The police in Enugu State have summoned the Chairman of the Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, Mr Chijioke Ezugwu, over allegations that he and his vigilante group have been combing forests and going after killer herdsmen.
According to security sources, Ezugwu was invited twice with his vigilante group to the state police command headquarters through the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, reportedly a Northerner and Fulani-born.
“The aim was to stop the council Chairman from flushing out the criminals and kidnappers who have been masquerading as herders to unleash terror on the people,” the source disclosed.
The police reportedly wanted him to make a statement under caution, but the Chairman refused, citing his legal background and duty to protect his people.
Ezugwu, according to the source, explained that the actions of his vigilante group were necessary to protect his people from attacks and kidnappings, stating, “You know the dire situation in my area and we have to be armed to go into the forest to protect our people.”
The matter is said to have been taken up by Governor Peter Mbah, who intervened to prevent Ezugwu from being taken to the Force Headquarters, Abuja, where the DCP felt his associates would be able to bring up trumped-up charges against the council chairman.
The circumstances surrounding the Governor’s intervention have also raised suspicions, given the alleged connections between the Governor and northern interests.
A source said: “In the past months, several people in the council area have been killed and farmlands destroyed. So many have also been kidnapped and millions of naira paid in ransom. Some are still under their captors,” lamented another source.
“Of most recent is the killing of a 90-year-old man and wife in Nimbo. It should also be noted that marauding herdsmen not only operate from the forest but they come into people’s homes.
“Now the chairman took the bold step to protect his people and started going into the forest, remember that the police didn’t respond to all these problems and killings but now, he is being harassed by the police.”
On June 2, how a 90-year-old man, Elder Otiakugwu, and his wife were allegedly killed in their home at Ekwuru village of Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani LGA by assailants suspected to be marauding herdsmen who had made life miserable for local communities.
The unfortunate incident, which was latest in the series of carnage going on for months in the Council Area occurred on last Wednesday.
The witnesses had told SaharaReporters that the victims’ grandchild had visited them earlier and returned to school, unaware of the danger that awaited them.
“The assailants entered Ekwuru village of Nimbo unnoticed, met the nonagenarian and his wife eating. They killed them and dropped their blood soaked machete on their body and fled under the cover of the night. It was in the following morning being Thursday that they were seen lying dead in the pool of blood,” said the witnesses.
The community is still reeling from the shock of the brutal killing, with many questioning the motive behind the attack. “What may have been the offence of the oldest man of the community and his wife to be gruesomely killed?” residents lamented.
This incident has reignited fears in the community, which has been plagued by attacks from Fulani herdsmen in the past. In 2016, about 12 indigenes were killed in a similar attack. Since then, the community has been under siege, with reports of killings, rapes, and destruction of farmlands.
On May 18, SaharaReporters reported the killing of seven farmers in Daba and Nimbo communities in Uzo-Uwani LGA and the kidnap of six others by marauding herdsmen.
Those killed were from Aku community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu but who were farming at Daba community in Uzo-Uwani council area.
It was reported that the assailants equally abducted three farmers from the community.
An indigene of Nimbo community identified as Simon Odenigbo was equally killed in a separate attack at Ekulu village. After the killing, the suspected kidnapers proceeded to Abbi community, and abducted three people.
No fewer than 36 people had been confirmed killed in various attacks across Uzo-Uwani local government with little police efforts to arrest the killers who regularly infiltrated the communities from neighbouring Kogi and Benue States.
Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the Command’s spokesperson SP Daniel Ndukwe over the development were unsuccessful as he did not take his calls as at the time of filing this report.
SAHARAREPORTERS
