A communal clash between Gbagyi natives and Hausa residents in Bwari, an Abuja suburb that shares border with Kaduna State has left many injured with some residents claiming deaths.
Soldiers have been deployed to quell the unrest which residents say was initially cult-related but became an ethno-religious clash following the death of a native of the town.
TVC News reports that the main market in Bwari has been burnt down with some buildings torched by the warring residents who are mostly youths.
Bwari often serves as an alternative road for those travelling to Kaduna via the byepass that goes round the town.
The town was recently engulfed in crisis following the turbaning of a new Hausa traditional ruler known as Sarkin Bwari who is of a different lineage from the Gbagyi people that are traditionally known with the title of Esu of Bwari.
Protests later followed the formal appointment of Awwal Musa Ijakoro, son of the Late Mohammed Musa Ijakoro as the Sarkin Bwari with the natives protesting at the office of the FCT Minister.
The natives accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello and other officials of conniving to deprive the natives of their right to be the paramount rulers of the town.
They said the new Sarkin Bwari is not from the town but from a community in Niger state hence he should not have been turbanned and even elevated to second class title from the initial third class that his late father was erroneously turbanned.
They provided evidence of posters to show that the newly crowned ruler, Awwal Ijakoro, had in the recent past contested for a House of Assembly seat in Niger state to buttress the fact that he is not from FCT.
Bwari also shares border with Niger state. (TVC)
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