By Emeka Samuel
At least five persons were said to have lost their lives in Urua Ekpa community, an outskirt of Uyo, A’Ibom state following a clash between two rival cult groups in the area.
The clash which started on Tuesday night and continued Wednesday morning is said to have been between members of the Viking confraternity and the Iceland group.
As at the time of filing this report the cause of the crisis was not known although sources said the two groups allegedly clashed following a disagreement over a girlfriend.
An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity told reporters that “at about 9pm on Tuesday when I was returning home from the market, I heard a gunshot down the street and I thought it was a motor tyre bursting but after some time I heard another gunshot again. It was when I heard the second time that I knew something was wrong.
“A few minutes later, I heard people running and screaming for their lives and by this time the gunshots were everywhere, there was sporadic shooting.
“Since yesterday this area has been under serious security threat, we couldn’t sleep last night. Three persons including one of our neighbors have been killed”. The source explained.
Another witness who identified himself as Akpan said that “there was a big problem here in this village, the were guys were a big problem for all of us here yesterday. They continued this morning and I can confirm to you that two persons have died in this our street.
“I was preparing to come to my barbing saloon this morning, when a group of guys started chasing our neighbor from here, they later caught up with him down the street, where they mercilessly murdered him.”
He said that many people lost their phones, handbags, pieces of jewelry, cash and other variables in the process of running for their lives.
Efforts to reach the State Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macedon,to comment on the clash proved abortive as he was not responding to the calls made to him.
