Residents of Bwari Area Council in the FCT, yesterday, said the recent communal clash that erupted in Bwari town had affected their living condition.
The residents expressed their feelings in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bwari, FCT. The community is about 12km, Northwest of the federal capital city.
They attributed the remote cause of the crisis to two rival cult groups that later degenerated into ethnic and religious clash.
They, therefore, appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and council authority to intervene, to ameliorate their suffering.
A resident, Mr Onyebuchi Christian, said that the situation had negatively affected his income as a business person.
According to him, life is difficult; the crisis has made life to be more difficult because his shop in the market was burnt during the clash.
Christian said “there is no movement like before as a result of the clash and that is one reason we are all finding life difficult now. We now trek long distances just to access vehicles because there are no means of transportation.
“The most painful aspect is that where we used to buy foodstuffs was burnt, so the petty traders around have hiked prices of food items due to difficulty in transportation.
“FCTA and the Bwari council authority have to come to our aid in any way, to reduce our suffering.”
Mrs Grace Samuel, a secondary school teacher, narrated her ordeal when buying recharge cards, salt and other commodities.
She said “things I used to buy at normal price, such as MTN recharge card, sold for N200 before is now N250, a sachet of salt usually N50 is now N80.
“I have to suspend buying some of these things here; I go to Dutse-Alhaji market to minimise cost. Life is fast becoming unbearable here because the prices of food items and drinks too have sky-rocketed against what they used to be.
“January is around the corner and coping with children’s school fees when they resume is not just a priority, but difficult task”.
Another resident, Mr Andrew Chijioke, said the impact of the clash was not limited to living condition, but supply of basic amenities such as electricity and water in the community.
According to him, it is affecting everyone in Bwari; there is no food, no water and even electricity supply has reduced drastically.
“It is by the grace of God we are surviving, many people fled out of the community, for fear of renewal of the clash. If government can provide amenities it will encourage people to come back and carry on their business operation in the community.
“Government should also beef up security and assist displaced shop owners with soft loans, to enable those who lost their properties to start all over again,” Chijioke said.
Mr Lawal Yusuf, a trader, appealed to FCTA to provide succour for them, particularly those who lost their dear ones to enable them to overcome the ongoing trauma.
In separate interviews, Dr Mohammed Ringim, Acting Medical Director, Bwari General Hospital, said that 18 patients were registered as casualties from the mayhem.
According to him, one was brought dead, nine suffered gunshots, others sustained multiple laceration due to the crisis.
“Apart from that the only one we referred to National Hospital was brought unconscious with multiple lacerations and identity unknown.
“All the people that were brought in here have been treated and discharged; they are only to come back for medical check-ups,” Ringim said.
