No fewer than five people were killed on Thursday in two separate clashes in Ogun and Edo states.
Two of the deaths were recorded in Sagamu, Ogun State, when rival groups in the Peoples Democratic Party clashed at the emergency unit of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital.
Three others died when rival factions in Iyakpi, South Ibie, in Etsako Local Government Area of Edo State fought over a chieftaincy stool.
In the Sagamu incident, 15 people, who were inflicted with injuries, are said to be receiving treatment at the OOUTH.
An unspecified number of people were said to have also been injured and many houses torched in the Iyakpi violence.
Eyewitnesses told one of our correspondents that patients and staff of the OOUTH scampered for safety as members of the PDP groups took their fight, which began around 8pm on Wednesday, to the hospital.
Investigations by our correspondent showed that the clash involved the �Continuity Group�, led by an immediate chairman of a local government council in the state, and the �No Way Group,� headed by a PDP woman leader.
Findings also revealed that the groups first clashed at Station, an area in Sagamu over PDP�s primaries for the local government elections scheduled for next Sunday.
The eyewitnesses said three members of one of the groups, who were seriously wounded in the violence, were taken to the OOUTH for treatment.
According to them, members of the other group traced the injured and their colleagues to the hospital.
At the emergency unit, the two groups again started fighting with guns, cutlasses and charms. In the process, two people were killed and 10 more were injured.
A hospital source who confirmed the death of two people added that the feuding groups later retreated following appeals by officials of the hospital and patients.
Our correspondent learnt that the crisis recurred on Thursday morning when another injured person was accompanied to the hospital by members of his group.
A doctor in the hospital, who pleaded anonymity, said, �Innocent people who came for treatment were running helter-skelter.
�The incident was the height of lawlessness. I am not saying they should not fight, but it should not be taken to a hospital.�
When one of our correspondents visited Sagamu on Thursday, policemen had been deployed in the hospital.
An armoured personnel carrier was stationed at the hospital�s gate while about five pick-up vans belonging to the Gateway Rapid Response Squad were seen patrolling the hospital road.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Command, Mr. Olufemi Awoyale, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Apapa, had visited Sagamu.
Awoyale said, �Seven people have been arrested and we have begun investigations into the incident. Our men are on ground to check people who may want to take laws into their hands.�
The PDP Director of Organisation in the state, Mr. Deji Kalejaiye, described the clash as a factional crisis.
Kalejaiye said, �The party has been notified of what happened. The leaders of the party will do something urgent. I can assure you that the place is calm now.�
A major political violence rocked Ogun State in March 2007 when supporters of the PDP and the All Nigeria Peoples Party clashed.
Fifteen people, including the ANPP governorship candidate in the April 14 election, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, were arrested.
Fifteen people were wounded while 10 vehicles and eight motorcycles were destroyed in the incident which led to the deployment of soldiers in Abeokuta.
In Iyakpi, trouble was said to have started when a faction loyal to a claimant to Aidonogie, the throne of the town, was challenged by another group for allegedly going to a mosque in the community for a thanksgiving.
As the face-off continued, the factions unleashed mayhem on each other, leading to the killing of some people.
The clash escalated as the rival factions chased their perceived opponents and burnt down houses.
Witnesses claimed that more than seven people died before riot policemen were drafted to the community.
One of the witnesses said that many people that were wounded were taken to some hospitals in Auchi for treatment.
But the Police Public Relations Officer, Edo State Command, Mr. Peter Ogboi, said three people were killed in the violence.
Ogboi said it was unfortunate that some people decided to use the Ramadan season to foment trouble.
He warned that the Police would not �tolerate any act of lawlessness on the pretext of fighting under a certain mosque or chieftaincy dispute.�
The PPRO, therefore, appealed to all the parties to maintain peace.�
When one of our correspondents visited Iyakpi, which is a few kilometres away from Auchi, the residents were fleeing the community.
The heavily-armed riot policemen were also seen patrolling the main road that runs through the town.
They shot sporadically into the air.
Some of the torched houses were still burning as at 5pm when our correspondent left.
The chieftaincy tussle in the community started in the 1950s when the defunct Western Region Government gazetted that the chieftaincy stool of the town should be inherited by the eldest son of any immediate past traditional ruler.
The recognised ruling House then was Okhokho. But it was split into two in 1979, and the stool was to be rotated between the two houses with the eldest son in each ruling house taking over when it was its turn.
A few years later, the second ruling house, Dan-Esi, went to court to contest the exclusive right of the Okhokho to the throne.
The matter is said to be before the Supreme Court.
But last year, the Edo State House of Assembly passed a resolution recognising the Dan-Esi Ruling House.
The state government consequently appointed Aliyu Zibiri Dan-Esi as the traditional ruler of the town in spite of the matter before the Supreme Court.
The Okhokho Ruling House secured a court injunction barring the state government from recognising Dan-Esi as the traditional ruler.
It was in this state that matters were when Dan-Esi, in company with his supporters, decided to go to the mosque after the Ramadan fasting as the traditional ruler.
Oct122007