From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
A clash between two rival cult groups in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on Monday, left two innocent people dead and other two critically injured.
Investigations revealed that the two rival cult groups, Greenlanders and Bobos, were involved in a reprisal over attacks on each others’ hideouts.
Eyewitness accounts stated that a group of boys belonging to Bobos group had stormed the Swali ultra-modern market, in Yenagoa Local Government Area, in search of the hideout of the Greenlanders.
In the process of raiding the area, a trader who was hawking beverages was killed when he refused to hand over money to the assailants.
“The Bobos group attacked a hideout of Greenlanders in the market. After their clash, they attempted to rob a trader selling beverages of the money he had made for the day. He resisted them and he was viciously attacked with machetes and killed on the spot.”
Further findings indicated that the Greenlander group, on Monday evening, regrouped and went for a reprisal against suspected Bobos members in Swali market.
During the attack, a trader selling onions was shot dead, while two others were critically injured and taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC).
Spokesman of the Bayelsa Police Command, Mr Asinim Butswat, confirmed that two cult groups were involved in the clash.
“It was a rival cult clash, two persons (names withheld) died, while one Emmanuel Akpaye and Chinedu Offor are responding to treatment at the FMC. An investigation is ongoing,” he said.