killer herdsmen, Monday, invaded Agu-Amede community in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State and unleashed an attack which left at least ten persons dead and many others wounded.
The killer herders were also said to have ransacked the community and set houses on fire.
This came as men of the South East Security outfit code-named Ebubeagu were last Saturday alleged to have shot two youths, Samuel Okam and Micheal Oji at Ekoli Edda of Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
Meantime, gunmen yesterday at about 08:45 Am, abducted the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, for Ahiazu Mbaise State constituency in Imo State, Nduka Anyanwu.
Killer herdsmen
invade Enugu
community, kill 10
READ ALSO:Ugwuanyi inaugurates PDP state campaign org, urges members to sell party to electorate
UGAMA TV gathered that two of the victims who were farmers were killed on Saturday, while eight were killed Monday.
It was further learned that about 25 members in the community sustained various degrees of injuries.
Among those killed, according to sources from the community, were two daughters of a church cleric in the community.
A community leader, Augustine Odoh, who confirmed the attack, explained that it happened on Monday around 1pm.
Odo said that all the members of their community living outside the community had been summoned home, adding that by Tuesday, (yesterday), the community would convey the corpses of the deceased to the Enugu State Government House to meet Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, alleging that the government has abandoned them.
According to Odo, “They (herdsmen) invaded first on Saturday, killed two people. Today (monday), they invaded the community again and killed eight people including our women and children. So many other people about, 25 of them were equally wounded. They are in the hospital; we don’t know how many people are going to survive.”
He said that residents were now deserting their houses over the renewed attacks.
Lamenting the incessant attack by herdsmen, Odo claimed that in all the attacks, no government security came to their aid.
“Our people cannot confront them with bare hands. They came in their numbers with AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons, shooting and destroying houses for hours unchallenged.
“The government will only deploy soldiers in communities in other South East states to hound and kill members of pro-Biafra groups especially the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, but same soldiers cannot be deployed to our communities to stop herdsmen and terrorists attacks.
“That is the hypocrisy in this government. In my community, people see soldiers and other security agents as sympathisers and collaborators of the terrorists masquerading as herdsmen who are trying conquer our lands”.
Another member of the community, who pleaded for anonymity, however, said that soldiers and other security operatives have moved into the bushes from where the marauders gained access into the community to comb for them.
Efforts to get reaction of the Enugu State Police Command were not successful as the spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, did not take his calls.
Ugwuanyi releases
N10m for Eha-Amufu
victims in IDPs camp
However, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has released the sum of N10 million for the immediate needs of the affected victims of the attack in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with Gov. Ugwuanyi at the Government House, Enugu, Bishop Olinya, the Anglican Bishop of Eha Amufu Diocese, said that he was impressed with “the prompt interventions of Enugu State Government on the crisis in the place,” adding: “I want to thank especifically, the Governor of Enugu State for bringing out ten million naira for the people affected.
“I am very happy this evening for the prompt intervention of Enugu State Government in the crisis in our place, Eha Amufu in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State.”
The Anglican Bishop disclosed that the governor “has given us ten million naira to go and see the people and to meet their immediate needs and I am very sure that this will make them have a sense of belonging, make them feel that the state has heard their cry and has really come to help them.”
Ebubeagu operatives
allegedly shoot 2
youths in Ebonyi
The incident happened when the convoy of a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, in Ebonyi State, Chief Julius Oji (aka Ochiri Edda) was attacked in Ekoli Edda community of the state.
The bodies of the two victims were riddled with bullet wounds even as they are presently receiving treatment in the hospital.
Vanguard gathered that trouble had ensued Saturday evening, when a convoy of vehicles conveying the PDP chieftain and other dignitaries, was halted following a roadblock that was mounted by the Ebubeagu men.
Narrating his ordeal, Chief Oji said it took God’s intervention for him to escape the mayhem plotted against him by the Ebebeagu operatives, alleging that the state has become insecure for the people.
