Thaindian News

Abuja, May 29 (IANS) At least 40 people have been killed in a boundary clash between two local communities in southeastern Nigeria, a government official said Tuesday.

According to Stephen Asuquo, chairman of Odukpani council, the clashes erupted last week after members of Ntan Obu-Ukpe and Ikpanya communities started fighting over land rights, Xinhua reported.

The violence broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, he said.

“There is no house standing there, the entire village has been destroyed and burnt down,” Asuquo told reporters.

He called on the federal government to act on the Supreme Court’s judgment of June 24, 2005, that had demarcated the boundary between Cross river and Akwa Ibom, the two areas from where people fought over boundary in the latest incident.

“This is to ensure that people from the other side keep to their side and if they are coming here, they will come as tenants and they will be welcome and not as invaders,” he added.

Confirming the incident, Cross river state police spokepserson Hogan Bassey, however, said he could not give the exact number of those who lost their lives.