•SHOPS RAZED DOWN IN FLAMES, OWNER DECALRED WANTED
The ugly incident that took place in Ehime Mbano, a Local Government Area in Imo State where some military men and police officers on duty were gruesomely murdered by unknown gunmen have taken a drastic measure as the Army has laid a siege in the communities.
This was in their avowed determination to fish out culprits that committed the heinous crime.
Against this backdrop, residents of Oriendu in Umualumaku Umueze in Ehime Mbano, Imo State, have deserted their homes for safety after the military invasion of their abode.
This followed the killing of eight security operatives by unknown gunmen at the early hours of Tuesday.
According to the residents who narrated their experiences to journalists who approached them for on-the-spot assessment later on Wednesday, averred that the rampaging soldiers destroyed properties, burnt down buildings and shops during the invasion.
The invasion came after suspected gunmen ambushed a joint taskforce team comprising soldiers, policemen and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in two patrol vehicles, killed the occupants and set the vehicles ablaze.
A resident said they were being punished for what they knew nothing about.
According to him, several shops, buildings, properties, food shops and bars were allegedly razed by the rampaging soldiers seeking justice for their colleagues.
“We have suffered in this community. What do they want us to do in this community? That a crime was committed in this community does not mean that it is Ehime Mbano people that did it. You people should come to our rescue. Shops, bars, event centres and food stalls were all burnt down today by the military men of Nigeria,”an aggrieved victim told newsmen.
Mr Cajetan Mmeremikwu also said, “The people they destroyed their shops; were they the ones that committed the crime? Innocent people are being punished unjustly. Our men of Ehime Mbano and other residents have left homes for safety for fear of apprehension and undue prosecution.
Also speaking, an aged widow, Mrs. Catherine Nkemdirim tearfully disclosed that an indigene of Ikeduru LGA, resident in Ehime Mbano with his family, in whose shop the unknown gunmen converged and took drinks before carrying out their activities without their knowledge is on the receiving end as their large shop was set ablaze.
Mrs Nkemdirim opined, ” The destruction of some shops and drinking joints today in Ehime Mbano by soldiers is not necessary. Shops and tents belonging to pap sellers were destroyed. Mr Leslie Nnamdi Akujobi who we all know and call Zakobi, and his wife, Laura Chidinma Akujobi have lost their source of living.
“It is so unfortunate that the perpetrators disguised as normal customers and sat at his shop to have some drinks without Zakobi’s knowledge of who they are. Now, they are receptors of the bad omen. I pity them. I pray they don’t die of this trauma. He is a peaceful person and doesn’t look for anyone’s trouble”.
However, other people who spoke on the incident pleaded with the Imo State government and the security operatives to thoroughly investigate the matter and not to rope innocent persons and their businesses into it.
In a related development, our roving reporter narrated that the wife of the shop owner, Mrs Akujobi, said, the husband, Mr Nnamdi Akujobi is innocent of all accusations, adding that the men who carried out the act in Ehime Mbano never came in to their shop masked, but as normal customers that came to drink.
She added that currently, the whereabout of her husband is unacertained as he fearfully escaped the Community for fear of victimization.
While she pleaded with the Imo State government under the leadership of governor Hope Uzodimma who had visited the site and sympathized with the security operatives, submitted that she is now homeless and needs all the help she could get.
