Residents of Ishielu Council in Ebonyi State have expressed concern over insecurity and armed robberies since 45 Ezza-Eziullo war crime suspects awaiting trial at the Federal Prisons, Abakaliki were released earlier this year by Governor Dave Umahi.
Trouble on expressways
The crimes spill over to the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, to the dismay of travellers.
Transporters based in Abakaliki and other road users from the neighbouring states of Cross River and Akwa Ibom travelling to Onitsha or Enugu avoid the Abakaliki-Enugu route.
They pass through Onitsha enroute Obubra-Oferekpe or Itigidi-Abaomege junctions and stop over at the popular Onueke Imoha in Ezza South Council and further board vehicles to Onitsha via Onicha-Ohaozara Councils in Ebonyi State to Mpu in Aninri and Akinukwa junction in Enugu State.
Herdsman, son attacked
Bandits who disguised as vigilante also attacked Fulani herdsmen by rustling their livestock and robbing them of their wares.
Recently, some gunmen ambushed a Fulani cattle rearer, Musa Adamu, and his son, Mohammadu, at the buffer zone in Ezza-Ezillo.
The victims were returning to their camp in the forest buffer where they have lived and grazed livestock for decades when they were allegedly halted.
Adamu said he recognised two of the gunmen as members of the community vigilante. He was let go but warned never to pass through the forest trail again.
He said they took N10,000 from him and he lodged a complaint with the vigilante group Chairman, Innocent Eze, who promised to caution his men.
Adamu said, however, three days later, he was again attacked by the gunmen who reprimanded him for reporting them to Eze. They cut off his left wrist, broke the bone of the right hand and dealt several machete cuts to his head.
Both hands of Mohammadu, aged 14, were broken and he received deep machete cuts in his body.
Rescue by police, solders
Adamu told TheNiche that while he was being attacked he told his son to run to avoid being killed. But the hoodlums caught up with him and macheted his body.
He recounted that “when they thought that I was already dead, they chased my fleeing son, Mohammadu to a halt.
“As I heard him screaming in pains on top of his voice, I crawled into the thick forest and escaped to the nearby Army barracks on the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway for rescue.
“By the time they carried the body of Mohammadu in his pool of blood to where I was dumped, they did not see me. They got apprehensive, abandoned the boy there and ran away.
“Mohammadu scampered to the expressway where he ran into a mobile police check point.
“The police took him and cordoned off the area in search of the gunmen but they had run away. The policemen were joined by soldiers.
“To save us from dying from blood loss, the joint security operatives took us to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. But because of the doctors’ strike, I was discharged a day later and taken to a private hospital, also in Abakaliki.
“The police ransacked the forest and discovered my left arm which was cut off by the wicked gunmen. I spent over a month in the hospital and I am still reporting weekly for treatment.
“They have finished my life. How do I work again and feed my family of three wives and many children, since my livestock have all strayed away for a lack of rearers?”
Adamu thanked the soldiers and the police for rescuing him and his son.
But he lamented that Eze, whom he alleged was contacted on the telephone while he was being attacked, was arrested by the police and let off the hook along with two other men.
But Eze denied conspiring with anyone to attack the herdsmen.
Petition, govt intervention
Leaders of Ezillo community and neighbours of the herdsmen condemned the attack and urged them not to take revenge.
The police arrested three suspects for robbery and attempted murder.
A petition was lodged by Musa Abdullahi, the Saraki Fulani in Ishielu Council and a member of Miyelti Cattle Rearers Association.
Based on the petition, Umahi’s Security Adviser, Alli Odefa, held a meeting with the coordinator of Ishielu East Development Centre, council chairman, community leaders, members of the vigilante, and the herdsmen.
Odefa brokered truce between Ezillo leaders and relations of the victims, led by Musa Abdullahi.
Ezillo leaders signed an undertaken that the herdsmen will not be attacked again.
The herdsmen pledged to continue to live peacefully and graze their livestock in a lawful and peacefully manner and will report any complaint to the town union president.
