The dangerous and frightening security situation in Imo State assumed an alarming dimension on Thursday when gunmen killed Nnaemeka Ugboma, Chairman of Ejemekwuru Customary Court in the Oguta Local Government Area of the state. He was reportedly shot by gunmen who operated in motorcycles while presiding over a court session.
The incident brought the court sitting to an abrupt end as lawyers, court staff and litigants fled the court premises. On January 3, 2023, four policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the convoy of a former governor of the state, Ikedi Ohakim. Ohakim, who governed the state between 2007 and 2011, was returning to his country home in Isiala Mbano Local Council of the state, when the hoodlums struck around Oriagu in Ehime Mbano Local Council.
Ohakim’s driver, however, managed to escape, following which the attackers reportedly bombed the vehicle conveying the policemen. In recent times, the preponderance of insecurity in Imo State has risen to alarming levels, sending most residents into a state of perpetual fear.
Its manifestations are seen in banditry, and kidnapping, including wanton killing and destruction of innocent lives and property.
The incidents have become so worrisome that residents in over 600 autonomous communities of the 27 local council areas in the state have seemingly resigned to fate while influential persons now find it difficult to visit their ancestral homes for fear of being attacked, kidnapped or even losing their lives. With criminality escalating in geometric proportion, security operatives have not been spared from the onslaught of the bandits and marauders in the state.
Soldiers and policemen in their numbers have lost their lives just as a good number of police stations in some communities across the state have been set ablaze.
“The incidents have become so worrisome that residents in over 600 autonomous communities of the 27 local council areas in the state have seemingly resigned to fate”
In the early hours of April 2021, unknown gunmen invaded the Owerri Correctional Centre situated along Okigwe road, near the seat of power, freeing about 1,870 inmates.
Subsequently, the bandits intensified their assaults, trying to overrun the conventional security operatives, as the headquarters of the Imo State Police Command, situated opposite the Government House, Owerri, was bombed the same day the inmates were forcefully set free, resulting in the alleged burning of about 50 vehicles parked in the Command’s premises with the aid of explosives.
On May 30, 2021, Ahmed Gulak, an illustrious son of Adamawa State, was assassinated in Owerri by men of the underworld. After that, masked hoodlums seized part of Owerri for days from the Flyover Orji axis, before they were dislodged by the superior firepower of joint police and soldiers. Before then, some persons had been executed within the vicinity.
As events unfolded, the bandits moved to the ancestral country home of Governor Hope Uzodimma, in Omuma, Oru East, beheading his gatekeeper and killing some other security men in the area. They subsequently set ablaze part of the entrance (security house), and torched his private vehicle and another vehicle parked inside his premises. Soon after, a strong man popularly known as Ikonsi was killed at his base at night. Some officers also lost their lives in the process.
The killing sparked another round of attacks and counterattacks, further fueling insecurity in the state. The ancestral homes of both the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba and the Attorney General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Cyprian Akaolisa, were also invaded and torched by the hoodlums. In an unprecedented manner, more than five traditional rulers had been killed after abduction from their palaces.
One of the monarchs is the father of a former deputy governor of the state, Eze Madumere. His father, the traditional ruler of Achi Mbieri, in Mbaitoli local council, Eze Henry Madumere, who is visually impaired, was being driven to a function. At Iho Junction in Ikeduru local council, the bandits accosted them, abducted him, and kept the 89-year-old in their dungeon for six days before he was set free.
In another development, some yet-to-be-identified gunmen invaded the palace of the traditional ruler of Ebeteghete community in Njaba local council area of the state, Eze Edwin Azuike, at night, and kidnapped him.
The next morning, his body was displayed at a market square. The monarch of Mbutu Ancient Kingdom in Aboh Mbaise local council area, Eze Damian Nwaigwe, was also abducted from his palace at 2.30 a.m. He was released after about three days.
The traditional ruler of Etekwuru Autonomous Community in Ohaji/ Egbema local council, Eze Kenneth Okereke, fled his community after two of his subjects were allegedly killed and his palace burnt. In Okigwe local council area, kidnappers also went to the palaces of two monarchs, Eze Acho Ndukwe of Amagu Ihube and Eze Paul Ogbu of Ihitte Ihube and kidnapped them.
Last month, the abducted Sole Administrator of the Ideato North Local Government Area of the state, Chris Ohizu, was beheaded. The council boss was killed after his abductors allegedly received N6 million as ransom.
Video of his beheading surfaced online where his killers insisted that there would be no election in the country. Reports had it that the killers of the sole administrator published videos of the beheading with the phone of their victim on his WhatsApp status. Governor Hope Uzodimma is of the view that some of the unknown gunmen are known gunmen.
He once attributed the insecurity situation in the state to the selfish ambition of politicians. “They should stop killing our brothers and sisters so that by the time they will emerge Governors, Senators and occupy other political positions, they will see the people to lead,” he once pleaded.
We are calling on the Inspector General of police to look into the latest killing of Nnaemeka Ugboma, Chairman of Ejemekwuru Customary Court and other devastating killings that have happened in Imo State. The true identity of those that assassinated Ugboma should be revealed including their sponsors and their motives.
Adequate sanctions should be meted out to those that had anything to do with this painful and unwarranted murder, no matter how little their participation may be. This action, if considered by the Inspector General of Police, will go a long way in stemming future occurrences of this nature of unnecessary murders, and also gain the support of the citizens for the police in the fight against insecurity in Imo State and Nigeria in general.