The Edo State Police Command has confirmed two additional fatalities in the violent clash between cocoa farmers and suspected produce thieves in Gbelemotin, Ovia South-West Local Government Area, bringing the death toll to seven.
In a statement on Sunday, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, disclosed that six injured individuals were receiving medical care at an undisclosed hospital.
This update revised the earlier report from Saturday, which had put the casualty count at four.
The conflict, which began on Thursday night, escalated into further violence by Friday morning when sympathizers of the initial victims launched a counterattack.
According to a local source who spoke anonymously, the crisis started when an Ikale cocoa farmer, frequently targeted by suspected Izon youths, hired vigilantes to guard his farm.
During one of their patrols, the vigilantes reportedly killed four of the suspects, triggering a violent retaliation by Izon youths the following morning.
“There was fighting in my area on Friday, and many are feared dead. Vigilantes hired by an Ikale man, Igbala, killed four Izon boys two nights ago,” the source revealed.
“The boys were allegedly stealing cocoa from the farm. The retaliatory attack resulted in more casualties, with some houses set ablaze. The exact number of those killed remains unknown.
“Soldiers and other security personnel arrived on Friday and recovered some bodies, but many corpses are still in the bushes. The stolen cocoa belonged to Yoruba farmers in Madotti Camp, who may have also suffered collateral losses.”
Initially, on Saturday, Yamu had confirmed five deaths and four injuries, noting that security operatives had restored calm in the affected communities.
However, in a fresh update on Sunday, he stated, “On February
