Gov's Aide Fingered In Gun Attack

THE fragile peace between Ekoli and Nguzu communities in Afikpo South council of Ebonyi State snapped recently after an election to select leaders of the youth wing of the community-based organisation known as Ekoli Band of Hope.About three persons sustained gunshot wounds while more than five houses and shops were vandalised.The Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Adeola, responded swiftly by sending a detachment of Mobile Force from Abakaliki to arrest the situation from degenerating into a full scale intra-communal strife.According to an eyewitnesses, trouble started when some youth from Nguzu, a sister community, led by the Special Adviser toGovernor Martin Elechi, on Petroleum and Energy Matters, Mr. Chidi Ejem, whose candidate lost out in the election, drove into Ekoli in a convoy of six cars.They said they were in the community to commiserate with one of their friends who lost his father.An altercation was said to have begun at a joint in Ekoli between the rival youth groups when those from Nguzu discovered that the winners in the election were massed at the joint and wanted them to vacate the area for them.In his reaction, Ejem denied that he went to Ekoli in order to cause trouble. He blamed supporters of a member of the state's House of Assembly in Ekoli for the clash.Police Public Relations Officer, Eluu Ekiye, said investigations have commenced to fish out the perpetrators of the incident.
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