Thursday invaded the sleepy Ndiagu Attakwu Akegbe-Ugwu
community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu
State, killing a Catholic seminarian, Lazarus Okafor, and
injuring four others, including a pregnant woman.
The suspected herders were said to have invaded the Ogbodo
Nwarum family compound in the community at about 2 a.m.
and wreaked havoc on the entire household.
While the seminarian had severe machete cuts which led to
his death, the fou
r others — the landlord of the house Ogbodo
Nwarum, his aged mother, pregnant wife and son — had their
bowels ripped open by the herders who left them gasping for
life.
The state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, however, warned that
the state would no longer tolerate the mindless killings by the
suspected herdsmen, directing the security operatives to
ensure that those who were involved in the dastardly act were
fished out and made to face the full weight of the law.
The traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Greg Ugwu, and
the council chairman, Afam Okereke, said the attackers
gained access into the building through the ceiling from where
they jumped into the house and unbolted the panel door.
“We heard that the herdsmen had visited the area on
Wednesday with their cows and were destroying the garden
within the family compound but the elderly woman had to
sound the local gong to alert the neighbourhood which made
the herdsmen to flee the area warning however that they
would return.
“By 2 a.m, they returned and made sure they attacked
everybody in the house. They had initially left deep cuts on the
man of the house and ripped the bowels of the women
including the pregnant woman to the point that their intestines
gushed out. It was at that point that the seminarian who just
graduated from the seminary, Spiritan International School of
Theology, Atakwu and returned the previous day from school
after graduation came out from his room to find out what was
happening and unfortunately, they used their matchete on him
and he bled to death,” the royal father narrated.
The incident left the entire community in tears as the four
injured persons were rushed to the Mother of Christ Hospital
and the ESUT Teaching Hospital as at the time of filing this
report.
Speaking when he paid a visit to the community yesterday
morning to assess the situation and possibly prevail on the
people not to engage in any form of reprisal, the governor
condemned the act in its entirety, insisting that the wanton
destruction of lives would no longer be tolerated.
The governor, who also led a team of security operatives to
the Fulani settlement located at the forest near the
community but without sighting any of the herders who
obviously had fled the area with their families for fear of a
reprisal, immediately summoned an emergency meeting of the
Fulani community in the state and security operatives.
While lamenting that the latest attack was coming a few days
after the Judicial Panel of Inquiry that looked into the
immediate and remote causes of the April 25 attack on
Ukpabi Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani council where about
48 persons were killed had submitted an interim report, the
governor said he would not rest until the perpetrators were
caught.
The governor, who was accompanied on the visit by the
Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rt. Rev. Calistus Onaga,
the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), and
other top government functionaries, promised to take care of
the hospital bills of those receiving treatment at the hospitals.
“I have already summoned security meeting this afternoon of
Fulani community and the security agencies in Enugu State to
review the situation and determine the appropriate actions to
be taken. It is indeed unfortunate that this incident is coming
just days after the commission of inquiry into the killings at
Nimbo submitted an interim report and is about to complete
its assignment,” he said.
While sympathising with the family of the deceased who hails
from Imo State but lived in the community before his
gruesome murder and the wounded, the governor said his
administration would continue to protect lives and property,
noting that anybody found to be undermining the security of
the state would be made to face the law.
Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike
Ekweremadu, has condemned, in strong terms, the dawn
attack by suspected herdsmen on Attakwu, Akagbe Ugwu
community, Enugu State, which left a Catholic seminarian
dead and four others injured.
This was even as he commended the state governor and
security agencies for their gallantry in busting the robbery
attack on Independence Layout, Enugu on Wednesday.
Ekweremadu said the incessant attacks on parts of the
country by suspected herdsmen posed a grave threat to the
peace, security, and economy of the country. He called on the
federal government to take decisive steps to put a full stop to
the ugly incidents.
He said: “This is another heartbreak, not only for Enugu State,
but the nation in general; and whatever evil forces are behind
these reprehensible acts certainly do not wish the country
well. It must not be condoned.
“The primary objective of government is the welfare and
security of the citizens. The federal government must take
decisive steps to put a full stop to this wanton destruction of
lives and property; and the security agencies must do
everything humanly possible to ensure that the perpetrators of
this act of wickedness in Akagbe-Ugwu do not go
unpunished.”
The Deputy President of the Senate condoled with the
affected community and prayed for the peaceful repose of the
dead.
On the thwarted robbery attack on Enugu, Ekweremadu
commended Governor Ugwuanyi for his demonstration of
courage and concern as the chief security officer of the state
by physically rallying security forces to the robbery scene to
ensure that it was foiled and the suspects arrested.
“Enugu is a peaceful place, and I salute the gallantry and
efforts of Governor Ugwuanyi and the security agencies to
ensure that it remains so,” he stressed.
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