Gwarinpa Ethnic Crisis Claims Lives, Many Injured

An unconfirmed number of people have died following an ethnic clash on the 3rd Avenue area of the Gwarinpa Estate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, on Monday.

An eyewitness who preferred anonymity said that the crisis started when a gang of hoodlums, mostly Keke riders and drug dealers, attacked the home of a politician in the area to rob him.

He said that the development prompted some indigenous residents, mostly the Gbagyis in the community, to retaliate the attack.

According to the eyewitness, the indigenes started chasing Hausa people away from the community.

“That was how the confrontation started and it led to the death of some of them before the military came and calmed everywhere down.

“But, the second phase of the crisis started when the military left. That was when the Hausa guys came from nowhere and started smashing cars. They smashed over 30 cars, like the windows and all.

However, normalcy has been restored to the area following the heavy presence of the FCT Joint Task Force (JTF) of security operatives including the Police, Military, DSS, NSCDC, and Guard Brigade.

At the moment, the JTF is patrolling the Gwarinpa estate, specifically areas suspected to have shanty structures to ensure normalcy is restored.