Following the attack by gunmen, penultimate Tuesday, at Umuezeala Owerre in Ehime Mbano council area of Imo State in which about eight security men were killed, residents say perpetrators of the dastardly act who operate freely in the area have taken over their homes.
This happened as former Governor Ikedi Ohakim warned the state administration to stop playing politics with insecurity.
The residents, mostly from three local government areas along Owerri-Okigwe Road, namely Okigwe, Ihitte -Uboma and Onuimo, said gunmen terrorizing them carry out their nefarious activities unchallenged, especially between 8pm and 11pm.
Some of the residents who spoke to Newsmen in Owerri, on the condition of anonymity, called on the police to beef up security, particularly between Onuimo and Okigwe axis.
”We cannot talk again”, said a farmer in Onuimo. “Gunmen drive into our communities at night and shoot anyhow. They attack and burn houses. Our people have abandoned their homes including traditional rulers. They now live in Owerri. Some of the houses now are occupied by strangers. They live there with their guns.
“We need security to come to Onuimo, go round, meet villagers and ask them questions. I think they will get some of these boys doing all this damage. There is nothing we can do. We are helpless. We are trying to survive the situation. Very soon, they will overrun all of us. We are begging the government to come to our aid.”
Another resident from Ihitte Uboma and a bus driver, plying Owerri-Okigwe road, claimed that the destruction of police stations and security facilities has worsened the situation.
“How can they talk of security while some of the police stations burnt by these gunmen have not been rebuilt? Go around the Ihitte-Uboma, Onuimo, and even some parts of Mbaise areas, you see how those police stations are looking.
“Our government should look into these areas. So that police stations in the rural areas can be active. The government should give these officers sophisticated guns to face the gunmen.
“Along this Owerri-Okigwe road, we see these unknown gunmen but we pretend. If you see them they wear uniforms as if they are genuine security officers. That explains the reason why when they kill security officers, they take their guns and uniforms.
“So, if you talk they will kill you. All we are saying is that the government should meet these guys and ask them what they want and settle this matter. They cannot be killing people anyhow. The government knows what to do to end insecurity.”
Also, a trader in Okigwe, who wishes to be called Nne, disclosed that villages in Okigwe are no longer safe. “Come to the villages, we are living in fear”, he told Sunday Vanguard.
“Sometimes, we can’t go home. We move to the next village to run away from attacks. We need protection here. Villagers that have a border with Anambra are in serious siege by gunmen. Let’s pray that these killings will end one day.”
Meanwhile, a former governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has described the increasing spate of insecurity in Imo as worrisome.
“It needs no exaggeration to say that the security situation in Imo state is worrisome.
Anybody who calls himself a leader must sympathize with our young men and women for the situation they are in, arising principally from the near collapse of our national economy and the acute shortage of job opportunities”, Ohakim said.
“Having said that, let me state that it is also high time, we, the elders especially those in authority, changed our tactics and strategy to find a lasting solution to the problems of the youths, particularly that of unemployment. The situation has become quite drastic and as such, the approach has to be drastic. We must stop playing politics with the problems.”
Reacting, Imo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Henry Okoye, disclosed that since last Tuesday’s attacks, the command had sent a special tactical team, well equipped, to address the issue of insecurity in the area.
Okoye said: “The Commissioner of Police Imo State, Mohammed Barde, has deployed the Command’s Special Tactical Team and equipped them with all the available operational assets to go all out and apprehend the hoodlums responsible for the attack and killing of five (5) security operatives of the State’s Joint Task Force (JTF) comprising of two(2) NDLEA personnel, one Civil Defense officer, a Police and an Air Force officer who was ambushed while responding to a decoy distress call last week.
“The Commissioner of Police appreciates the concerns of the general public and vows that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that the perpetrators of the dastardly act are made to face the full wrath of the law.
“The CP reiterates the Command’s commitment to collaborating with other sister security agencies in providing adequate security for all and sundry in Imo State and beckons on the general public to report any suspicious person(s) or clandestine activities observed within their vicinity.”