No less than ten persons were reportedly killed over the weekend in the Southeast states of Anambra, Enugu, and Imo as thugs held the three states captive for most of Friday and Saturday.
Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) militants had imposed a total shutdown on the South East area and followed their threats with arsons and murder of innocent passers-by.
Police mobilised its operational and intelligence resources to stop the raging gunman. According to reports from the area, the recent round of killings increased when self-described spokesperson for the proscribed organisation, Simon Ekpa, ordered a 5-day stay-out-of-home beginning on Thursday.
Following the arrest and prosecution of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu by the federal government, Finland-based Ekpa, who became louder on the operations of the banned organisation, declared on December 6 via his social media accounts a complete lockdown of the South East from December 9 to 14. On December 13, he clarified, there won’t be a lockdown.
Eyewitnesses said gunmen operated on Friday at Owerri-Okigwe Road in Imo State, Umunachi in the state’s Isiala Mbano LGA, and Umunna in the Onuimo LGA murdered at least 10 people.
Two foreigners overseeing the ongoing building of Owerri-Okigwe Road phase II were also abducted by the terrorists. The alleged foreign employees of German companies Cremburg were abducted at Umunachi.
Gunmen reportedly opened fire at Umunna intersection, killing two persons on the spot. The viral video shows two guys laying in a pool of their own blood.
Eight individuals, including several technicians who had gone to the town to fix a vehicle, were shot and killed by gunmen on Friday, according to another witness.
The marauding killers also killed Prince Chidi Iheme, the brother of Nollywood star Osita Iheme, also known as Pawpaw, in Owerri, the state capital.
Iheme was assassinated at Ubomiri in the state’s Mbaitoli LGA while attending a rally sponsored by Akarachi Amadi, the APC candidate for the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency.
Martin Eke, the state commissioner for solid minerals, who is presently recovering from machete cuts sustained by their attackers, was reportedly in the same vehicle with Iheme.
Isa Adamu, also known as Ike, a citizen of Imo State who transported the body of his friend who died in the attack on Friday in Umunna to Jos for burial, said that several others were hurt in addition to the eight persons who died.
“We transported eight bodies away from the assault site. But there were more than eight people slain. Many individuals were hurt, and some bodies are untraceable,” Adamu added.
