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Soldiers of 14 Brigade, Army Headquarters have invaded Ohafia in Ohafia Local Government, Abia State, searching for a soldier allegedly shot by gunmen suspected to be members of the Eastern Security Network.

 

In a report by Daily Trust, this has caused an exodus of residents and indigenes of Elu, Amangwu, Ebem and Amaekpu, Ohafia LGA from their respective communities to neighbouring villages.

File photo used to illustrate story.

A source said, “We learnt that some boys believed to be members of the Eastern Security Network came to the popular Ebem motor park and started shooting and later left.

 

“Soldiers from 14 Brigade Ohafia, whose command headquarters is located in the area, later came and went after them.

 

“We learnt that the unknown gunmen shot a soldier with a double-barrel gun but not dead; he’s currently at Federal Medical Center Umuahia, currently receiving medical attention. Since that time, there have been sporadic gunshots from all corners.”

 

A civil servant from the area said the residents had suffered all manners of intimidation from soldiers, adding that marriages billed to occur in the community at the weekend had been shifted.

 

He also stated that many houses in the Amangwu Ohafia community were burnt. The soldiers had claimed that members of the ESN were using the houses as their hideout.

 

“We have suffered all manner of intimidation from soldiers. Some of our relatives have relocated to Uzuakoli, Umuahia, Aba, and anywhere they think that is safer for them. We are in the village but soldiers determine our right to movement.

 

“Marriages ceremonies billed to take place any time soon have been shifted indefinitely. We learnt that at Elu, soldiers went to the market and started pursuing people.

 

“A lot of houses have been burnt at Amangwu Ohafia community. They said that members of ESN were using the houses as their hideout, which I can’t validate. You need to call anyone from Amangwu to validate such claims. But what I can tell you right now is that Ohafia is on fire,” he said.

 

An indigene of Amangwu Ohafia, who spoke from his hideout, confirmed the invasion of his community by soldiers of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, with the claim that members of ESN that shot their personnel were hiding in the Amangwu community.

 

The source, who disclosed that they later started hearing heavy gunfire in their village in the early hours of Saturday, confirmed the burning of people’s houses, arrest and indiscriminate harassment of indigenes of their community by the soldiers.

 

“I don’t know the actual number. Some persons said six soldiers were killed; others said four and some ESN members were killed in the heavy gunfire. But the truth is that the Amangwu community, including Elu, Ebem and Amaepku, are all on fire.

 

“While we were running away from our community just like other persons, we saw a detachment of soldiers heading towards Ohafia from Umuahia end. We don’t know the fate of our people in the village. Their phone numbers are not connecting. It is feared that they have been either arrested by soldiers or other security agents in the state.

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The police have rescued an eleven-year-old boy along with one other who was kidnapped in Adamawa State.

The police also killed one of the kidnappers during a hot crossfire, the police disclosed.

A spokesperson for the police in the state DSP Suleiman Nguroge told SaharaReporters that the one Musa Male, eleven years old and Salihu Umar were kidnapped.

Nguroge said heavily armed hoodlums, numbering six, were said to have stormed Kasuwan Ladi village, in the Toungo Local Government Area of the state at about midnight on Thursday and kidnapped the two.

However, the police gave them a hot chase where they engaged them in a gunbattle leading to the death of one of the kidnappers. The police also recovered an AK47 rifle from them.

Nguroge said, "The Adamawa State Police Command, on 12/06/2021, received report from one Alhaji Ahmadu Tambaya, Chairman Pulaku Association, Toungo local government, that on 10/6/2021, between the hours of 11 to 12 pm, armed men numbering six (6) invaded the house of one Ibrahim Buba, situated along with Kasuwan Ladi village, Toungo, and fired sporadically.

"They succeeded in kidnapping one Salihu Umar, 14years old and Musa Male, 11years old.

"The Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Adamu Alhaji, immediately, deployed the Command's machinery and augment the strength of the operatives attached to Toungo Division and Hunters of Pulaku Association and directed them to go after the Kidnappers.

