By Chuks Eke
No fewer than 10 persons have so far lost their lives, while 20 others sustained various degrees of injuries as unknown gunmen operating under the name of Lion Squad overrun Ogwuaniocha community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra state.
Ogwuaniocha which has a common boundary with Oguta in Imo state, is an oil rich community which attracted oil producing status to Anambra state and which placed the state as one of those getting the 13 percent oil derivation fund on monthly basis.
The incident, according to some women from the area who embarked on a peaceful protest in Onitsha, yesterday, the incident which occurred few days ago, started barely two years ago when the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji was abducted from his palace by a terror gang they identified as Lion Squad and his whereabout is yet unknown till date, left much to be desired.
Jointly led in the protest by Nkemdilim Onwurah and Ngozi Freda Nnaji, wife of the abducted and missing traditional ruler of the area, Igwe Oliver Chile Nnaji, the aggrieved Ogwuaniocha women numbering up to 100, marched from New Market road to Old Market road, Onitsha and addressed newsmen yesterday in front of the General Post Office, Onitsha.
Specifically, Onwurah told newsmen that the same opposition parties known as Lion Squad who abducted Igwe Nnaji from his palace in November 2021, have now formed an alliance with all the criminal gangs known as unknown gunmen to terrorise law abiding citizens of the area.
According to Onwurah, the opposition parties have teamed up with all the kidnappers operating within Ihiala and Orlu axis and they are currently camping in some places they called Longinus camp, Ose Mkpuruosisu, Onuiyi camp and Usham Ogwuaniocha Annex to terrorise the people of the area.
She lamented that the latest onslaught against the community had taken place between Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20 when a combined team of the terror gangs and Lion squad emerged from their bush hideout, swooped on some innocent citizens they tagged as opposition, such as Abiana Alanze and Prince Nnaji beating them to stupor and thinking that they were dead, left them and dispersed.
He however expressed relief that the quick intervention of a combined team of naval men and local vigilantes saved other law abiding citizens of the area from falling victims of the killer group.
She therefore appealed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo and security agencies in the state to come to their rescue from the criminal gangs as according to her, most of the indigenes in the area are now into hiding for sake of their lives, as a result of the menace of these hoodlums as according to her, the state government, with its oil producing status, is getting at least between N400 and N500 million monthly from the 13 percent oil derivation fund.
Contributing, Mrs. Ngozi Freda Nnaji who spoke amidst tears rolling down her chicks, recalled how the terror gangsters led by one Double Lion invaded the Igwe’s palace on November 15, 2021, set it on fire and as her husband, Igwe Nnaji and herself were struggling to escape through the window of their back yard, the gangsters allegedly abducted Igwe Nnaji, while she, herself fainted and found herself later in a hospital.
She however confirmed that some members of the gang were later apprehended by security forces, charged to court and remanded in the prison custody till date, adding that the day they were brought to court to hear their matter, some of them who had thought that she died the day the palace was set ablaze and Igwe Nnaji abducted, on sighting her, started running helter skelter, thinking that she was now a ghost.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga however told newsmen on phone that he was not yet aware of the incident as at the time of filing this report yesterday.
