In the Chito community in Benue State’s Ukum Local Government Area, two rival gangs are believed to have fought, leading to at least 22 persons being slain in separate incidents.
Locals claimed that seven of the 15 people who died in the Chito gang supremacy battle were shot and killed at a pub in the Tyo Akosu village of the same Ukum LGA.
The disturbance in Ukum and the two other local government districts that make up the Sankera axis of the state, Logo and Katsina-Ala, are purportedly the result of gangster activity.
The 15 persons whose remains were visible in an amateur video and pictures that went viral on social media were killed during a confrontation between the two rival gangs, known as Chain and Full Fire, according to villagers.
According to a local, the victims were shot and killed by a rival gang, but they were a member of another banditry organisation that was terrorising the Sankera axis.
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In Ukum LGA, there was a struggle for dominance between the two gangs. Each of them has been on the other’s neck. When Chain members learned of the scheme and set up an ambush, Full Fire enlisted the aid of another banditry organisation.
“All of them (hired mecenaries) were killed by them (Chain) opening fire.” Some claimed to be ten, while others claimed to be fifteen. They were all armed with guns on their bodies. It was a battle of supremacy rather than unity.
However, the villagers have fled out of fear of retaliation. The local stated that the villagers were afraid that, even though they were innocent, they would be impacted by retaliation.
However, SP Catherine Anene, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Benue Command, informed reporters in Makurdi that she was unaware of the event.
