The Police Command in Kogi says it has arrested nine suspects in connection with a communal crisis in the Itamah area of Kogi.
The crisis occurred after the assassination of the community's traditional ruler, Onu Itamah Job Shagari. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Bethrand Onuoha, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Thursday.
The late Chief Job Shagari was on August 12 assassinated by some gunmen who invaded the community. The traditional ruler’s death had created a rift between two families — the Okenyi Abu-Atika and Shagari-Ebijegor, resulting in a communal crisis.
But the police said they had arrested nine suspects and they were trailing other suspects.
“What the police are calling for now is for peace to be allowed to reign in the Itamah community.
“The destruction done in that community is very unfortunate and uncalled for.
“We want a situation where the aggrieved families should come to the round table for dialogue toward finding a lasting solution.
“A situation where the community members are involved in an eye for an eye, the whole community will be blind and there won’t be peace there at all,” he said.
Onuoha denied the allegation that the command did not respond to petitions brought before it on arson and hostilities that left some houses and other property razed and destroyed.
Akoh Jonah, spokesman of the Okenyi Abu-Atika, claimed that more than 40 houses were burnt during the crisis, alleging that the police arrested 11 members of his family.
Gideon Attah from the Shagari-Ebijegor family also claimed that his family members were also victims of the attacks.
“We are calling on the government and our traditional rulers — the Attah Igala and the Eje of Idaho — to organise a peace meeting among the aggrieved parties to restore peace to the community,” he pleaded.