"The rescue team, while engaging the kidnappers in a gun duel, rescue team luckily neutralized one out of the sixth Kidnappers and rescued the two victims unharmed. However, the remaining Kidnappers escaped with bullet wounds.

"The CP commended the DPO Toungo and members of Pulaku Association for their resilience and directs them to sustain the tempo and go after the fleeing suspects.

"The Command, while reassuring on its a commitment to protecting lives and property of the citizens, calls on members of the public to continue furnishing/reporting to police any suspicious character around their neighbourhood timeously especially anyone seen with bullet wounds."

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The Nigerian Army has said thousands of military personnel have been maimed in the fight against Boko Haram.

 

This is as the Senate, in a show of empathy, donated N10 million for the treatment of the wounded-in-action soldiers at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.

File photo used to illustrate story.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, led the Senate delegation to the military hospital to commiserate with wounded soldiers.

 

The sympathy visit was part of the activities to mark the second anniversary of the ninth Senate.

 

Briefing the Senate delegation, the Acting Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Colonel Stephen Onuchukwu, said some wounded soldiers required cutting edge medical facilities to keep them alive.

 

Onuchukwu, who is an Orthopaedic Consultant, said about 7,403 wounded soldiers in action had so far been evacuated to the 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, treated while some are undergoing rehabilitation.

 

“While some of the wounded personnel got treated, discharged and return to action, others are maimed.

 

“Those in this category are the ones with spinal cord injury being assisted with Urethral Implant for them to urinate.

 

“Others are either waiting for complete fitting of prosthetics for lost limbs or Medical Evacuation to hospitals abroad,” he said.

 

Onuchukwu said despite the increased capacity of the hospital, some special procedures and treatment are still done abroad.

 

He appealed to the National Assembly and the federal government to assist the hospital to attain the status of UN Level 4 Hospital.

 

The Senate President assured Nigerians that the legislature would work with the executive to ensure that the armed forces are properly taken care of and motivated.

 

He added that the N895 billion supplementary budget recently forwarded to the National Assembly by the Presidency for purchase of military equipment and COVID-19 vaccines would be expeditiously considered and passed and that more funds would be appropriated for the military in the 2022 budget.

 

“The country’s mounting security [challenges] would expose the military personnel to different forms of injuries, thus the need for more medical facilities to cater for the needs of wounded soldiers.

 

“We can’t expect so much from you and give you little. That will be unfair. Our armed forces deserve the support of all Nigerians.

 

“We have to give them adequate resources to protect the country because everything needs peace and security,” he said.

 

The Senate delegation and the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and the General Officer, 1st Mechanized Division, Major-General Ali Keffi, later visited the wounded-in-action personnel across the various wards.

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A Facebook user, Loretta Bankaton Green, says Udoamaka Nwamu, a Nigerian man who shot his wife and mother-in-law to death, also shot the victim's father in the knee. 

 

SaharaReporters had earlier reported how Nwamu attacked Kaliyah Ratliff and his mother-in-law, Nikita Green, at their home in Douglasville, Georgia, United States.

Nwamu, of East Point, Fulton County, reportedly took a handgun to his in-laws' home in Douglasville on Sunday, where his estranged wife was staying, and fired shots into the front and back of the house on Long Lake Drive.

See Also Sahara Reporters Nigerian Man Kills Wife, Mother-In-law, Commits Suicide In US 0 Comments 1 Day Ago

Green, who identified as a relative to the bereaved family, said the father is currently enduring the pain from the gunshot though the police never mentioned it.

 

He wrote," This is my nephew's wife and daughter. My nephew was hit too in the leg but they didn't mention it. He is taking one day at a time. Pray for us."

 

Another Facebook user, Mary Wilcox said she knew when Kaliyah was born, "Father, please be a fence around the victims; I know this family and remember when the wife was born to please grant her siblings and father constant peace."

 

Tammy Reeves, another user, said," The mother was my high school classmate; she was a beautiful person inside and out. Prayers for the family."

