Nigeria: Over 7 Persons Die As Boat Capsizes

Benue State is a state in the mid-belt region of Nigeria. At least seven persons lost their lives yesterday in Guma local government area of Benue State, the home town of Governor Samuel Ortom after a boat capsized.

Sole administrator of the area Mr. Anthony Shawon who revealed  this in a chat with newsmen in Makurdi, said the boat which was conveying mourners was overloaded when it capsized near Kaambe crossing point at Gbajimba.

He attributed the cause of the capsized to heavy wind, adding that most of the mourners who were heavily drunk refused to heed to advice of the boat paddlers who had insisted they would ferry some number of persons across and return to cross others.

Angered by the incident, youths in the area held a protest making bonfire while alleging that the incident has a superstitious connotation. During the process, Shawon said three (3) elders were stone to death and their houses burnt while the district head of Gbajimba Gwatse Akaahena had the windscreen of his car smashe