Reports in the Nigerian press suggest twelve chiefs from the Kula community in Rivers State were killed earlier this month, bringing the death-toll in the area to twenty five in oil-related violence.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that the Kula Chiefs were embroiled over a controversy over oil revenues in the area. How to share the revenues had “polarized the community”, between chiefs who wanted to work with the oil companies and those who don’t.
The chiefs were killed as the result of a disagreement between local youths and elders over the oil revenues. Acccording to the Vanguard: “The sources explained that on account of this oil politics, a youth leader was banished from the community about two years ago. His bid to stage a comeback was said to have generated serious disagreement which later snowballed into the orgy of violence …. The crisis allegedly climaxed penultimate Saturday with the killing of about twelve chiefs in the community”.
When will the oil-related vortex of violence end?