12 People Killed As Simon Ekpa’s Sit-at-home Order Turns Bloody In Southeast

A report by Daily Sun newspaper indicates that the sit-at-home order issued by the Simon Ekpa faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) turned bloody on Friday, December 9 across Imo and in Enugu as gunmen wrecked havoc at various locations in both states. No fewer than three policemen were killed, alongside a pregnant woman and eight others. A police van, market, shops and goods were also burnt in the process.

In Imo, the gunmen stormed Mbaitoli near Owerri killing Prince, Iheme the elder brother of a popular Nollywood actor, Osita Iheme, aka Pawpaw. The victim was shot dead while riding in the same vehicle with the state commissioner for solid minerals, Martins Eke who received machete cuts from the attackers.

A policeman was also shot dead at 7up Junction, in Orji. The sit-at-home enforcers also took their brutality to a location along Owerri-Okigwe road where they killed four persons. They later kidnapped two expatriates supervising the ongoing construction of the Phase 11 of the Owerri-Okigwe road.

At Umuna junction, the gunmen were reported to have also killed two other persons. At Mgbidi community in Oru East, the enforcers shot sporadically to disperse traders. It was learnt that some police officers were allegedly killed in a shootout with the gunmen, while the police neutralised many of the bandits, forcing the survivors among them to flee with bullet injuries.

In Anambra state, a trending video believed to have been recorded in Osumenyi community in Ihiala local government saw a group of young hoodlums enforcing the 5-day sit-at-home.

They kept moving from shop to shop, breaking and stealing the goods and later rode away on motorcycles. Sit-at-home: Gunmen kill pregnant woman, others, burn police van Punch newspaper reports that three persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed in Enugu on Saturday, December 10 by hoodlums enforcing Simon Ekpa’s five-day sit-at-home order in the region.

The pregnant woman, whose identity could not be immediately ascertained, was killed by a stray bullet at New Market during a gun duel between the hoodlums and policemen. Sources quoted in the report said that a bullet hit the woman who came for early morning market where she hid in a store.

Recall that elders in the southeast region recently called on residents of various states to reject the five-day sit-at-home declared by Finland-based Ekpa. The Igbo Elders Consultative Forum led by a former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, described Ekpa’s order as draconian with the tendencies of epitomising insensitivity to the plight of Ndigbo. Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, December 8, the leader of the pan-Igbo socio-political organisation said the five-day sit-at-home order must never be adhered to.

On his part, the 2023 presidential flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has said that the sit-at-home order in the southeast cannot continue to be observed by the people in the region.

Atiku promised that once elected into office as president of Nigeria, he will ensure that all contributory factors to the Biafra agitation in the region are addressed. The former vice president also noted that the continued destruction of people’s businesses for failing to observe the sit-at-home is hurting the region’s economy.

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