 

Nwamu hailed from Asaba, Delta State and he is the son of a former High Chief. 

 

According to the police at Douglas County, Sheriff Tim Pounds, on Tuesday, the gunshots on Sunday resulted in multiple 911 calls and deputies were dispatched to the house. Before they arrived, Nwamu had forced his way inside the home. 

 

Deputies were met with gunfire from the house and were forced to take cover while an emergency response team and hostage negotiator were sent to the scene.

 

"During the negotiations with Udoamaka, a single gunshot was heard," Pounds said.

 

The response team then entered the house and found Nwamu dead from what Pounds described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

 

Deputies also found the bodies of Nwamu's estranged wife, 24-year-old Kaliyah Nwamu, and her mother, 46-year-old Nikita Green.

 

The case remains under investigation, Pounds added. 

 

Police, however, added that the victim, even though married, had not yet assumed Nwamu's name.

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June 12th is no ordinary date in Nigerian history. It embodies the sacrifices that have been made over the years for the democracy (or semblance of same) that we now enjoy, further serving as a timely reminder of the ills of military autocracy. 

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO), a Yoruba Muslim on a joint ticket with fellow Muslim, Babagana Kingibe, led his party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to electoral victory against Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). It was a moment of hope in non ethno-religious politics and an epoch when competence and merit won over patronage and primordial tribal sentiments. With optimism agog in the prospects of a new Nigeria, military interventionism truncated the people’s victory and led on to years of hard lessons in brutish military autocracy. 

#June12thProtest

It is therefore only fitting that with Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 and successive transitions from civilian to civilian governments that we anoint this most canonical of dates to remind us of our tripartite loss, and the hope and potential in our democratic experiment. 

Sadly, it is inconceivable in recent times that tribal or religious sentiments do not drive local and national politics. We’ve walked back the gains of yesteryears in leaps and bounds, blundering through what little democratic gains have been had over the years in servitude to the whims of a non-performing political class. 

Our people have been stripped of the dignity of selves; of assembly and association, and of protest against bad governance. We’ve become fodder in the fatalistic ambition of political jobbers and their merry band of trigger-happy cops and servicemen. 

Today, I joined a multitude of protesters who trooped out in exercise of their God-given & constitutionally affirmed right to protest against bad governance and corruption. Amongst this peaceful and surging crowd of protesters, I noticed that Press Officials where clad in Bullet-Proof vests and strategically positioned away from the milling crowd of protesters. I did not have to wonder why for long. Civil protests have in fact become death-wishes and the war-time dress code of the media men covering this protest attested to this summation. No less on DEMOCRACY DAY!

So while we celebrate Democracy Day today, we must sober up to the truth that we’ve frittered away the gains of the past in hideous pursuit of ‘strong-man' politics. We must admit that a lot more has to be done for Nigeria to come marginally within the spectrum of a true democracy. We must accept the disservice we've wrecked upon the sacrifices of our heroes past and yet be buoyed by the massively spreading socio-political consciousness that is setting this generation apart.

I am at once proud and invigorated by the guardians of our fragile democracy who without let and rest have registered protestations against poor political leadership and the oppression of the masses by a privileged few. We may not be where we want to be or could be, but our feet are firmly planted on the path to Uhuru.

As we rightfully commemorate this most auspicious day, the Nigerian Government must be reminded that the right to peaceful protest and assembly is fundamental to our national, regional and international laws and the Nigerian government must respect same. They must seize this moment to receive feedback from the public and be humble enough to admit their failings and work to right their wrongs.

I love  the concept of One Nigeria but not at any cost. Our union, it must be said, is negotiable, and the terms must be adjusted to best reflect the wishes of the people. This are considerations that must rule reflections amongst our elected leaders today and I truly hope that the efforts of today will birth a new Nigeria tomorrow.

Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq., is a Legal Practitioner and the Principal Partner at LAW CORRIDOR, Nigeria. 

Lawcorridor@gmail.com.

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Pelumi Olajengbesi Disable advertisements : 
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