Youths kill 2, set 16 buses ablaze - Over who to pay for bottles of beer

Sylvester Idowu, Warri - 25.03.2008

The Easter celebration went awry for the residents of Ororokpe in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State on Monday as youths set 16 houses ablaze and allegedly killed two persons over a disagreement on who to pay for the drinks they took at a beer parlour.

Security sources told the Nigerian Tribune that some youths had on Sunday stormed a popular beer joint in Ororokpe for a drinking spree as part of the Easter celebration and enjoyed themselves into the early hours of Monday.

Trouble, however, started when it was time to pay for what they had consumed and the youth refused to settle the bills, but the proprietor of the drinking joint invited a vigilance group who arrested them.

Sources disclosed that when another set of youths in the town tried to bail out their friends, the leader of the vigilance group turned them down until they paid for the drinks they consumed earlier.

The refusal of the vigilance group to release those detained was said to have angered the youth, who became violent and went on rampage, destroying property, setting 16 houses ablaze in the process.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the leader of the vigilance group was allegedly killed while another person believed to be a local politician in the area was also feared killed.