4 die,10 injured as rival youths clash in Anambra

ONITSHA — No fewer than four persons
were feared dead, yesterday, while 10
others sustained various degrees of
injury when two rival youth groups
suspected to have come from Ogbaru
Area Council of Anambra State engaged
themselves in a bloody clash.
The face-off, according to the source,
was over the control and ownership of
a motor park known as Aba Park located
in the heart of Upper Iweka in the
commercial city of Onitsha, along the
ever-busy Onitsha-Owerri Road.
Also, property worth millions of naira,
including vehicles and shops, were
reportedly damaged during the clash
which resulted in traders at the Ogbaru
Relief Market shutting their shops to
protect their lives and wares.
Trouble was said to have started when
one of the warring factions allegedly
stormed the park early in the morning to
forcefully take over its control.
On arrival, the source stated, the other
faction attempted to bar their rival from
entering the park but in an apparent
move to force themselves in, both
factions clashed.
While the clash lasted, during which
machetes and other dangerous
weapons were freely used. Those that
died were said to have had their skulls
ripped opened.
Confirming the incident, yesterday, in a
telephone chat,Police Area Commander
for Onitsha, Benjamin Wordu, an
Assistant Commissioner of Police put the
casualty at only two while the State
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO)
said he was aware of only one casualty,
adding that the police were already on
top of the situation.
Reacting to the bloody clash, the
Association of Igbo Youths Organisation,
AIYO, warned that it would no longer
tolerate incessant clandestine activities
of militant youths from Onitsha and its
environs.
Sounding the note of warning, the AIYO
State Coordinator, Mr. Chukwuemeka
Omeinyi Oga, added that the Igbo race
would not continue to engage in
wanton destruction when other tribes
are developing their areas.
On the alleged discovery of flags with
insignia of the Movement for the
Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB) littered the scene of the clash,
MASSOB's National Director of
Information, Comrade Uchenna Madu,
dissociated MASSOB from the incident.