From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
A rights activist, Njoku Gregory Ogueri, is paying for his boldness and courage in speaking his mind on the activities of gunmen in his Ejemekwuru Community, in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.
Ejemekwuru had been under heavy attack by gunmen in 2023, leading to many of the residents relocating to various places because of the daily disturbance of the people the natives referred to as “Umu oma.” The perpetrators of the security challenge there are widely proclaimed as members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) by the security agencies.
Many houses were razed, businesses destroyed, market, farms and other property of the people of the community completely pulled down. People kept losing their lives there, until the presence of joint patrol teams of the military and other security agencies calmed the situation in the area.
But before then, Ogueri and his family had paid dearly for it as their building and businesses were destroyed by the dreaded group, which accused them of daring to reveal their activities.
As it stands, the rights activist’s leg might be amputated because of the injury he sustained while running away from being captured by the gunmen, who attacked him on January 29 last year in Ejemekwuru. Already, he has shut down his livestock business to foot the bill of treating the injury he sustained during the deadly chase.
After two surgeries, Ogueri is still not sure if he would be able to walk again. Having lost all his fortune to the treatment of the injury, his doctors still recommended a quick medical examination of the leg abroad.
Narrating how he narrowly escaped death and sustained the injury in the process, Ogueri said his attackers wanted to silence him because of his critical stand on the killings in the South East: “I don’t know where to run to, my life is in danger.
“On the 29th of January, 2023, at about 5.30pm, I was driving from my village back to Owerri, just after one kilometre, I started hearing gunshots and heavily armed men came out of the bush shooting sporadically. I quickly tried to reverse the car but noticed that there were other gunmen coming towards me from the back also shooting.
“I quickly jumped out of the vehicle and started running until I felt a fierce pain in my leg and I fell inside a ditch and they left, thinking I was dead. My leg was fractured and I could not move any longer.
“I’ve had two surgeries on the leg but they failed, I’m still waiting for another surgery as the leg is not yet corrected.
“Later, when the hoodlums found out that I was still alive, they started sending letters and asking me to pay a certain amount of money or they will kill me.
“On 27th of May, 2023, I got a call from someone I could not identify; the caller told me that I must comply with their directives or they will come after me and my family.
“My wife and children are even the most traumatised, they hardly sleep at night as we have to move from one place to another trying to hide from the prying eyes of the assailants.”
A source who did not want his name in print said from the way the criminals riddled Ogueri’s house with bullets, it was obvious that they came to wipe out the entire family: “The shooting lasted for over one hour without any challenge, it was when they were certain that nothing was moving in the house that they drove off.”
Right now, Ogueri who spoke from his place of hiding is seeking assistance for urgent treatment abroad.