From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
One person has been killed and four injured in Ekoli Edda, Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, in an attack by suspected political thugs.
Houses and other valuable properties have been destroyed in the melee.
Two rival political groups have been battling for supremacy in the community, with lives lost and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.
In the latest crisis, eyewitnesses said the thugs, numbering over 10, carried out the attack.
One of them, Chima Oko Obasi, disclosed that the thugs fired at former Chairman of the Local Government and former House of Assembly member Eni Uduma Chima in Mgborokuma in the community while returning from an inspection of a torched house said to belong to one Ama Okoro Ibiam, a Port Harcourt-based businessman.
He said an earlier attack by the thugs occurred around 10:00 am on June 1, when the body of Okoro Obasi of Ndibom village in the community was conveyed to the mortuary.
He alleged that the children of the deceased and their friends were attacked and heavy machete cuts inflicted on them.
Another eyewitness, Nnachi Ndem, said that “we were at Mgborokuma when Catcham boys came there and started shooting at us. Three people nearly lost their lives. They have been attacking us since our members returned from prison following the amnesty granted them by our dear governor, Francis Nwifuru.
“Our people are not happy, and we are waiting to see how the government will handle this sad incident,” he recollected, cautioning that the community may rise up in self-defence if nothing definite is done immediately to arrest the situation.
Confirming the incident, Eni Uduma Chima said, “Yes, I was called from Ekoli-Edda this morning (yesterday) and informed about the death of my uncle, Mr. Okoro Obasi of Ndibom village, Ekoli-Edda.
The deceased was attacked by thugs known in the village as Catcham boys. The deceased sustained internal bleeding and died this morning at his house. The offence he committed against his killers is that his son was involved in the amnesty programme, and the man is related to me.”
Eni said upon receiving the report, he quickly left Abakaliki for his Ekoli-Edda community to de-escalate the tension already brewing in the area.
“After depositing the body, I inspected damage done to people’s property and calmed them down. I went to inspect a house set ablaze by the thugs, and while coming out from the scene, they launched a shooting attack on me and people with me, shattered the windows of my Prado jeep and injured three persons in the process, by name: Chinoyerem Ikwor, Uka Anya Egwu and Udu Uche. They sustained varying degrees of bullet wounds and are receiving treatments in the hospital as we speak.”
While calling for the swift arrest of those involved in the interest of law and order, he said the people troubling the community are fewer than 20 persons.
“If the community rises up in self-defence, the community will still be tagged as violent and heartless. They have been provoking them since they were granted amnesty by His Excellency, the Governor, in March. And those of my supporters have been enduring a lot from them. There is a limit to the test of their patience, and I want the government and the whole world to know this before the people run out of patience,” he said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Joshua Ukandu, confirmed the incident.
He noted that he has not received details of the attack but that the command has deployed its men to calm the situation.