By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A land dispute between the Gbagyi and Bassa ethnic groups in Kudu Village of Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State has resulted into a bloody clash that claimed seven lives with many others injured.
New Nigerian learnt that the crisis began when the Bassa ethnic group allegedly invaded a community where the Gbagyi people had settled for their farming activities.
A source stated in Lafia on Tuesday that many houses and farm produce worth millions of Naira were destroyed as a result of the clash apart from those who sustained several degrees of injuries.
According to the source, the attacks are getting too much and the government seems to be silent about it, saying, “We can no longer sleep in our houses with our two eyes closed. We really need help in the Kudu community as soon as possible.”
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State said the government recently developed strategies towards tackling insecurity in the local government area.
Making the disclosure while presiding over an emergency executive council meeting held in Lafia on Monday, said even though the matter was not part of the agenda for the meeting, it had become necessary to bring it up before the executive council because lives had been lost due to the crisis in the local government area.
The governor announced plans to convene a meeting involving the Gbagyi, Egbirra and Bassa communities to address the overriding distrust and perceived acrimony existing between them.
He assured that the security agencies have already moved in there and would be able to get to the bottom of it.
He said that as soon as they return from Abuja, they are going to have a meeting of the Gbagyi, the Egbirra and Bassa communities so that at the end of the day, they would bring the crisis to an end.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, proved abortive.