He said, “I went to see Sen. Sonni Ogbuoji in his house in Ebunwana Edda community and while returning to Ekoli Edda community, just between the road that connects Letu from Ekoli Edda, that was where the incident happened. And if not for God, I don’t know what would have become of me, because these people plotted evil for me.
“It was at this particular place in Ekoli, that the Ebubeagu men blocked the road on seeing us, and they started shooting. They kept shooting as they blocked the road. But what saved me was that the particular PRADO Jeep that I came to the village in, was new and I have never taken it to the village before and so, none of them knew the very vehicle I was in.
“That was when one of the policemen in our convoy got down to check what was going on. Their very target was me because if they knew the very vehicle that carried me, it would have been a different thing altogether. Thank God this was the very first time I brought that Jeep to the village because I wanted to keep it in the village. Recently and usually each time I come home, I do use Hon. Chidi Ejem’s car, being my younger brother. So, this very car is new in the village and nobody knew I was in it.
“Another miracle was that the policeman I had used for a very long time which these people know, was not with me in that car. He was in another car behind us. That was how all of a sudden, my driver zoomed past the Ebebuagu people. And it was then that the policeman radioed the one with me in the car to speed off and take me straight to the house that there was danger. I was hearing them. But I kept wondering what would happen to the people with me that were left behind.”
Gunmen kidnap
Imo APGA state
Assembly candidate
The Imo State Chairman of APGA, John Iwuala, confirmed the ugly development to newsmen in Owerri.
However, Iwuala later confirmed that the Anyanwu was later freed by his captors after security surveillance was mounted on the abductors.
According to the APGA State Chairman: “He was kidnapped at Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of Imo State and the kidnappers drove him towards a thick forest in Ehime Mbano local government area. He was kidnapped in the morning and he was later freed in the afternoon.
“They collected so many of his belongings before they allowed him to go. We knew about it when our people called us from Ahiazu Mbaise and we moved into action and reported the incident to the security agencies. We started gathering intelligence to track them and by God’s grace he was released in the afternoon.”
Reacting, the State Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mike Abattam, said: “Please, let them make a formal report for police to commence an investigation.”
Nnamdi Kanu sues Malami,
demands N20bn
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader
of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has slammed another N20 billion suit against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
Kanu, through his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, stated that the AGF defamed the IPOB leader when he claimed that the latter jumped bail, and had asked for N20bn for damages.
This is coming barely four days after the initial N20bn suit filed by Kanu against Malami was discontinued.
The first suit dated September 23, had sought “a declaration that the defendant’s arrest and imprisonment of the plaintiff (Kanu) at a location in Kenya and the subsequent imprisonment of the plaintiff in the aircraft that conveyed him from Kenya to Nigeria amounted to false arrest and false imprisonment.”
However, in the latest suit dated November 21, Kanu demanded compensation following alleged defamatory and libellous claims against him.
The suit was contained in a letter sent to Malami titled, “RE: Pre-action notice and formal demand for settlement of the claim of defamation/libel of the character of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu grounded on your false, defamatory and libelous publications that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu jumped bail.”
Sharing copies of the document on his Twitter page yesterday, Ejimakor said: “Yesterday, I served on AGF Malami a Legal Notice (as required by law), notifying him of my intention to take legal action against him for his defamatory & libelous statements that #MNK jumped bail.”
Kanu, through his lawyer, said Malami’s claim that he jumped bail despite a court order clearing him was libellous.
Condemning Malami’s remark, Ejimakor said in the letter, “Given the said judgment of the Abia State High Court, your above utterances were false, malicious, and reckless and they were read and heard worldwide and portrayed our Client in light.”
According to the letter, Kanu demanded “the sum of N20,000,000,000.00 (Twenty Billion Naira only) being general and exemplary damages;
“An unreserved personal letter of apology, to be prominently and boldly published full-page in two Nigerian Newspapers of national circulation, namely: Guardian Newspaper and Sun Newspaper.
“You shall write and deliver to your superior officer(s) and/or your employer(s) a Legal Opinion to the effect that our Client did not jump bail given the 19th January 2022 Judgment of the High Court of Abia State.”