Scores are feared to have been killed in a renewed communal crisis between Egbeagu-Eziagulu Otu and Umuoji Eziagulu Anam Communities of Anambra East and West Local Government Areas of Anambra State.
Daily Query reports that the renewed hostilities arose from claims over fish farm boundaries between Anambra East and West Local Government Areas.
It was gathered that the warring communities had been at daggers-drawn over a land dispute for years, to the extent that the dispute had earlier claimed four lives before the latest development.
The number of people killed in the latest skirmish in those Communities is yet unclear, according to Mr. Dominic Okagbue, media assistant to Chinedu Obidigwe, the former lawmaker who represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, but there are fears that scores may have lost their lives.
The Anambra incident came against the backdrop of an earlier report of “a war” in Osun over the crowning of a king in a community in the State.
News Express quoted a source who sent a distress message to the online news platform, lamenting that several people were feared dead in a raging war in Esa Oke, Osun State over a kingship disagreement.
“There’s a war going on in Esa Oke between Ilesha people and Esa Oke indigenes,” News Express quoted the source as saying.
“Ilesha people want to crown a king in Ido Ayeginle in Esa Oke, but the indigenes are strongly opposed to it,” the source added, disclosing that the disagreement degenerated into a war this Monday morning, February 3, 2025.
According to News Express, video clips of the crisis showed gunshots, panicking residents and dead bodies on the streets, scenes which the news platform considered too gory to run.
Daily Query reports that the former lawmaker, Hon Chinedu Obidigwe, has, however, intervened in the Anambra incident and brokered peace between the two warring communities.
According to a release signed and issued by Okagbue, Obidigwe was said to have been able to calm frayed nerves, while interfacing with the traditional rulers and Presidents-General of the two communities.
“The former Federal Lawmaker, who represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, Chief Benjamin Obidigwe has called for peaceful coexistence between the people of Egbeagu Eziagulu Otu Aguleri and Umuoji Umuoba Anam both in Anambra East and West Federal Constituency over a clash that has to do with fish farming,” the release read, in part.
“Recall that a few days ago, there was a report of misunderstanding between a few individuals within the aforementioned villages over the act of fishing, which allegedly claimed lives from the two camps.”
Describing the incident as “unfortunate, unacceptable, unbearable, barbaric and entirely condemnable” and noting that no land dispute, no matter how precious it is, is worth human life, Obidigwe called on all relevant stakeholders in the zone, including their Reps and Senators, the two local government chairmen, traditional rulers and Presidents-General, among others, to intensify efforts towards promoting peaceful atmosphere and permanent resolution of the crises.
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