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Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Many houses have been burnt and several people are fleeing following a violent clash in Ikpayongo Community of Gwer East Local Government area of Benue State on Wednesday.
Our correspondent gathered that the violent clash was as a result of tension between the Mbaivar and Mbasombo people of Ikpayongo few days after the both communities disagreed over the location where one of their dead should be buried.
Although, there had been rancour between the Mbaivar referred to as settlers and the Mbasombo who are known as indigenes basically due to land dispute, the underlying issues had been relatively managed through dialogue by both sides.
But the problem snowballed into a violent clash in the early hours of Wednesday when the villagers threw caution to the wind and began to burn down one anothers’ houses and belongings.
Sources from the area attributed the crisis to the refusal of the indigenes to allow the settlers bury their dead in the land, stressing that there had been an existing agreement between the parties in dispute that settlers would carry their dead back to their ancestral homes for burial.
One of our sources, a local from the crisis area said that the attempt by the settlers to bury their dead at Ikpayongo caused the controversy which culminated into burning of houses despite the fact that the deceased was later taken for burial in his ancestral home town.
Speaking on the matter, the state Commissioner of Police, Mukkadas Garba who made an on-the-spot assessment visit to the area confirmed the incident but noted that no lives were lost.
While stating that some thatched houses were burnt in the process while some houses were deserted by their occupants, Garbage no arrest had yet been made.
He said he was meeting with elders of the two warring factions of the community in his office at the time of filing this report with a view to bringing a lasting solution to the crisis.
