Rampaging youths in Obung community, Akamkpa LGA, have burnt down the residence of the village head, after a disagreement with the village head.
Sources on the ground in the community, on conditions of anonymity, told www.calitown.com that the burning down of the residence is connected to a disagreement between some youths in the area and a quarry company, identified to us as Sterling Global.
The disagreement we were told, bothered around the refusal of the youths to work on Sundays, after the company insisted that Sunday will not be a rest day for the company. When the youths, most of them employees in the company, broached the idea of Sunday as a rest day, the company is said to have refused, even threatened to have several of them arrested.
Several of them are believed to have rained abuses on the village head and top company officials, even barricading all access points into the community in protest. “We just wanted to show our displeasure with this company policy but our chief and company officials called in the police Dragon Squad which came and shot at is. Everything just escalated and the company’s staff bus was burnt”, a source who does not want to be quoted, told us over the phone.
Contacted for information on the matter, Cross River State Police Command spokesperson, Irene Ugbo, exclusively informed www.calitown.com that there was not much to say about this unfortunate situation, “our men have moved in to ensure nothing escalates beyond what has unfortunately happened. We are appealing for calm and assuring all that peace through dialogue, will be the best option.”
Officials of Sterling Global at press time, refused to comment on this issue, citing the volatile situation on the ground. We however have received no confirmation that two persons have so far died from this confrontation.
