No fewer than seven persons have lost their lives at a bloody rival cult clash while one other person was beheaded in the North Bank area of Makurdi town in Benue state.
It was gathered that the clash which erupted Friday afternoon at the North Bank market near the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME), following a minor disagreement between two members of the rival red and black cult gangs, later escalated into a bloody fight.
An eyewitness, who spoke under anonymity said, “it all started when a member of one of the cult group came to North Bank Market, just close to NASME to purchase something. Members of a rival gang saw him and harassed him, so he went back and told his friends and they came back to fight. That is how the whole issue started.
“And before anybody knew what was happening, they turned the market into a war zone traders had to close their businesses and flee for their lives.
“The fight continued till Saturday because they went hunting members of rival gangs. Anyone they caught was either hacked to death or gunned down. So far seven persons have been confirmed dead in the fight.
“Though calm has return today (Monday) because the Military, Police, DSS, NSCDC and others have moved into the area and they are arresting the suspects.”
Chairman of North Bank market, Cibilus Odinaka, who confirmed the development, said the market was closed down from Friday as a result of the crisis.
Odinaka who lamented the slow response of security personnel to the crisis said, “between that day and today, six persons have been killed. To calm the whole issue, that is a stakeholders thing. But as market leaders, we request that they should provide us security.”
Commander Operation Shere, an anti cult group, Nura Umar, who mobilised his team to help quell the crisis, informed that aside the six, one of the victims was beheaded and the severed head taken away.
He said some of the dead also had their hands severed “and there were no injuries. They outrightly killed each other. One of the corpses had the head severed and nobody knows where they took the head to. Even hands were severed.
“From our findings it was a fight between the red and black cult. The red cult killed two, while the black killed four. And there was a commercial motorbike rider who was not a cult member but was killed in the cross fire.”
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Catherine Anene, who confirmed development said, “cult activities in North were reported and the Command deployed police officers to take charge investigation is ongoing. I have no report of the number of the victims.”