Youth Clash in Delta as Committee Submits Report on Boko Haram in Borno
No fewer than 40 people sustained various degrees of injury when armed Christian youth in Sapele, Delta State reportedly attacked a group of persons suspected to be Muslims and chased them out of the town. NigerianEcho gathered that the youth armed with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons went on rampage, inflicting injuries on a group of people at a settlement in Sapele in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State.
It would be recalled that bomb explosion for which Egbesu Fraternity claimed responsibility occurred at a mosque was reported in Sapele few days after the Christmas Day bomb attacks in three separate churches in the northern parts of the country by the dreaded Boko Haram group. The clash involving youth in Sapele is believed to have been ignited by recent ultimatum given by Boko Haram to Christians to move out of the northern states. Sapele youth were reported to have warned Muslims in the area to vacate the town in their own interest. It is however reported that four of the persons suspected to have carried out the attack have been arrested by the Sapele police division. Meanwhile, the investigative committee set up by the Borno State Government to examine Boko Haram crisis in the state has submitted its report to the state Governor, Kashim Shettima. The committee headed by Barrister Mallam Fannami said that 37 persons were killed while 14 others wounded. The Committed also revealed that 47 houses and houses of worship have been destroyed across Maiduguri, the state capital and its environs between July and August 2011.
Fannami noted that, the whereabouts of 2 persons could not be ascertained by the Committee while 165 shops and business premises were set ablaze.
The Chairman of the Committee also confirmed that Boko Haram incident led to the destruction of 123 motor vehicles, seventy motorbikes and twenty-four bicycles.
Meanwhile, the Committee also noted that no fewer than 498 persons have forwarded applications seeking compensation to cushion the adverse effects of the crisis. The Committee however recommended immediate and direct monetary assistance to the victims, measures to forestall future occurrence and long term proactive mechanism that could assist government tackle the crisis.
