Mr Lawan Jimeta, the Commissioner of Police in Edo, has waded into the  violent crisis that hit Ehor community in Uhumwode Local Government at the weekend, vowing to dig into the roots of the incident.

Jimeta, who visited the scene of the violence on Sunday, decried the level of destruction to lives and property, and promised to fish out those responsible.

He wondered why members of a community that had lived together for years during which they intermarried and carried out business activities together would suddenly take arms against each other.

“Preliminary reports available to me showed that there was a quarrel between two persons in the community leading to the death of one of the parties.

“Some youths were said to have been angered by the incident and went on rampage which led to massive destruction. We shall investigate further.”

The commissioner of Police, who also visited the palace of the Enogie of Ehor, Dr David Igiehon, assured the monarch that the Police would intensify efforts toward protecting lives and property in the community.

He said that the tactical team of the command would be deployed to investigate the crisis, while giving assurance that a robust strategy had been put in place to monitor the highway and apprehend criminals.

The monarch had earlier commended the Police official on his quick response by coming on a fact-finding  mission.

He called on the Police to investigate the cause of the crisis, pointing out that members of the affected community had lived peacefully “for more than 50 years”.

He, however, alleged that some bad elements recently invaded the community and perpetrated crimes like kidnapping, rape of women on their farms and destruction of crops.

“From what I gathered, it is that development that triggered the setting up of local vigilance in the community to augment security provided by state security agencies.”

He called on the Hausa community in Ehor to purge their settlements of bad elements so as to promote mutual trust and peaceful co-existence.

Also speaking, Alhaji Badamasi Saleh, Chairman of the Hausa community, said that the crisis would have escalated if his colleagues had retaliated what was done to them.

“As a law abiding community, we did not join in the fight. We believe that the law will take its course.”

Similarly, Alhaji Salihu Ibrahim, the Chief Imam of Ehor, sued for peace while lamenting the burning down of the Ehor Mosque by the irate youths. (NAN)