sources, a woman who hails from Edikwu community but pleaded not to be named disclosed that most of the victims were slaughtered like rams after which their bodies were dumped in wells.
The woman who noted that two of the youths who were killed in the attack were from her immediate area in Edikwu explained further that the attackers went on a killing spree that day and killed everyone in sight.
“The two wells in which the victims’ bodies were dumped were evidently stained with marks of blood.
“There was a bungalow used as a church from which one worshipper was forced out and killed outside. His body was dragged across the road to where it was dumped into one of the wells,” another local alleged.
Meanwhile, one of the major contenders to the stool, Chief Otokpa David Imoni on Wednesday accused his opponent, Mr Stephen Adah Ochekwu as the mastermind of the attack.
This is even as Ada Ochekwu has debunked the claim and rather pointing accusing finger on Imoni.
Chief Imoni, in a statement made available to newsmen in Makurdi alleged that Ochekwu resorted to violence after his efforts to clinch the clan/district headship of the community failed both in court and before the kingmakers.
He explained further that Ochekwu’s violent escapades dates back to 2014 when six people, including two officers of Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, (NSCDC) were killed by the militia gangs he allegedly hired in his bid to enthrone a rival clan head in Edikwu.
“Thereupon, irate youths went after the hired militiamen who had run out of ammunition and three were killed while the others escaped. The mob proceeded into Ijaha community and burnt down more than 1/3 of the village as residents had already fled out of the community upon hearing about the advancing mob.
“Only a few people of Ijaha who were evidently not involved with Mr. Stephen Ada Ochekwu now live in the Edikwu village known as Ikaduna-Olijamu as the majority fled for fear of reprisals and are still yet to return to Edikwu.
Imoni alleged that Stephen Ada Ochekwu left Edikwu Community on self-imposed exile since the incident took place in the year 2014.
