Nine people have been taken into custody by the Kogi State Police Command in relation to a communal incident that occurred in the Itamah region of Kogi.

Following the assassination of Onu Itamah Job Shagari, the traditional ruler of the community, a crisis emerged.

This was said by the state’s commissioner of police, Mr. Bethrand Onuoha, in a Thursday interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.

The late Chief Job Shagari was killed on August 12 by a group of gunmen who broke into the village.

A schism between the Shagari-Ebijegor and Okenyi Abu-Atika households was caused by the death of the traditional monarch, and this led to a communal crisis.

However, the police claimed to be investigating further suspects and to have taken nine into custody.

The Itamah community should be allowed to live in peace, according to what the police are currently requesting.

“It is really regrettable and uncalled for that community to have been destroyed.

“We envision a scenario in which the resentful families convene at a roundtable to engage in conversation in search of a long-term resolution.

“If everyone in the community engages in an eye for an eye, everyone would be blind and there won’t be any

Onuoha refuted the claim that the command ignored petitions regarding conflicts and arson that resulted in the destruction of several homes and other property.

The Okenyi Abu-Atika spokesman, Mr. Akoh Jonah, asserted that 11 members of his family had been detained by the police and that over 40 houses had been set on fire during the crisis.

According to Mr. Gideon Attah of the Shagari-Ebijegor family, other members of his family were also harmed in the attacks.

“To bring peace back to the community, we are pleading with the government and our traditional rulers, the Attah Igala and the Eje of Idaho, to arrange a peace meeting among the aggrieved parties,” he implored.