Houses torched in Ogoniland school row

AFP

14/03/2010

A row over the site of a new school turned violent on Sunday in southern Nigeria’s oil-rich Ogoniland region, with 10 houses set on fire, officials said.

Fighting erupted between the communities of Barako and Nweviara over which should provide the site for the primary school that is to be established by the government.

« Ten houses were razed in fighting between the two communities, » Rivers State government spokesman Blessing Wikina told AFP, adding that police had contained the situation.

Ogoniland is a hotbed of civil unrest in the Niger Delta, with inhabitants accusing foreign oil companies of destroying the region’s eco-system without paying adequate compensation.

10 Houses Burnt in Ogoni Communal Clash

thisdayonline.com

From Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt, 03.15.2010

No fewer than 10 houses were allegedly torched in a communal clash between Barako and Nwebiara communities in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State over where Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi will site a model primary school in the area.

So far, no report of any casualty has been received though the clash was said to have spread till the intervention of some security personnel who brought the situation under control.

Confirming the clash, the Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers State, Mrs. Rita Abbey described it as a “Clash between Barako and Nwebiara communities in Gokana Local Government Area which  broke out this morning and the Commissioner of Police has reinforced DPO Kpor with Mobile Policemen from 56 Police Mobile Force Ogoni and 19 Mobile Police Force in Port Harcourt to contain it”.

Although THISDAY learnt that the Joint Task Force were deployed to the trouble spot, a call to Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Antigha said the situation had not degenerated to the extent of deploying the JTF, pointing out that it was still within the competence of the Police in the state to handle.

When we called Mr. Blessing Wikina, the Acting Chief Press Secretary to Amaechi on the issue, he said that security agencies were on top of the situation and has already brought the situation under control.

However, a community source said that the trouble started with a Supreme Court judgment which ceded all of Nwebiara to Barako so that the later were asked to take permission from the former before doing anything in the land.
The alleged enforcement of the said judgment by the winners in the Supreme Court case led to the clashes which though is said to have been brought under control.

Information

Le peuple Ogoni est l’un des peuples  vivant dans l’État de Rivers au sud du Nigéria. Cette population compte environ 500.000 personnes.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 15 mars 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots