No fewer than five persons have lost their lives and others critically injured in rival cult clashes involving two notorious confraternities – Vickings and the Mafians, on Tuesday evening in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
Witnesses around the Ibom Plaza axis of the city centre, told our correspondent that the fracas started in the evening hours at about 6:30pm, and lasted for about two hours, before Police operatives and a detachment of Soldiers standing guard at the plaza since the #EndSARS protest last year, arrived to restore normalcy.
Aniekan Akpainyang, a tricycle operator, who spoke to journalists, linked the remote cause of the violence to a minor disagreement at a betting shop along Ikot Ekpene Road by the plaza area, recalling that the incident triggered the old animosity between the rival groups.
He said: “One cultist, a member of the Vickings confraternity had placed a bet to the tune of N5,000, but could not pay after he lost. The shop attendant asked him to pay or…
Source: Leadership Newspaper
