Security
THE usual Monday morning activities were cut short in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital following shootings by gunmen suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The incident resulted in many shop owners closing their business premises for fear of being attacked as roads within the capital city were deserted.
It was gathered that the said gunmen reportedly shot into the air at Ezzamgbo Junction, Ishieke Junction, and other places in the state.
A visit to some parts of Abakaliki indicated that normalcy has returned but the roads remain empty with no vehicular or human activities.
A trader Nworie Chiamaka who witnessed one of the activities of the gunmen in their bid to enforce the sit-at-home order gives an account of what happened.
“They were three with bikes,” she said. “I don’t know them but they just covered their face. They stopped here and started shooting everywhere. So, many people started running inside.”
According to her, they set a shop in her area on fire before leaving the scene.
In his reaction, the Governor of Ebonyi State David Umahi in a statement signed and made available to journalists in Abakaliki by the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation Uchenna Orji directed all security agencies and the Ebube-agu outfit to neutralise any miscreant found with a gun and or dangerous weapon in the state.
On their part, the Ebonyi State command of the Nigeria Police Force through a press statement advised the public to ignore what it described as fake news on some nefarious activities of gunmen.
The command’s spokesman SP Chris Anyanwu also mentioned that the Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State Aliyu Garba warned those peddling rumours to desist from such acts as they could be viewed and treated as criminal offences.
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Tags: Aliyu Garba IPOB sit-at-home SP Chris Anyanwu
