Eight Killed In Niger State Over Land Dispute

At least eight persons are said to have been killed in a communal fight between the Gaba and Anfani communities in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State, The Eagle Online reports.

Those killed, according to an eyewitness, were beheaded, while the feet of them was cut off.

The incident, which occurred on Thursday afternoon, according to a report from the area, had scores of people with various degrees of injury.

The newspaper gathered that the dispute between the communities was over a parcel of land, which the Gaba community were said to have given to their Anfani counterparts over 50 years ago.

Findings have it that a Bida High Court in Niger State had ruled in favour of the Gaba community last week, directing the Anfani community to vacate the land.

It was learnt that to enforce the judgement of the court, the Gaba community sent 11 men to the disputed land to carry out its survey.

One of the 11 people was a surveyor from the Niger State Ministry of Works.

According to the eyewitness, the Gaba men were reportedly waylaid by their Anfani people, “slaughtering them like goats”.

The assailants were said to have also been allegedly assisted by some people from Emikpan village, a development that made them to overpower the men though “they were unarmed”.

It was further gathered that the Surveyor was spared after it was discovered that he was not a native of Gaba village, but not before he was inflicted with injuries, resulting in his being hospitalised at the Federal Medical Centre, Bida.

Afraid of reprisal, it was gathered that the entire Anfani community had been deserted, with some of the villagers reportedly taking refuge in neighbouring villages in Bida

As a result of the disturbance, it was gathered that the district head of Gaba, Abdullahi Manko, who was reported to have been posted to the Gaba community by the Etsu Nupe, was forced to abdicate his throne to also take refuge in Bida.

The police on Friday evacuated eight corpses from the troubled area and deposited them at the Bida General Hospital mortuary.

Confirming the incident, the spokesman of the Niger State Police Command, Muhammad Abubakar, said the Police Area Commander in Bida had led heavily armed operatives to the area to restore normalcy.

Abubakar said no arrest had been made and that investigation into the disturbance had commenced.