At least two people reportedly died as two neighbouring communities, Opolo and Okutukutu, in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State clashed over land on Monday.
The youths from the two neighbouring communities located at the heartbeat of the state capital are said to be engaging each other in a communal clash over the ancestral boundaries of their communal land.
It was learnt that both communities recorded an unconfirmed number of casualties after some members of the Okutukutu community reportedly launched an attack on the Opolo community in the state.
Also, property belonging to the non-indigenes of the area was said to have been destroyed by the rampaging youths.
Some indigenes of Opolo, who craved anonymity disclosed that the fight between the two brotherly communities is unnecessary as they have been living together in peace for several years, even before the creation of Bayelsa State and the emergence of Yenagoa as the state capital.
They explained that the struggle for land demarcation between the two communities is a result of the development that has been attracted to the areas because Yenagoa is the capital city.
This situation was said to have attracted property developers to the area, thereby creating the challenges of proper identification of the ancestral boundaries between the two communities.
The youth president of Okutukutu Community, Kester Wilcox, told newsmen that it was actually the youths of Opolo Community that attacked Okutukutu Community and started destroying property belonging to mostly strangers before those property owners mobilised themselves and also retaliated.
He, however, noted that the casualty figures could not be ascertained at the moment, he urged both the youths of Okutukutu and Opolo Communities, as well as strangers residing in both communities, to embrace peace, as peace is priceless for accelerated development of the area
He pointed out that there has been an age-long boundary issue between the two communities, aggravating into a violent attack on innocent people.
He said, “What really happened is that this afternoon, I got a call that youths of Opolo Community are destroying houses belonging to Okutukutu Community, so the owners of the property, especially strangers who reside in that axis of the community, now mobilised themselves to retaliate and protect their property.
“But now, since it happened in Okutukutu, they will always say it was Okutukutu people that caused the problem, but it was strangers whose property we’re destroying that retaliated. We had an age-long boundary issue with Opolo even before I was born, but it should degenerate into a violent attack.
State Command Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Musa Muhammed, while confirming the clash, stated that men from the tactical team of the command have been dispatched to the warring areas to restore peace and calm.
