From Chukwidi Chidiebere, Port Harcourt
At least one person has been confirmed killed, while several buildings were razed at Umuokwa community in Omuma local government area of Rivers State, when members of two rival cult groups clashed at a burial ceremony.
Trouble was said to have started, when members of a cult group confronted members of another cult group from another village, Umudike, who had accompanied one of their brothers, to attend the burial ceremony of his grand mother.
It was gathered that an argument ensued between the two groups, leading to a free-for-all fight, while a non-member of any of the cult groups, who had attempted to mediate between the two sides, was stabbed to death.
In a reprisal, the group, who had accompanied their brother to the burial ceremony started burning houses and destroying other properties.
The secretary-general of Ogbakor Etche, the umbrella socio-cultural organisation of the Etche Ethnic Nationality, Chima Umunnakwe, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview to our Reporter.
Umunnakwe, however, said the local government council and the traditional institution in Omuma local government area, had waded in to resolve the matter amicably.