From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
A rumoured attack by the “unknown gunmen” reportedly enforcing the one week sit-at-home declared by Simon Ekpa-led pro-Biafran group in Onitsha and environs led to serious pandemonium and forced closure of business activities in parts of Anambra yesterday.
In the ensuing melee, a yet to be identified man was knocked down by a vehicle at New Parts Market junction, Nkpor, Anambra State.
Residents of Onitsha and Awka and busy parts of Anambra State have been going about their daily businesses since Tuesday despite the sit-at-home order by the Ekpa group.
However on Thursday evening, tension enveloped Anambra following rumours that the gunmen who attacked parts of Ebonyi and Enugu on Tuesday and Wednesday, have vowed to attack Anambra to force the residents to comply with the sit at home order.
Yesterday morning around 10am, the rumour spread like wildfire that the gunmen have entered town and were shooting people. The popular Nkpor new motor spare parts market closed abruptly around 11am, while motorists from Bridgehead axis and Obosi 2nd Niger Bridge started diverting to nearby workshops and bushes over fears of sporadic attack.
Reports said many sustained varied degree of injuries while running to safety while some schools without gates dismissed the pupils even as banks and petrol filling stations operating along the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway closed shops immediately.
At Awkuzu junction, Oyi LGA, it was the same scenario as the rumoured attacks spread to the state university located at Igbariam, forcing the security men at the campus to lock the main gates of the university for over three hours, trapping students and staff.
But the Anambra Police Command has described the situation as the handiwork of rumour mongers and warned that peddlers of such falsehood will be punished.