By Emma Ogbuehi
Police on Monday repelled an attack on the palace of Eze Amaifeke in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
The monarch, Eze Emmanuel Okeke, is the Chairman of Imo State Traditional Rulers Council.
Amaifeke is the community of the former governor of the State, Chief Achike Udenwa.
The police have blamed members of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB and its enforcement arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), fo the attack.
The attackers were said to have stormed the palace at about 1am on Monday.
But the assault was scuttled by the Police Command’s tactical teams deployed to communities to monitor palaces along with the vigilante group, who engaged them in a gun duel.
The Command’s spokesman Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), said one of the attackers was killed.
Others, he said, escaped with gunshot injuries.
He said: “Today, the 3rd of January, 2022 at about 0100hrs, the Command’s tactical teams working in synergy with vigilante group of the area were able to repel the attack/attempt to set the palace of Eze Imo HRH Eze Dr E. C. Okeke on fire by men suspected to be members of the proscribed IPOB/ESN group at Ezioha Amaifeke in Orlu LGA of Owerri, lmo State .
“The hoodlums, in their numbers, besieged the palace of the traditional ruler armed with assorted weapons but were subdued by the superior fire-power of the Command’s tactical teams and in the process one of the hoodlums was neutralised while others fled into the bush with bullet injuries.”
Charms were seen tied round the waist of the dead hoodlum.
The police said one identity card, one locally-made explosive device, five bottles of petrol, N20,000 cash and one pump action gun with four live cartridges were recovered.
Abattam said the command’s tactical teams were combing the bush for the fleeing members of the gang.
There has been an upsurge in violence in the State in recent times with traditional rulers being targets of attackers.
While many of them have been gruesomely murdered, others have had their palaces vandalised and burnt down.
On Monday, eminent Southeast traditional and religious leaders said most people now perceive Imo State as a ‘war zone’ known for violence.
The Igbo leaders observed that the recent invasion of a church by police officers to arrest a former governorship candidate, Uche Nwosu, “brought the troubling state of affairs in the state to the public consciousness”.
Speaking under the auspices of the Southeast Council of Traditional Rulers and the Representatives of Igbo Archbishops and Bishops on Peace and Conflict Resolution, they decried the deteriorating security situation in Imo State.
The statement titled “Imo politicians must de-escalate hostilities to save Imo State,” was jointly signed by the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, and the Methodist Archbishop of Umuahia, Chibuzo Opoko.
They blamed the failing law and order situation in the State on selfish politics and urged all the political leaders in any form of contestation to cease and desist from actions that will further escalate or compound the tensions in the land.
They proposed urgent meetings with Governor Hope Uzodinma, his predecessors, all former governorship candidates in Imo as well as the elder statesmen in the state with a view to proffering a solution to the problems.
Meanwhile, the State governor, Hope uzodimma, also on Monday that he publicly name those allegedly behind the spate of insecurity in the state on Tuesday.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, disclosed this in a statement in Owerri.
Emelumba said, “The governor will use the occasion of the 6th edition of the IMO stakeholders forum to name those who are sponsors and financiers of insecurity in the state.”
According to the Commissioner, “The Government is in possession of crack evidence of the involvement of those responsible for the carnage.”