The police command in Kogi State said it arrested nine suspects in connection with a communal crisis in Itamah area of the state.

The crisis occurred after the assassination of the community’s traditional ruler, Onu Itamah Job Shagari.

The state Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha, said this during an interview in Lokoja on Thursday.

The late Shagari was assassinated on August 12 by some gunmen who invaded the community.

The traditional ruler’s death caused rift between two families — the Okenyi Abu-Atika and Shagari-Ebijegor, resulting in communal crisis.

But the police said they had arrested nine suspects and they were trailing other suspects.

Mr Onuoha said, “What the police are calling for now is for peace to be allowed to reign in Itamah community. The destruction done in that community is unfortunate and uncalled for. We want a situation where the aggrieved families would come to a roundtable for dialogue toward finding a lasting solution.

“A situation where the community members are involved in an eye for an eye, the whole community will be blind and there won’t be peace there at all.”

Mr Onuoha denied the allegation that the command did not respond to petitions brought before it on arson and hostilities that left some houses and other property destroyed.

Spokesman for the Okenyi Abu-Atika, Akoh Jonah, claimed that more than 40 houses were burnt during the crisis, alleging that the police arrested 11 members of his family.

Mr Gideon Attah from Shagari-Ebijegor family also claimed that his family members were also victims of the attacks.

“We call on the government and our traditional rulers — the Attah Igala and the Eje of Idaho — to organise a peace meeting among the aggrieved parties to restore peace to the community,” he pleaded.

(NAN)