Land dispute claims 2 in Kwara communities

Two persons have reportedly been killed in a protracted land dispute between two Nupe communities in Kwara State.

The incident, City & Crime gathered, happened on Thursday when some members of Ndeji and Lema communities in Edu Local Government Area engaged in a deadly fight inside their farms.

According to a resident, who preferred anonymity, the communities had been in court over a protracted farmland boundary dispute that has lingered in court for about 10 years now and defied the intervention of the Emir of Lafiagi.

“However, on Thursday, following days of renewed agitation and despite the case still in court, the warring parties decided to engage themselves in a fight inside the bush far from the town.

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“They fortified themselves with charms and other talismans and used guns and other dangerous weapons on themselves. It was like a battlefield and took the intervention of the army to disperse them.

“Unfortunately, two people were killed during the fracas, one of them, a student of Kwara State Polytechnic, named Hussein. About seven others are in the hospital,’’ the source added.

The state Commissioner of Police, Victor Olaiya, confirmed the incident.

According to him, the affected communities are sandwiched between Lafiagi and Gbugbu, two major towns, suddenly at each other’s throats for no clear reason.

“We responded but unfortunately two lives were lost and two people were also arrested while others were in the hospital. But normalcy has been restored,” the Olaiya added.

He assured the people of the two communities and Kwarans to go about their lawful duties, adding that the police were on top of the situation.