2 People Dead as Rival Cults Clash in Cross River

A violent clash between two rival cults has left two young men dead and property destroyed in Cross River State.

The trouble started when an argument between two men who were members of the warring groups escalated into a free-for-all.

The fighting youths belonging to the Norsemen and Klux Klan groups disrupted the burial of one Alice Ogboja during which the initial disagreement developed.

Vanguard Newspaper reports:

READ MORE AFTER THE CUT

“The argument was simply between two young men but no sooner had we intervened to stop the exchange of words than other young men from both groups joined and a fight ensued,” an eye witness, Clemenson Mgbe, told Vanguard in Ogoja.

According to Clemenson, the burial took place in Akpakpanga village, some two kilometres from Igoli, the Ogoja central town.

He said: “Trouble started when a boy slapped a nursing mother and her boyfriend who is an alleged cultist confronted him and an argument started, and in the process a fight ensued.

“One of them brought a machete with which he inflicted a cut on one of the boys and that escalated matters.

“It was in a bid to retaliate the machete cut on their member that opposing members mobilised that night and attack members of the other group.
“They went from house to house where the other members live and a fierce battle ensued. Two boys were killed and the property of those they could not find at home were set ablaze.”

When Vanguard visited Ogoja, Monday afternoon, the streets of Abakpa where the fight took place were deserted as most young people had run away while shops and business outlets remained shut for fear of attack.

Commenting on the development, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Cross River State Police Command, Hogan Bassey said: “There was a clash like that; you know with the universities shut, many boys are at home and such things are likely when youths are idle.”