Delta: 17 Houses Burnt As Obubu, Oleri Clash Over Land (Photos)

No fewer than seventeen residential apartments were allegedly set on fire in Obubu community, Udu Local Government Area of Delta State over boundary dispute clash between Obudu and Oleri communities.

The incident broke out on Tuesday afternoon when a real estate development company from the Obubu community was alleged to have trespassed into the neighbouring Oleri community bushes.

This, however, prompted violent reactions from Oleri, who were alleged to have invaded Obubu Community, setting several houses on fire to express their grievances.

Obubu Community was totally deserted as women, children and the elderly ones fled from the community for fear of being affected by the clashes.

A commentator from Oleri Community disclosed that Obubu were the aggressors as they had overstepped their boundary to invade Oleri land with bulldozers and other equipment without provocation.

According to another source, the Obubu warriors also attempted invading Oleri in the early hours of Wednesday but were successfully resisted by Oleri youths.

Several persons from both Oleri and Obubu were said to have been injured but no death was recorded.

The police in the area had gone into swift action to arrest the tide of violence by arresting the Presidents of both Obubu and Oleri communities to calm the fighters down.

Soldiers had also been drafted to the scene of fighting particularly the boundary area to stop any invasion from either community.

Speaking to newsmen, a Councilor representing Obubu in Udu Local Government Council, Hon Awhotu Oputu lamented the destruction visited on the community, stressing that both Obubu and Oleri had a lot in common and that it was unfortunate the boundary dispute resulted in such degree of destruction in the community.

Speaking in the same vein, Barr Moses Segba who is from Obubu Community described the development as unfortunate, adding that whatever issues that may have arisen could have been settled amicably without resorting to violence, urging youths from both communities to embrace peace so as to identify the immediate and remote causes of the crisis towards peaceful resolution.

Outspoken community leader, Comrade Johnbull Gbejegbe from Oleri community, in his remarks also lamented the misunderstanding, urging the youths to sheathe their swords for an amicable resolution of the matter.

He added that while he was yet to get full details of what happened since he was not resident in the community, he assured that he was going to approach stakeholders from the community so as to caution the youths to give peace a chance and allow the government to find a lasting solution to the periodic clashes between both communities.

He also appealed to Obubu Community leaders to caution their youths to desist from a violent approach to the boundary dispute, stressing that as neighbours, such misunderstanding was bound to happen but could easily be resolved without violence.