Palpable tension has engulfed Agubia Ikwo community in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State following a bloody clash by youths over control of one of the biggest motor parks in the area.
Daily Sun gathered that one of the youths involved in the clash was reportedly killed on Tuesday during a reprisal while no fewer than 15 were seriously injured.
Some of those injured were being treated at the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.
Unspecified number of houses and vehicles belonging to some of the current leaders of the parks were also vandalised and torched by the angry youths.
Agubia motor park is the commercial hub of the community. A source in the community said the clash could be fallout of a supremacy battle between two opposing political camps ahead of 2023 political permutations.
Senator of Ebonyi Central District, Chief Obinna Ogba and the representative for Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency, Chinedu Ogah, have both condemned the act.
While Ogba urged all youths and leaders from the area stop taking any further action capable of escalating the already charged situation, Ogah called on security agencies to arrest and prosecute anyone involved in the mayhem.
“This is why I am interested in empowering the youths so that they will not indulge in such criminal acts,” Ogah said.
Public Relations Officer of Ebonyi Police Command, DSP Loveth Odah, said she was on a radio programme and could not respond at the time.