Killings: I’ve saved Amasiri from 200 reprisal deaths

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, said he has saved the Amasiri community in Afikpo Local Government Area of the state from 200 deaths that would have been recorded in the area. He said the death would have come from reprisals following the killings and destruction in the crisis between the community and Okporojo, Oso Edda, and Akpoha in Edda and Afikpo local government areas of the state.

Nwifuru said five communities would have been facing Amasiri because of the killings that would have resulted in the 200 casualties it would have recorded following the killings, if not for the stringent measures, including curfew he put in place.

The governor stated this while fielding questions from journalists at the conference room in his office, Centenary City, Government House, Abakaliki, after the state security council meeting, on Tuesday evening.

He decried cyberbullying on him by some Amasiri indigenes, over the measures he took in the community.

He said the security council has been receiving information on possible reprisals and that if he didn’t act fast by putting the measures, there would have been full blown communal war in Amasiri with the community facing five communities.

“Those stringent measures you think that Amasiri people are witnessing today, they are not witnessing it because people hate them, it is for their own advantage.

“If we go by security information that is before us, it is to their own advantage because if those stringent measures are not in place by today, I am sure they would have been recording more than 100 or 200 deaths and a lot of things would have been happening there.

“There would have been proper communal war and they would have been the ones losing because five communities would have been facing them because you are talking about Okporojo, and you didn’t remember that they also killed someone in Akpoha on January 27, cut his head, tied his hand at the back, and buried him in a shallow grave.

“So, the Amasiri community has a lot of atrocities that, when you look at it, you will make a decision that will be very very difficult.

“So, we are going to look again at the schools, when we meet again for the security council meeting. So, the schools remain closed until we review the stringent measures we have put in place there.

“The schools should remain closed for the reason best known to us because we are seeing what many people are not seeing”, he said.