Delta LGA Chair Imposes Curfew Over Communal Crisis

Chairman, Ika North East Local Government Council, Victor Ebonka, has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in Ute kingdom.

Ebonka, in a press briefing Monday, in Owa-Oyibu said the curfew was with the approval of the Delta State Government.

He said the curfew will affect Ute-Ukpu kingdom following the unruly behaviour of the youths.

He accused the youths of maliciously damaging properties and also threatening the life of their king, chiefs, and traditional institution.

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He said the strange deaths attributable to yellow fever are being misconstrued as spiritual attacks by the youths due to their fetish beliefs.

He noted that the curfew commences Monday 23 until further notice.

He enjoined all citizens to comply with the Government directive, as the law enforcement agents will not hesitate to arrest defaulters of the order.

It will be recalled that irate youths set the local market ablaze, but were stopped from attacking the palace of its king by a combined team of military and policemen.

Efforts by the Delta State government to commence an Anti-Yellow Fever vaccination which commenced on Nov 20th, have been largely unsuccessful as many residents shunned the exercise.

The Nation gathered that some residents are convinced that the cause of the strange deaths is due to the desecration of communal deities Agba-Egbo and Akpu.

The Nation gathered the youths after consulting an oracle on the cause of the strange deaths, were told to appease both deities.

It was learnt that while Agba-Egbo was appeased the shrine of Akpu was left desolate after a church uprooted the deity, thus desecrating it.

A youth, who spoke on condition of anonymity, blamed the strange deaths on the failure of the monarch, Obi Solomon Chukwuka 1, a Christian, to perform important traditional rites.