Video: Thugs go on rampage over unpaid fees in Port Harcourt airport road over land grabbing dispute

Abdullateef Fowewe

Tension erupted early Tuesday morning along the Port Harcourt International Airport Road as thugs allegedly hired by suspected land grabbers turned on their paymasters over unpaid fees.

Video link: https://x.com/DailyEconews/status/1960363150781325652?t=ViF9Pnd5yBgjdruvGtBisA&s=19

It was gathered that the crisis was triggered after Colonel Ogwumerum Eke, Chief Mike Oyiakhira (popularly known as Edo 1), and Chima Providence Dike reportedly refused to settle the armed youths mobilized to enforce controversial claims over thousands of plots of land in the area.

In retaliation, the enraged thugs went on a violent rampage, setting ablaze excavators, bulldozers, and other heavy-duty machinery brought to the site. Residents and motorists navigating the busy Airport Road were thrown into panic as thick smoke billowed into the air, creating chaos and fear across the vicinity.

Community leaders from Rumuosi and surrounding settlements have once again raised an alarm over the unending invasion of their ancestral lands by notorious land grabbers. They warned that the situation could spiral out of control if urgent government intervention is not forthcoming.