BY OLUWAFEMI OLADIPO
Late night violence has erupted between two illegal camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) allegedly from the Northern part of Nigeria, living under the Etete Powerline in Benin City, Edo State capital.
The violence which started at about 10 pm Nigeria time on Thursday not only jolted and woke up some area residents already asleep, but caused general apprehension given the state of insecurity across the country.
According to information gathered from one camp of these illegal IDPs, some members of the opposing camp living close to a car wash under the Powerline and with an extension base near the Etete sub-station of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), notorious for criminality without cause attacked and injured some of them.
It was gathered that the subsequent late night violence was a retaliation for the attack.
When asked about what led to the varying degrees of injuries noticed, members of the other IDP camp could not say much, other than that they were attacked in their makeshift camp.
The situation was however brought under control by the quick intervention of Policemen from the Etete Division.
This reporter witnessed a police officer later identified as the Divisional Police officer arranging to have conveyed to the Hospital, two young IDPs with serious lacerations and stab wounds at one of the camps.
Alltimepost.com further investigation has however revealed that while one of the two IDP camps is populated by peaceful and law abiding individuals the othernear the car wash with an extension close to the BEDC Etete sub-station is notorious for harbouring persons with shady characters from the Northern part of the Country.
While this incident lasted this reporter experienced heavy smell of cannabis popularly called “Indian hemp” or “Igbo” close to the makeshift camp close to the BEDC sub-station, an indication of the existence and operation of a smoking joint.
Some of the residents who ventured to mediate in the violence which involved a large numbers of Hausa youths wielding various kinds of weapons told Alltimepost.com that the IDPs have become a nuisance to the residents of area through not only their nefarious activities, but also their constant burning of all sorts of waste materials to extract their priced metal.
The young Hausa boys living in the makeshift illegal structures close to the BEDC sub-station and car wash under the Powerline around Etete road, according to another resident, have now become a torn in the flesh of residents and a great source of apprehension as large numbers of these displaced persons are regularly discharged and seen milling around here either smoking cannabis, inhaling or sipping illegal drugs from pure water sachets.
He wondered how, given the security situation in the Northern part of the Country how the security apparatus can curtail the infiltration of insurgents mingling with innocent displaced persons arriving the state from the insecurity in the Northern part of the Country.
As at press time, Alltimepost.com had not obtained an official comment from the Edo State Police Command.
