Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Two major contenders to the stool of Edikwu District in Apa Local Government Area of Benue State have been suspended by the state government for alleged complicity in the chieftaincy tussle which claimed the lives of 13 persons in the community last Monday.
Governor Samuel Ortom who announced the suspension, yesterday, ordered security to be beefed up in the area.
Daily Sun gathered that the suspended contenders, Chief Otokpa David Imoni and Chief Stephen Ada Ochekwu, had been engaged in war of words since the attack occurred.
One of the contenders to the throne is alleged to be the mastermind of the attack, which claimed the life of a centenarian and 12 others.
A woman who hails from the community, but pleaded anonymity, said “most of the victims were slaughtered like rams and their bodies dumped in wells.”
“Two of the youths who were killed in the attack were from Edikwu. The attackers went on a killing spree that day and killed everyone in sight. The two wells in which the victims’ bodies were dumped were stained with marks of blood. There was a bungalow used as a church from which one worshipper was forced out and killed outside. His body was dragged across the road to where it was dumped in one of the wells,” she said.
The contenders to the throne, yesterday, traded accusation on who among them was the mastermind of the killings.
Chief Imoni in a statement accused Ochekwu of resorting to violence after his efforts to ascend the throne failed, both in court and before the kingmakers.
He said Ochekwu’s violent escapades dates to 2014 when six people, including two officers of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) were killed by a gang he allegedly hired in his bid to enthrone a rival clan head in Edikwu.But Ochekwu refuted the allegation pointing accusing finger at Imoni for fuelling the attacks.